B4 noob

[aNiMaL]

HI all ,

First post so go easy on me, please .

Just bought a Imported GSF 400 Bandit , from a local brakers , a couple of weeks ago.
Its been stood for a few years.
its a bit beaten up and needs some TLC.
This is my First Bike in 20 years 

Ive been reading and searching all over the net ( mostly here ), for info 
First thing was finding what model it was, and ive been told by a local Suzuki shop , via the VIN No. its a GSF400 VR ( 93/94 ).
It has the Red Rocker cover and Red twin front discs ,so know its the VVC engine'd model

Now i have this i can start getting parts . ( if i can find them ).
Ive read that a lot of parts are interchangable ,
So Hopefuly a Tank , Panels & Exhaust ( 1990 gsf400 ) i've just found on ebay will fit.
Ive also found some Iridium CR8EIK Spark Plugs for about the same price as the normal CR8EK ones .
I take it there much better than the normal plugs ?.

I need to clean the carbs out, so need the repair kit ?
Also plan on putting on them K&N bell type air filters ( probably wont be the K&N ones - too expencive ) , so will need to re-jet.
What jets should i change to ?  ( not sure what size are in it now . )

[aNiMaL]

Sorry, page messed up , was jumping up and down and wouldn't let me type any more
Continued ....

Anyway, Next thing was oil & filter change.
Ive read that its not always a good thing to use Car oils in the bikes, even though its still 10w40.
Some have properties that make the cluch slip.

Has any one had any luck with the supermarkets type generic oils
10w40 Semi Synthetic - ACEA A3/B3 API SL SF ?
£10 compaired to £25 for the same amount of Halfords 10w40 Bike oil is crazy..

anyway, i'll leave it there for now, lots more to ask , but will do them in differnt posts 

thansk for any info

Jay

[Chris H]

Hi Jay,
Areyou in the Uk ?

[aNiMaL]

Yeah, im in the UK , SE london on the outskirts / kent border.

Just to follow up on the above posts.

I gave in and bought the Halfords 10w40 semi synthetic oil, £25 and got a free £20 8piece screwdriver set ,lol.

I also bought the Iridium CR8EIK Spark Plugs , but might of rushed in to quick. I think my bike might need the CR9's ?
( 1994 VR )
Another thing is, after all the searching and phoning shops, to find my model number ,
and as the downloads are not working at the mo ,I bought a parts manual / book off ebay. its all in Japanese , but has lots of exploded view Pic's and numbers .
1 thing i did see , right near the front, is a little picture of a sticker and its location under the seat.
so i whiped off the seat again, and there , under a pile of compacted dirt / crud / greese, was a little sticker with the model number on it . Half of it was missing from being repeatedly rubbed by the seat rubber but the model number was off to 1 side and still readable .LOL .

If ive bought or am bidding on, any one from heres spair parts ... Many Thanks

Jay

[Chris H]

They run better on the CR8's so go with them and if you need o'rings for the carbs i supply a kit with all 20 o'rings in. Ive also some spares so if you need anything PM me and i'll see if i can sort you out.

Chris.

[aNiMaL]

Thanks for the Info Chris.  

I would be interested in the O-Rings .
Is it the full Cab Repair Kit, or just the O-rings ?
I'm Gonna need the other parts too.
Can U post price in here, or PM me.

I will let ya know about any parts, as i said, im bidding on a few on ebay.
Cosmetic parts at the mo.

Found a whole bike on there, thats been made into a Street Fighter.
They have put on it , longer forks. Would be very interested to find out about that.
Higher ride position.  
Every time i get off the bike ,im all aches and pains , and stiff in me back.
So also need a handlebar top yoke and bars, at some point .the clipons i got, are doing me in.
That all leads to longer cables and brake pipes .
its all never ending. lol  

That Street fighter on ebay , I'm Hoping its some one on here selling it , so they can give info , lol

*link dead so removed *

*edit*
Have added a pic of the above Street fighter from ebay.
Sadly, i dont think he sold it , so scrapped it as spares.
I thought it looked kinda nice, shame it wasn't running right.
*/edit*

anyway , Thanks again

Jay

[Chris H]

Ive got the clamp on top yoke but no bars.

[aNiMaL]

OK, so finaly got round to having a little play with me B4.

Fitted me new NGK Iridium CR8EIX plugs.
Then had a little test , ending up at the shop were i bought it.
Sat around for a while and the kid ( son of a long time friend ) ,
says "I'm bord, lets clean ya carbs."
So we taking it in , strip it down , We managed to strip 2 or 3 of the carb bowl screws, gets one bowl off, and i was quite shocked at the amount of junk in there.
Now the bike had been stood around for 2+ years , but this was like one big solid lump of rust colored clay , filling most of the bottom of the float bowl.
He then started spraying WD40 on it all, ( said they had run out of carb cleaner spray but its basicly the same ).

