Fall 1993 T h e Kawasaki T e c h n i c a l M a g a z i n e Vol. 6 No. 3

ROUTE LIST.- o SERVICE o PARTS o SALESP L E A S E R E T U R N T O S E R V I C E L I B R A R Y

by Patrick KellyInstructional Designer/Instructor

First the Z-l. Then the900 Ninja®. Both becamelegends in their own time,setting standards for mo-torcycles for years tocome and putting an indel-ible stamp on the historyof motorcycling.

Now, there promisesto be another legendaryKawasaki 900—the ZX-9R.

The ZX-9R, officiallydesignated the ZX900-B1,is based on the ZX750-L/M. It is engineered to of-fer the latest in handling,braking and suspensionwhile at the same time pro-viding a high level of com-fort, fit and finish.

The ZX-9R’s powerfulengine is basically a boredand stroked version of theZX-7 engine. The boregoes from 71mm up to73mm and the strokegoes from 47.3mm to53.7mm giving a displace-ment of 899cc.

To handle the in-creased displacement andtorque, the main bearingsand rod bearings are in-creased in diameter by1mm. The cases are alsoredesigned to clear the in-creased stroke and thecrankcase bolts are in-creased in diameter 1mmto increase the clampingforce of the crankcase by32 percent.

Because of the ZX-9R’s larger bore, a closeddeck cylinder with wet lin-ers is used instead of the

CONTlNUED ON PAGE 2

Inside!n Service tips & more!

Power ...CONTlNUED FROM PAGE 1ZX-7’s open deck cylinderwith dry liners.

The ZX-9R’s engineretains the same compres-sion ratio as the ZX-7’s(11.5:1) and also utilizesthe same intake valves,exhaust valves and intakeand exhaust camshafts.

Although the transmis-sion gear ratios remain un-changed from theZX750-L, the primary gearratio is changed from1.754:1 to 1534:1. Theclutch is also revisedslightly to handle the ZX-9R’s massive torque. Thedriving plate friction mate-rial is now paper-based in-stead of cork-based to

help resist deformationfrom heat. Stronger clutchsprings are also used to in-crease the torque capacity.

To reduce noise gen-erated from the engine, asilent cam chain is used in-stead of the ZX-7’s rollerchain, and a rubberdamper is added to theoutside of the right side ofthe cylinder.

Twin ram air ducts below the headlight feed fresh air over the frame rails to the air-box. (BELOW) ZX-9R’s unique exhaust crossoverpipe for improved torque output.

Twin ram air ducts lo-cated below the headlightfeed fresh cool air backaround the inside of the‘airing and over the framerails to the airbox under-neath the fuel tank. Theair flows through a largeair cleaner element (15percent larger than the ZX-7’s) to Keihin CVKD40mm carburetors (upfrom the ZX-7’s 38mmcarbs). A resonance box isconnected to each ram airduct to lower intake noise.

The ZX900-B uses adigital ignition systemwhich limits rpm to11,700. This new ignitionsystem fires unique dou-ble-electrode spark plugswhich improve combus-tion efficiency at low andmiddle engine speeds.

Exhaust gasses exitthis new engine packagethrough an exhaust sys-tem based on the ZX-7’s.Unique to this system is acrossover pipe which con-nects all cylinders to-gether for improved Iow-and mid-range torque,and rubber mounting notonly at the silencer but un-derneath the engine aswell for reduced vibrationand increased durability.

The ZX-9R’s mainframe is similar in con-struction to the ZX-7’s,using pressed aluminumsheets welded togetherand then joined to castsections at the steeringstem and swingarm pivot.This frame construction al-lows the frame to havemaximum strength and ri-gidity with the least weightpossible. The main differ-ences from the ZX-7’sframe are a larger castpiece at the swingarmpivot and two aluminumdowntubes underneath

2 l K-Tech News

the engine. The two re-movable downtubes are anecessity since the ZX-9R’s engine is rubber-mounted in front for lessvibration.

The ZX-9R’s suspen-sion is a recalibrated ver-sion of the ZX-7R’s fullyadjustable suspension. Upfront are 41 mm invertedforks with 12-way rebounddamping adjustment,seven-way compressiondamping adjustment, andthreaded spring preloadadjusters. The fork springsare buffed on the outsideto eliminate “break in” andthe fork bushings arechamfered to eliminatestiction.

In the rear, a nitrogen-charged gas shock with aremote reservoir is used.This shock has 20-waycompression damping ad-justment as well as four-way rebound dampingadjustment. Spring pre-load is adjusted with athreaded collar and rideheight is adjusted by athreaded upper shockmount. The Uni-Trak link-age characteristics areidentical to the ZX-7R’s,and the swingarm, withthe exception of longerchain adjusters, is identi-cal too.

Braking chores upfront are handled by dual320mm discs gripped byfour-piston calipers. Thecalipers use two pistons ofthe same bore on eachside of the disc.

