Fisrt things first...eventually

I am not entirely innocent with regards to the zxr's current condition. OK so I didn't take part in the "ripping in to bits" stage, but I haven't exactly helped. You see when I first got the bike home I had good intentions, really I did, but what with one thing or another (mainly struggling in a low paid job, supporting my wife and baby daughter, etc) I never quite got round to it and the poor little kawasaki sat in my garden sadly neglected. I eventually bought a cover for it, but money was in very short supply so the project was effectively on put on hold for about a year.

When the financial situation improved a bit last year I started to get my act together. First thing to do (are you listenening Rob and Greg?) was to try and get the engine running. Two things stood in the way of this. Firstly there was nothing to connect the petrol tank to the fuel pump and secondly there was no battery to start the engine with.

I got the battery first, from a local kawasaki dealer. They looked up the model in their little book and sold me a battery. I took it home and it wouldn't fit in. It wasn't narrow enough and was too short to fit in the available space, so I returned to the shop and explained. According to the book they had sold me the correct battery, but the nice kawasaki man had an idea and he went and got another battery that was the same voltage and amp but an old style battery as opposed to a modern seal unit. I could tell just by looking at it that it was the right size and shape and it was cheaper too (yeah!) I got it home charged it up (after buying a battery charger) and the next day I put it in the bike. I turned the key... the dash lights came on - which is always a good sign, and I thumbed the starter... The engine turned over nicely and had compression, things were going well... until I left the battery in the charger, but my wife unplugged it and it drained the battery flat... nuts!

The next challenge was to get the fuel to the engine. As I have mentioned the fuel filter was missing. Apparently when Rob and Greg pulled the bike apart the filter was blocked full of crap, this led me to believe (and I am surprised it didn't occured to Rob and Greg) that perhaps the reason the bike stopped in the first place was down to this. Had Rob just spent a couple of quid on a new filter the bike probably would've been fine, but then it would never have got to me. And I have a suspicsion that Rob had added some kind of additive to the petrol which caused the blockage, as the petrol that was in the tank didn't smell quite right.

Anyway I bought a new filter, which was a bit of hassle beacuse it has to fit a 10mm pipe which is really quite big and I had to shop around to find one, then I had to get some hose. I went to a car shop and they only had reinforced stuff but I bought it anyway. I drained the tank of the funny petrol, removed and cleaned the tap/filter to ensure I had a free run for the petrol.

It was about here that the project stalled again for a while. But eventually I bought a new battery, connected up all the plumbing, and crossed my fingers. Thumbing the starter the engine turned, but didn't start (which is fair enough after a few years of standing idle). I tried to give it some choke but the choke lever wouldn't budge. So I had to remove the tank (but leave all attached) so I could move the choke at the carbs. I tried again with full choke and the engine began to splutter into life... and then petrol began to leak from the carbs. But it had started! And that was a result! It meant the ZXR400 would live again!