Then a bike they had sold a week ago, came back in , all front ended ( into the back of his m8's mums car ) , so the lad went off to sort that out.
With not long left till the shop shut, i desided to put it all back together and do the rest at home.

I ended up pushing it home, battery flat, trying to bump start it all the way.
got home , and spent another 20 mins, up and down the road out side me house.
then it came to life. ( If only i had of remembered it had a prime screw in the pet-tap, silly me )
Funny thing was , It was better than it was B4.

[aNiMaL]

Cont ..

Few days later , went for a ride, ( had to bump start it again , yes , i need a new battery and a charger ).

All seamed fine .

Bike starts cutting out or stalling every time i stop.
Got home, got it in the garden, up on the stand, and turnt the tick over up a bit to keep it reving, in an atempt to put a bit of power in the battery. It was all spluttery, uneven tickover.
With-in mins , its hissing and spitting out steam and water from the res tank over flow.
So turnt it off quick.

That was that for a few more days. then got round to getting some new allen key sized float bowl screws and split washers.
Took the carbs off, and removed all the messed up screws.
The remaning uncleaned carbs had that thick rust colored mess in the bowls,
So i prosceeded to spray WD40 in and through every hole and gap i could see.
made sure every thing seamed clear.
put them all bak together and back on.
Then empty'd the water from the pump hose and return hose.
50/50 mix and filled it back up.
Changed the fuel pipe a bit so i could see it flowing through a filter i put just by the fuel tap.
Also changed the oil filter and oil, while i was at it.

Took ages to start again, ( and this time i used the prime on the tap ).
Although i did notice , the fuel flow was not as fast as i thought it would be,
It only seamed to be trickling into the filter, even when the bike was running...

[aNiMaL]

Cont ..

SO, with the bike running , thought i'd make a quick trip to Maplins, only about 4 or 5 miles away.
Bike seamed good, nice steady tick over, ( although a little high at just under 2k ) .
Couldn't get it to lower with the tickover screw thing.
Bought me cheep battery booster / jump starter thing .
Bike started first time , and i rode home.

Tyers felt a little spongy , as Temps have dropped since the sun went on holiday.
So parked the bike up next to me car to use me 12v tyer inflator, and B4 i can get the car door open to plug it in,
Steam and boiling water starts pissin out the over flow pipe again .

Only thing i have done to it since is test the fans working, by conecting it direct to the battery , and it spins.

Ive ordered a meat testing thermometer ( same as the one in some ones pics on here ) thats ok for the temps we need to test the thermostat and thermo-switches. So when that gets here, i can test me bits.

[aNiMaL]

Now some Questions ...

Is it safe to run the bike with no thermostat ,( only till i can test and if need be buy a new one ) ??

I have read in a post on here, that most Suzuki's in a few years gap in the 90's were made to run with some strange temps set up. Running better when very hot ( but not too hot   )
( http://forums.banditalley.net/index.php?topic=8562.msg66071#msg66071 )

I have read that the temps that the thermostat starts to activate at around 76c , but fully open and fans thermo-switches activated are all nearly boiling point or just above.
( http://forums.banditalley.net/index.php?topic=8562.msg65996#msg65996 )

I have always thought that the idea of water cooling over air cooled is it helps keep the temps lower.

Does the thermostat stop the water going into the rad, while closed,
( from rad to pump, back up to engine block, out the top of the head to the thermostat , then into the rad. )
 if so, were the hell does it go, how can it circulate ?  

Could Me using the CR8's instead of the CR9's , added or caused this sudden heat problem, ??.  
Could it be something i've done to the carbs ??  
( have read that the carb floats being wrong can cause over heating ) ?
Could the fan not spinning when the bikes stationary, make that much of a difference, that quickly ??


Many thanks for reading

Jay

[Chris H]

You should be running on cr8's the 9's will give bad starting.
The thermostat has a small hole in it that lets the water trickle round untill the motor gets up to temp, where it then opens to keep the motor at optimum temp. If you run with no stat it will not warm up correctly/slowly. I run a cbr6 stat and the bike picks up cleaner than stock.

[Paul-B4]

I run a cbr6 stat and the bike picks up cleaner than stock.

Hi, Does that fit in without any modification, and what year of cbr?

[Chris H]

Carn't remember what year but the F3 model and its a straight swop.

[ovlovder]

The f3 cbr, 95-98, they are around $35 from Bike Bandit, dont know if it needs mods.

 There is a Stant part number 13849, 190 degree, I got from rock auto for 3.45, was under 10 shipped, you can also pick them up in a lot of local auto parts stores.  This is what the Factory Pro guys run/recommend.  You need to drill a small hole, and bend some tabs slightly, but, it took me maybe five minutes to install into the stock housing.