In the rear, a singlepiston caliper is usedalong with a 230mm disc.A unique feature of therear brake system is thatthe caliper bolts directly tothe swingarm and notorque rod is used.

The ZX-9R rides onthe same, wide 17-inchrims as the ZX-7. Tires areZR rated radials, 120/70-17 at the front and 180/55-17 at the rear.

Although the ZX-9Roffers “racer replica” per-formance, it does not doso at the expense of re-finement and rider com-fort. The handlebarposition, footpeg location,and seat are all designed

with both function andcomfort in mind. The fair-ing is larger than the ZX-7’s, providing improvedprotection from wind andrain. The inner portion ofthe cowling is painted fora sophisticated look.Clutch and brake leversare four-way adjustablefor rider preference. Thereis a handy storage spacefor a lock under the seat.

cludes a fuel gauge alongwith a speedometer, ta-chometer, dual tripmetersand a water temperaturegauge.

Instrumentation in-

Welcome the ZX-9Rto the Kawasaki Ninja fam-ily. The power and preci-sion of the new ZX-9Rpromise to set new stand-ards for motorcycles tocome, and stir the passionof motorcycling for an-other generation. o

A new radiator increases the cooling capacity over the ZX-7 by 11.5 percent.(BELOW) To save weight, the rear brake caliper is bolted directly to the swingarm.

The Technical Magazine l 3

Fall 1993Vol. 6 No. 3©1993 Kawasaki MotorsCorp., U.S.A. (KMC).All rights reserved.

K-Tech News Staff

PublisherKawasaki Tech Services

Publications ManagerDon Church

Executive EditorGary Herzog

Editor-in-ChiefGregg Thompson

Communications EditorPatrick Kelly

Regional Editors

North and EastFred DeHart

Central and SouthWalter Rainwater

ContributorsDavid Corey, Randy DavisKeith Pestotnik, David Pyle,Ray St. John

Graphics/Production

Graphic ArtGregg Thompson

Copy EditorPat Shibata

ProductionNickless Communications

Published by Kawasaki.All suggestions becomethe property of KMC.Sending a service sugges-tion gives Kawasaki per-mission to publish and/oruse it without further con-sideration.

Specifications subject tochange without notice.

4 l K-Tech News

by Ray St. JohnSupervisor, Technical Writing

During the last week inJuly this year, the ServiceTraining and Communica-tions Department at Kawa-saki mailed out a surveyform. Its aim? To find outwhat you want from thiswinter’s technical trainingseason, and what youthought of the recentlycompleted Service Contest.

Here is a summary ofthe results:

Question 1: The video-tape everybody mostwants to see is on enginediagnostics, including two-stroke pressure and vac-uum testing, finding oilleaks, oil pressure andcompression testing, andcarburetor vs. ignitionproblems. Next in popular-ity is a tape on powertrains, with segments onmotorcycle transmissionsand final drives, and ATVautomatic clutches, re-verse, and dual-mode andlimited slip differentials. Alot of you voted for a tapeon the 750 JET SKI® wa-tercraft covering enginedisassembly and assem-bly, carburetion and othernew features. A fairamount of interest wasalso expressed in MULE™2500 series service.

The parts microfiche revised ...Grid A-2 of the parts microfiche lists P/Ns of the technical pub-lications available for the product covered on that fiche. To clar-ify the service manual vs. supplement question, we havechanged the grid layout to tell you what model the base man-ual covers so it won’t be a surprise when it arrives at yourstore. This will make it easier to explain to your customer whyyou ordered a KL600 manual for his KL250D and why heneeds the supplement as well. - David Pyle

Question 2: We askedyou which training sub-jects you wanted mostand you said electricaltroubleshooting. (We hearyou!) Next we had a four-way tie between motorcy-cle fuel systems, periodicmaintenance procedures(how to change sparkplugs, clean air filters, ad-just chains, set valve lash,and so on), JET SKI water-craft service, and motorcy-cle engines (ZXs, V-twins,and all the rest).

Question 3: Apparently,no one has a problem withthe shorter technical train-ing season.

Questions 4-7: It lookslike you want the ServiceContest to have fewerquestions per segmentand you want it presentedin the winter when youhave the time to work onit. Watch for some revi-sions here.

Question 8: There werevery few additional com-ments, but one stood out:“Thanks for listening.” Wehave one thing to say in re-turn: “Thanks for letting usknow what you want fromthe Service Training andCommunications Depart-ment!” o

Technical training survey results are in

“Chargingand StartingSystems”video nowavailableA new videotape from theTechnical Training Depart-ment covers the theory ofo p e r a t i o n o f m o s t o fKawasaki’s charging andelectric starting systems injust 18 minutes. It will bemailed automatically to allTechnical Training VideoClub members.

