First a coupla questions.. has anyone fitted a watertemp gauge to the GTS?
I'd like to know what temp it runs, I'm thinking something aftermarket that
sticks down in the coolant through the fillercap OR maybe replace the
'too-late' light with a little gauge, maybe it'll even fit in the sensor
hole that should already be on the block somehwhere. Haven't looked at the
details, but it should be possible.
Also, who has a full bike cover for their bike? What make? What did it cost?
Where did you get it?
So I have some jetting problems on the FZR1040 engine in my GTS, it runs
rich. Apparently it's a known issue to have the needle/jets wear and
allowing more fuel to richen the mixture.
On one hand rich can be good, it lowers the cylinder temps a bit, on the
other hand, it's bad if you run too rich for too long as 'cylinder wash'
will wear out the cylinders AND can also break down the lubricating
properties of the oil if enough seeps past the rings.
So, I need to rejet, after a lot of digging around I hear that the factory
Yamaha jetkit is the best to go with, it's a little more expensive than
dynojet etc, BUT, the important factor here is that it is hard-anodized
(which the cheaper ones aren't). I guess it's a case of "you get what you
pay for".
Anyway, so since I really dislike heading into the carbs on most bikes, I
was asking around locally to see what it would cost to have someone do it,
after a couple of days or asking questions, I get the name of a guy just a
few blocks from me, Steve B.
He works at Yamaha USA in the R&D department, AND he builds race-engines for
Yamahas, so I called him and he told me several things that I was totally
unaware of..
K&N filters, sure they flow better, but in most cases since you don't use
the ducted air from the airbox, you end up with HOT air from the engine in
front of it. (exceptions would be where you use K&N pods inside the stock
airbox). As for the airbox, he said that for a normal commuter/street bike
you'd prefer torque in the low-midrange and that's another reason to use the
stock airbox. Most bikes will get all the air they need from the stock
filters so there isn't really a need for highflow filters unless you have
huge displacement or actually highRPM race the bike.
OIL, frequently a subject on the MC lists... he wanted me to have fresh oil
in the bike when I bring it it and I told him that I just did an oilchange
to which he replied "What oil?".. after reassuring him I used Golden Spectro
20/50 (because of how it makes the FJ1200 purr) he was content and I asked
him why. He replied that although car oil is good (he mentioned Mobil-1 as
an example) he said that it doesn't have the shear properties that MC oil
needs to have, so it'll break down in a hundred miles or so and then
prematurely wear the engine.
He got glowing recommendations but I'll see when I meet him and see his shop
and what goes on there. From talking for 30 minutes though, he seemed very
knowledgeable and I think my bike will be in good hands there.
I'm hoping to get the engine to run a lot better, it does blow a little
black smoke when I get on it which it shouldn't do, so I need new plugs for
it too. This guy claims to be able to tell most of what's wrong by the
plugs, then he does the rest with just what he knows about Yamaha engines.
If he is as good as he seems, my bike will have low-end grunt and run clean
too. He says he'll have it done next day!