The samples of sys-tems covered in the videoare drawn from Kawasaki’sline of motorcycles and wa-tercraft. The information,though, is applicable to anycharging or starting systemon any Kawasaki product,so the tape will certainly bea valuable training aid forutility vehicle and generatortechnicians, too.

The “Kawasaki Charg-ing and Starting SystemsTroubleshooting Manual”will be available soon as acompanion to the video.The manual will include aself test to be sent toKawasaki for grading. Thetechnician will receive acertificate of completion.- Ray St. John

This just in ...K-Tech News Editor andlong-time Hot Line Sr. Tech-nician Gregg Thompsonwas recently promoted toHot tine Supervisor. He willcontinue to edit K-Tech andanswer calls as his scheduleallows. Congrats, Gregg!

Service manual supplement systemIf you’ve been reading K-Tech News regularly for the lastfew years, you’ll surely recognize most of this article.We’ve revised the information in the table below to bringyou up to date. - Ed.

Some Kawasaki models need one service manual andsome need two. Why is this? Well, in the beginning,there is only one service manual which includes all theinformation the technician needs to maintain and repaira given model motorcycle, watercraft, utility vehicle orgenerator.

99924-1082-53 99924-1056-04 EN450-A1

99924-1116-51 99924-110101 KX500-D1

ZX750-H2

ZX750-L1~2

ZX750-M1~2

ZL900-A1~2

ZL1000-A1

ZX1100-C1~4

Model P/N P/N ManualKLF185-A1A/A2 99924-1076-51 99924-1058-01 KLF185-A1KLF300-B1~7 99924-1100-51 99924-1057-02 KLF300-A1

KLF300-C1~6 99924-1117-51 99924-1057-02 KLF300-A1

JET SKI® Supplement Base Manual Model of BaseModel PIN P/N Manual

JS300-A1~5 99924-1070-51 99924-1059-02 JS300-B1

JS440-A8~A16 99924-1091-52 99963-0054-02 JS440-A1

JS550-A3~8 99924-1075-51 99963-0051-01 JS550-A1JS550-C1~3 99924-1148-51 99924-1120-01 JS550-B1JF650-B1~6 99924-1122-53 99924-1069-06 JF650-A1JS650-A1~4 99924-1087-53 99924-1069-06 JF650-A1JS650-B1~4 99924-1147-51 99924-1069-06 JF650-A1JH750-A1~2 99924-1155-51 99924-1156-01 JS750-A1

JH750-A3 99924-1177-51 99924-1156-01 JS750-A1

JH750-B1~2 99924-1177-51 99924-1156-01 JS750-A1

99924-1132-52 99924-1101-01 KX500-D1

99924-1063-51 99924-1050-01 KL600-A1

99924-1073-51 99924-1055-04 ZX600-A1

99924-1081-52 99924-1055-04 ZX600-A1

99924-1116-51 99924-1128-02 ZX600-D3

99924-1080-52 99924-1050-01 KL600-A1

99924-1126-51 99924-1112-01 ZX750-H1

99924-1160-51 99924-1139-02 ZX750-J1

99924-1160-51 99924-1139-02 ZX750-K1

99924-1077-51 99924-1048-05 ZX900-A1

99924-1077-51 99924-1048-05 ZX900-A1

99924-1127-52 99924-1098-02 ZX1000-B1

ZG1200-B1~7 99924-1089-52 99924-1064-01 ZG1200-A1

Service Manual Supplements and Base ManualsMotorcycle Supplement Base Manual Model of Base

Model P/N P/N ManualKX60-B6/7 99924-1123-51 99924-1094-01 KX60-B4

KX80-L2/3, N2/3 99924-1123-51 99924-1094-01 KX80-L1, -N1

KX125-G1 99924-1116-51 99924-1101-01 KX125-F1

KDX200-E2~4 99924-1136-51 99924-1114-01 KDX200-E1

EL250-B2~4 99924-1093-51 99924-1066-01 EX250-E1

EL250-E1 99924-1093-52 99924-1066-01 EX250-E1

EX250-F2~7 99924-1109-54 99924-1066-01 EX250-E1

KDX250-D1~3 99924-1143-51 99924-1114-01 KDX200-E1

KL250-D2~10 99924-1051-03 99924-1050-01 KL600-A1

KX250-G1 99924-1116-51 99924-1101-01 KX250-F1

EN500-A1~5 99924-1125-51 99924-1056-04 EN450-A1

EX500-A1~7

KX500-E1

KX500-E2~5

KL600-B1

ZL600-A1~2

ZX600-C1~4

ZX600-E1~4

KL650-A1~7

ZN1300-A1~6 99924-1037-03 99924-1015-05 KZ1300-A1

ATV Supplement Base Manual Model of Base

Take, for example, the KLF300-A1: The sturdy four-wheeler originally had a comprehensive service manualaII to itself. But it was followed by a similar all-terrainmodel, the KLF300-B1. To save time and reduce costs,the factory chose to produce only a service manual sup-plement covering the unique features of the B1 model.The supplement did not cover the basic informationwhich originally appeared in the service manual for theolder KLF300-A1 model. So you need two separatebooks to have all the information on the KLF300-B1: theKLF300-A1 service manual, which is called the “basemanual,” and the KLF300-B1 service manual supple-ment.

At left, the latest listing of base manuals and supple-ments available for motorcycles, ATVs and watercraft. o

Service Contest #3 wrap-upand award-giving ...Congratulations to thosetechnicians who scored 85percent or better on Serv-ice Contest #3, which wassignificantly tougher thanthe first two contests. Ev-eryone whose name ap-pears on the diplomaprinted on page 6 will re-ceive a Snap-On miniflashlight with magneticbase and useful fiber-optic option.

Department

We want to offer con-gratulations again to theaward winners of Con-tests #1 and #2, and ourspecial thanks to every-one who participated inKawasaki’s 1993 ServiceContest. We hope to seeyou again in the 1994Service Contest beginningnext fall. - Don Church,Manager, Service Trainingand Communications

Congratulations to the winners of Kawasaki ServiceContest #3 who will each receive one of these trickSnap-On mini flashlights.

The Technical Magazine l 5

Award WinnersK-TECH NEWS Service Contest #3

Congratulations to GaryBustillos for completingall three tests with thehighest cumulative scorein the 1993 KawasakiService Contest. Bustilloswas presented with theGrand Award at KawasakiMotor Corp., U.S.A. head-quarters in Irvine, Calif. onSept. 17. After being givena tour of KMC’s offices andthe West Region Distribu-tion Center, Gary was pre-sented with his award byHenry Noda, president ofKMC, and Gary Herzog, Di-rector of Technical Services.

TECHNICIANDavid BjorkGary BustillosDavid MoonDoug EngieMike NyholmRayburn SumnerJamie White

DEALERSHIPCapitol KawasakiKawasaki CountryLeer’s KawasakiNorthern KawasakiNorthern KawasakiForsyth KawasakiRehmert Cycle

LOCATIONColumbia, S.C.Norco, Calif.Waterloo, IowaCloquet, Minn.Cloquet, Minn.Winston-Salem, N.C.Versailles, Ohio

Gary Bustillos is Service Contest Grand Award winnertors Manufacturing in Lin-coln, Neb.. There he willbe given a VIP tour of thefirst Japanese vehiclemanufacturing plant estab-lished in the United States.

The response to theservice contest has been

other contest in the fall of’94. Keep those pencils

What was Gary’saward? Well, inside thespecially engraved miniSnap-On tool box weretickets for an expensepaid visit to Kawasaki Mo-

6 l K-Tech News

We want to thank all ofthe Kawasaki technicianswho participated in the1993 Service Contest. Werecognize that the invest-ment of your time and ef-fort was considerable.Now that the contest isover, you will be receivingyour test results alongwith the correct answersfor those questions youmissed. If you have anyquestions or would like anexplanation of the correctanswers for some ques-tions, please call your re-gional training instructor.

positive. With some modifi- handy! ocations, we will start an-

(LEFT to RIGHT) Gary Bustillos, Director of TechnicalServices Gary Herzog, and KMC President Henry Noda.

MULE™ 2510 high/low cable adjustby Randy DavisProduct Quality Engineer

Some KAF620-A1(MULE™ 2510) custom-ers have experiencedproblems with their sub-

transmission not wanting perienced trouble gettingto stay in the low range it adjusted so it fully en-while under load (as in go- gages (and thus stays in)ing up a steep hill). Nor- both low and high ranges.mally, what is needed is If you run into a situ-just a cable adjustment, ation like this, adjust thebut some dealers have ex- cable as follows:

1 - Put the High/ Low selector lever (onthe dashboard) into “Low.”

2 - Raise the cargo bed and find theHigh/Low shift shaft lever on the sub-transmission.

3 - Push on the lever end in a counter-clockwise direction (toward the cable) totake up all the free play in the cable andselector lever. The slot for the pinch boltshould be lined up with the cast-in pointer(with the “L” mark) on the subtransmis-sion case.

4 - Put the High/Low selector lever into“High” and check for free play in the ca-ble by moving the shift shaft lever. Thereshould be a small amount of free play.

5 - If the cable needs adjustment, it canbe done at either the cable housing ad-juster where it mounts to the bracket, orat the cable end where it’s attached tothe shift shaft lever. The easiest place toadjust it is at the cable housing adjuster,but if there’s not enough adjustment avail-able there, you will have to remove theshift shaft lever from the shaft in order toadjust the cable length. Be sure to mark

To double check your adjustment, try thefollowing method taken from the MULE2510/2520 service manual :

1 - Start the engine and put the transmis-sion shift lever into Forward (F) gear.Leave the engine idling while performingthis check.

2 - Pull back the detent lock onthe High/Low shifter on the dash.3 - Starting with the High/Lowshifter halfway between the Highand Low detents, slowly move itupward until the gears begin togrind, and then downward untilthe gears begin to grind.

4 - The gears should each beginto grind about the same distance

the shaft before removing the lever soyou can reinstall if in the same positionon the splines; there is no mark from thefactory.

from the center. It is hard to tell preciselybut close is good enough.

shaft spline. o

If it is not close, but you have per-formed the cable adjustment as de-scribed above, you may have to movethe shift shaft lever one tooth on the shift

TIP

repair kitPlastic

I f you’ve been throwingaway fairing parts, side cov-ers and fenders for smallcracks or broken mountingtabs, you might want to con-sider a different approach tosave your customer somemoney: Kawasaki offers aplastic repair kit made byThreeBond® Company thatquickly and permanently re-pairs this kind of damage.

The kit includes a largebottle of cyanoacrylate glueand a primer which allowsthe glue to adhere to thetypes of plastic used in mak-ing motorcycle and ATVparts. Also included aresandpaper, fiberglass clothfor reinforcing the repair, andan accelerator for rapid cur-ing. The kit even includessome handy glue removerfor cleaning the glue off yourfingers (or for removing yourforefinger from your thumbwithout surgery ...).

The kit is relatively inex-pensive, will do several re-pairs, and comes with goodinstructions. With a littlepractice, you will be able tomake strong, clean repairsfor a fraction of the cost of anew part (thus making yourcustomer happy), and whatyou do charge will be virtu-ally all profit.

To get one of these kits,order P/N K61080-050.- Gregg Thompson

The Technical Magazine l 7

Pressure testing two-stroke engines:Your common practice?by Gregg ThompsonProduct Support Supervisor

When you have a two-stroke engine in your shopwhich is suffering fromhard-starting, low power, abad idle and/or poor throt-tle response, what’s thefirst thing you should do?Everyone knows the an-swer to that one: take acompression test.

That holds true, ofcourse, whether it’s a four-stroke or a two-stroke en-gine. But if its atwo-stroke engine, there issomething else youshould do before takingthe top end apart any timeyou have low compression!

Low compression in atwo-stroke engine oftenmeans there has been aseizure. When repairing aseized top end in a two-stroke engine, a very im-portant step in the repairprocess is to determinewhat caused the seizurein the first place. Thereare a number of thingsthat can cause a seizurein a two-stroke engine, butone of the most commonis an air leak. To find out ifthe engine you’re workingon has an air leak, youmust preform a crankcasepressure test.

You need a com-pletely assembled engine(less carburetor and ex-haust pipe) in order topressure test it! Onceyou’ve taken the cylinderoff, you can no longercheck that particular basegasket for leaks. (So if itwas leaking and you didn’tcheck it before taking the

9 l K-Tech News

barrel off, you’ll neverknow it had a problem.)

And what if the bot-tom end has a leak? Yousure don’t want to put thenew top end together andthen pressure test it onlyto find out a crankcaseseal is leaking.

In many cases, youcan get away with liftingthe head off, looking at thecylinder wall for seizuremarks, and then puttingthe head back on to pres-sure test it, but play itsmart and don’t take thecylinder off until you’vepressure tested it.

When pressure test-ing an engine, ideally youwant it to be air tight, but asmall amount of leakageis acceptable. We recom-mend the “6 lb./6 min.”rule-of-thumb: Pump theengine up to 6 psi and itshould take at least 6 min-utes for that pressure tobleed off.

You should also vac-uum test the engine incase there is a seal that isinclined to leak more inthan it does out.

When is compressionlow enough to warrant apressure test? In mostcases, our service manu-als give extremely widecompression tolerances.For example, the new750cc JET SKI® water-craft manuals call for 121-187 psi. The truth is, if oneof these engines wasdown 20 percent from thetop of that spec (to, say,150 psi), it could have aproblem. If it’s the sameon both cylinders, normalwear may be the cause

and the symptoms mightbe fairly mild. But if onecylinder is 175 psi and theother is 150 psi, there maywell have been a light sei-zure. Pressure testing theengine might help pinpointthe cause of the seizureand could therefore pre-vent a repeat failure.

If you don’t alreadyhave a pressure tester inyour shop, you can orderone from Kawasaki usingP/N T96000-001. Thispressure/vacuum tester

comes with a variety ofplugs and gaskets to helpyou seal up the intake andexhaust ports on variousengines. You will want tosupplement these withsome expandable freezeplugs that you can get invarious sizes from your lo-cal auto parts store.

Get one of thesetools and then get used tousing it. It should becomeone of the most valuabletools in your shop. o

If you don’t already have one, you can order a pres-sure tester direct from Kawasaki (P/N T96000-001).

Decal dilemmaWe often get calls from dealers asking if the part they needcomes with the decal installed or does the decal need to beordered separately. That’s a very good question, but thereis an easy way for you to remember the answer: If the vehiclehas two wheels, its body parts are shipped with decals. Ifthe vehicle comes with four wheels or no wheels then itsbody parts are shipped without decals.

This rule applies only to body parts and hulls. All otherparts (swingarms, etc.) come without decals.

Oh, and last but not least, don’t forget to order thewarning labels for any applicable parts. - David Pyle

A “more better” KLF300 replacement air filterby Gregg ThompsonProduct Support Supervisor

In the Summer 1992 is-sue of K-Tech News, wetold you about a higherquality replacement air fil-ter for KLF300s: The KAF-300-A1 (MULE™ 500)filter, which has a foamsleeve over a paper ele-ment, fits all KLF300s aswell as KLF220s we re-ported.

Well, after a little morein-house investigation,we’ve found that theKLF400-B air cleaner isalso interchangeable withthese other models, and isreally quite a bit betterthan the MULE 500 air fil-ter for a couple of rea-sons. It has noticeablymore paper in it which in-creases the filtering capac-ity while extending the lifeof the filter. And, both thefoam outer sleeve and thepaper inner element areavailable separately. (Thiswill save the customeraround $10 if all he needsto replace is the paper ele-ment.)

Even if your customerneeds both paper andfoam elements, theKLF400-B parts are lessexpensive than the MULE500 part. Less expensiveand better filtration ...that’s a good combination!To get the KLF400 parts,order P/N 11013-1217 forthe paper (inner) elementand P/N 11013-1205 forthe foam (outer) sleeve.

When servicing this fil-ter take note of the follow-ing: The factory doesn’trecommend oiling thefoam outer sleeve. Rea-son? If the oil from the

foam sleeve gets into thepaper element, the paperelement will be ruined. Wehave found that, whilemost oils will transfer tothe paper element, BelRay air filter oil doesn’t.The bottom line is that oil-ing the foam sleeve will in-crease the effectivenessof the filter and the life ofthe paper element as longas the oil stays off the pa-per. If you oil the foam ele-ment, use an oil thatdoesn’t transfer to the pa-per, and use it sparingly.

The KLF400-B uses arubber gasket to seal theair cleaner element to thespigot in the air box. Thisgasket cannot be used inthe KLF300, so use heavy

grease to seal the aircleaner to the air box. Besure to fill the gap at the

pinch bolt with grease aswell. o

Making that bevel gear case cap stay put ...We’ve had many callsspread out over the lasteight years from dealershaving trouble making thecap (or seal) on a VN750bevel gearcase stay put.Often, by the time theycall, they have alreadytried several methods andadhesives with little or nosuccess. The cap justkeeps popping out whilethe customer rides thebike. Naturally, when thecap pops out, it results ina large oil leak ... and anunhappy customer.

The trick to making thecap stay installed is to 1)use a new cap; 2) cleanthe inside of the bevel gearcase seal holder with ace-tone or lacquer thinner;and then 3) apply cyano-acrylate (“super”) glue tothe seal before installing it.

The most common types

of cyanoacrylate glue setup so fast that there isn’tmuch room for error whenusing them. We suggestyou use a gel-type cyano-acrylate, which takeslonger to set up and ismuch easier to work within situations like thiswhere instant bonding isnot desirable.

You can now order gel-type cyanoacrylate glue di-

rect from Kawasaki usingP/N KSGGA for a small(.06 oz.) tube, or P/NTB1762B for a large (.71oz.) tube.

By the way, this samemethod should be used ifone of these caps popsout of the bevel gear caseon some other model,such as the old “ZL” se-ries Eliminator.- Gregg Thompson

The Technical Magazine l 9

TIP

As promised:Mass quanti-ies of superglue!An article in the last issueof K-Tech News (Vol. 6 No.2, Summer 1993) ex-plained the different typesof glues you should usewhen installing rubberparts on Kawasaki JETSKI® watercraft. In that ar-tide, we promised to getyou a part number bywhich you could order gel-type cyanoacrylate (“su-per”) glue in large enoughquantities to install thelarge floor mats on our sit-down watercraft.

ThreeBond of Amer-ica, Inc., offers the rightstuff in a 0.71 oz. tuba.(That’s over 10 times asmuch glue as you get in themore common smaller-size containers.) But in ad-dition to its availability in alarge tube, this glue ishandy because it stayswhere you put it and it goesoff a little stower than regu-lar super glues-you’llhave a little more time toget the mat where youwant it before it grabs ahold of you and the boat!

Order this glue fromKawasaki using P/NTBl762B. - Ed.

Stubborn-shifting KLFsby Keith PestotnikRocky Mountain Kawasaki

Over the years, I have re-ceived a number of callsfrom dealers aboutKLF300s that don’t wantto shift from neutral intofirst. The common com-plaint is that they have toblip the throttle (rev the en-gine a little) to get it toshift out of neutral.

Normally when the en-gine is idling in neutral,there is enough friction inthe primary (centrifugal)clutch to turn it slowly.This of course causes thesecondary (multi-plate)clutch and the transmis-sion input shaft to turnslowly as well. This slowrotation of the input shaftallows the engagement

dogs in the gears to mesheasily when the transmis-sion is shifted into first gear.

But if the shaft is notrotating and t h eengage- ment

dogs clash, there’sno way it will go into gearuntil something causes theshaft to rotate...somethinglike blipping the throttleenough to engage the cen-trifugal clutch just a little.

In the KLF300 trans-mission, the needle bear-ing on the small end ofthe input shaft and the twoneedle bearings on the re-verse shaft each have asteel race pressed into thecrankcases. What I havefound is that sometimesone or more of theseraces is not pressed allthe way into its bore in thecases. The race thenpushes against the thrustwasher on the shaft caus-ing just enough friction tostop the input shaft fromturning at idle.

The fix for this (otherthan just blipping the throt-tle to put it in gear), is tosplit the cases and driveeach of these bearingraces all the way into itsbore. o

VN1500 oil filter confusionby David Pyle, PartsPublications Specialist

There has been someconfusion regarding oil fil-ters for the VN1500-A.There are now two differ-ent filters that are usedwhich are not necessarilyinterchangeable.

The filter used on theVN1500-A1 through A7 isP/N 16097-1061. Thethreads on this filter are re-cessed back into the filterbody to clear the hex nuton the threaded oil pipe inthese earlier engines.

The VN1500-A8 hasa straight-threaded oilpipe with no hex nut, sothe oil filter for this engine(P/N 16097-1064) doesnot have the recessedthreads.

The bottom line isthat the filter with the re-cessed threads (P/N16097-1061) will fit allVN1500 engines, but thefilter without the recessedthreads (P/N 16097-1064)fits only the VN1500-A8.

The first microfichewe issued that includedthe ’94 VN1500-A8 listed

incorrect oil filter informa-tion. That microfiche cardwas dated June 1993 andcovered the VN1500-A6/A7/A8. If you still havethat microfiche anywherein your dealership, pleasediscard it. The correctedmicrofiche card is datedJuly 1993. o

P/N 16097-1064 P/N 16097-1061FITS ONLY VN1500-A6 FlTS ALL VN1500s

10 l K-Tech News

When the brakes do the bleeding, but you have the pain ...by Gregg Thompson,Product Support Supervisor

B leeding hydraulic brakescan be a frustrating andtime consuming project—especially if you don’thave any pressure or vac-uum brake bleeding equip-ment at your shop. Prob-ems are usually causedby little nooks and cran-nies inside the fittings andcaliper(s) which can giveair bubbles a place to hidefrom the flow of brake fluid.Also, when you manuallybIeed the brakes by pump-ing up the pressure at themaster cylinder and thenbleeding it off at the fittingon the caliper, a relativelysmall amount of fluid is be-ing pushed downwardthrough the system. Theair, however, would reallylike to float upward throughhe fluid, so as you pumphe pressure back up at themaster cylinder, the bubbleshat were pushed down theline have a tendency tofloat back upstream.

It’s a “three steps for-ward, two steps back” situ-ation. Pressure andvacuum bleeding equip-ment solves this problemby forcing a large quantityof fluid through the systemin one direction with littleor no interruption.

If you don’t have anypower bleeding equipmentin your shop, try the follow-ing method the next timeyou have a tough brakebleeding job. This methodovercomes most of theproblems described abovewithout the use of powerequipment:

1 - Remove the caliperfrom its bracket.

2 - Place a large flat bladescrewdriver between thebrake pads, and pump themaster cylinder until thepads grip the screwdriver.3 - Take another screw-driver and spend a littletime tapping on the hosesand any fittings or junctionblocks in the line going upto the master cylinder.This helps dislodge anyair bubbles in the system,and starts them moving upthrough the fluid. (An elec-tric pencil works great forthis: Just turn it on, placethe pencil body againstthe various parts of thebrake hydraulic system,and the vibration willloosen the air bubbles andcause them to rise in thefluid quickly.)4 - Drain the master cylin-der reservoir so it doesn’toverflow and then, asquickly as you can, pry thebrake pads apart with thescrewdriver forcing the pis-ton(s) all the way back upinto the caliper. Thisforces a large amount offluid upward into the mas-ter cylinder.

If the vehicle has dualdiscs, repeat the proce-dure with the other caliper.Make sure to put a pieceof wood or Styrofoam inthe first caliper so fluiddoesn’t transfer from thesecond caliper back into it.5 - Being careful to keepthe reservoir topped off,pump the caliper(s) upwith fluid again.6 - Now, holding the cali-per with the bleeder fittingat the highest point, openthe bleeder slightly and prythe pads apart again. Anyair left in the caliper will beforced out the bleeder. o

750 watercraft exciter coildiagnostic test dataDealers have been askingus for a good diagnostictest for the new JS/JH750watercraft exciter coils. Sowe did some tests with afew meters on some boatsand came up with someprocedures and somenumbers.

Check the exciter coilin-circuit (that is, with allwires connected) AC volt-age. It is easy to do this atthe multiconnector just in-side the electrical box. Per-form the test with thespark plugs in the engineand the spark plug leadsremoved and grounded.Make sure the stop switchlanyard is in the switch(that is, in the run posi-tion). If the stop switch is

n the off position (lanyardpulled out), your readingswill be inaccurate.

Crank the engine withthe starter motor and probethe red and purple wireswith your meter leads.Switch your meter leadson the wires and checkagain. With most meters,you will get 60-80 VAC oneway and 9-12 VAC theother. Meters vary some-what so you should prob-ably check a couple ofknown-to-be-good ignitionsif you can to see whatyour meter says. Note thatsome digital meters will ac-tually read the higher volt-age no matter which waythe meter is connected.- Gregg Thompson

The Technical Magazine l 11

This time,less is moreby Patrick Kelly9950 Jeronimo RoadIrvine, CA 92718(714) 770-0400

This years training seasonwill begin in Novemberand end in April instead ofbeginning in October andending in May as it has inprevious years. At first,this may seem as thoughwe are offering you less,but in actuality we are try-ing to offer you more.

Let me explain: Wehave found that Oct. andMay are typically our slow-est months in the trainingseason. Sometimes thereare so few students thatwe end up having to can-cel a class.

Shortening the train-ing season gives studentsmore time to make plansto attend, and should havethe added benefit of fillingup the classes. A full class(anywhere from eight to12 students) gives every-one the opportunity tolearn from each others’ ex-periences. o

New andimprovedby Walter Rainwater6110 Boat Rock Blvd. SW.Atlanta, GA 30378(404) 349-2000

The new training seasonthrills me: Our ’93-’94 train-ing season will begin inNov. after the Oct. dealershow in Dallas. Be sure tolook at the schedule in thisissue: Many of our classeshave been changed to in-clude information on theexciting ’94 models.

Dealers have re-quested it and KawasakiTechnical Training has re-sponded: We plan to havea limited number of roadschools this season, high-lighting information on the’94 models. Look for sepa-rate schedules and an-nouncements about roadschools in your area.

The Service Contestwas enthusiastically re-ceived this past season,and so we will continue it—with a few changes in for-mat, probably, just to keepthings interesting. Watchfor more details! o

It’s back toworkby Fred DeHart201 Circle Drive N., #107Piscataway, NJ 08854(201) 469-1221

Just a reminder that oneTeam Green class willagain be held in both theNorth and East regionsthis training season. If youwant to attend, be sure tosign up for the first oneyou see scheduled. Theclass will not be heldagain this season.

Another reminder toall technicians who havethe occasion to speak withour very capable Hot Linestaff: Make sure you knowthe specific year andmodel of the Kawasakiproduct you are workingwith. Have the mileageand frame number avail-able before you call. If youare calling for authoriza-tion on a completed job,be sure to have a claimnumber and the job codesavailable. The Hot Linestaff can answer morecalls if they get all this infowithout waiting. o

TrainingSchedule

East RegionNovember2-4 Engines5 Precision Measurement and

Diagnostic Tool Usage9-11 JET SKI® Watercraft23 Parts Department Operations

30Service Department OperationsModern Engine Theory

December1-2 Fuel Systems7-9 Troubleshooting Elec. Systems14-16 JET SKI® Watercraft17 Generator

North RegionNovember15-16 Fuel Systems17-19 Engines

Central RegionDecember7 Modern Engine Theory8-10 Engines13-15 JET SKI® Watercraft16 Service Department Operations

South RegionNovember1-3 Engines

4Modern Engine TheoryPrecision Measurement and

Diagnostic Tool Usage9-11 JET SKI® Watercraft15-16 ATV Service17-16 MULE™ Service29-30 Troubleshooting Elec. Systems

December1-2 ATV Service

West RegionNovember1 Precision Measurement and

Diagnostic Tool Usage2-3 Engines4 Modern Engine Theory8-10 JET SKI® Watercraft11 Service Department Operations16-18 Troubleshooting Elec. Systems22-23 Fuel Systems24 Generator29-30 MULE™ Service

December1 ATV Service2 Precision Measurement and

Diagnostic Tool Usage13-15 JET SKI® Watercraft16 Service Department Operations20-21 Fuel Systems22 Generator

12 l K-Tech News