[Guest]

1994 zx-11





Valve Adjustment and looking over bike (chain slack, check fork seals, check nuts and bolts, etc. etc.)



$220 (4 hours @ $55)



DynoJet install/seat of pants testing (I already purchase the kit online)



$195 (3 hours labor mechanic said, @ $65 I figure...y did rate go up?)



Is this a fair deal?



Thanks,



Bryce

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[marc11]

The valve adjustment price is a little high, but not too bad, he will probably bang you on shims though. The jettng price is way high, I would do it myself, should only take an hour or two.

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[Guest]

Thanks Marc,



The bike went in, for it all as it turns out. I drove down there, looked around the shop for it's cleanliness and order, talked to the owner (a Busa owner....so he actually rides still) and my buddy Ralph (on a gPZ1100) met me there. Ralph suggested this guy to me in the first place. So I did go to an independant shop, not some stealer. He said he would have his top guy do the work but I stopped him mid-sentence and asked him to do it since I drove 1 1/2 hours to get there, he said "you're right, I'll do the work, because if the other does the work and screws up your bike u'll hold me responsible and never come back, no worries. If u like my work when u come back I'll even setup your suspension for you." I handed him my list of little things to check like a stuck rear brake light, some missing fairing bolts from previous owner and he gave me a beer (was tipped a case from a customer earlier that day) said it'll be all good. I'm confident he'll do a good job based on my experience so far and my buddies recommendation.



Thanks for your help. Next valve job I'll do but just with time constraints it nice to know it'll be done, and done right with no worries to ride to my heart's content....or at least another 6k miles!





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[marc11]

It all comes down to time and money. I am sure the guy will do a fine job. After both paying for and doing the same work myself, if I have the time I would do it again. If not, I would gladly pay.

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[Guest]

I had the mechanic do everything, valves and jetkit in the end I bet I could have saved some $ and gained some experience but I would have lost precious riding time (very strapped for time these days) and there is always next adjustment to give it a shot!!



(i think I will do it myself next time and use this mechanic for stuff that I can't troubleshoot in the future)



Well so far so good (depending on how you look at it...he's doing a good job, but bike could have been in better shape I guess)



The mechanic has called me back twice today to give me updates (unheard of for me, I have to leave 20 msgs to get any mech. to ever call me back to grab status in the past!)



What he found:



-My used 94' zx-11 DID have a jet-kit installed afterwards by a previous owner cept it had 160 main jets installed (full D & pipe is only mod) and the needle were cheap grey plastic. He replace the needles with the dynojet needles and recommended size (I wanna say 155, but not sure, whatever dynojet recommended) that were stainless steel and he set them correctly.



-He found water & rust in the float bowl covers (I told him to check cause I cleaned floats out once with the tank.) He drained the carbs, dipped them in some sort of acid wash he had, flushed out the tank with more crap in it, back washed the inline fuel filter (said it looked in good condition) and installed another filter inline just in case because he said (and I agree) as time goes on until I kreeme, por-15, or get a new tank it will slowly rust a clog things.



-He also found pinched diaphram. I guess whoever put the carbs back together did so in haste and put a crease in a diaphram. He pulled the crease out to see if it would rip (no sense in it happening 100 miles from now) and put things back together correctly. Seemed ok he said.



-He syched the carbs, he said they were balanced just fine.



-He's test riding it now on a back road to make sure the jetting is correct with the aide of high-speed Ram Air (he does ride a busa, I think he can handle it, hhe)



-He offered to tack on an oil and filter change, but I honestly did it 400 miles ago, he said fair enough.



-replaced spark plugs, they were fine but he said that's just his common proceedure (I have no clue when they were replaced last)



-adjusted valves, two vales were a little tight, not bad for a 94!



-tomorrow he'll check out my stuck rear brake light and I should be good to go very soon if all goes well.



-when I go to pick up the bike he's going to setup the suspension for me. (have always put that off, I believe I could do it myself, but hey it's free right?)



So far I'm very pleased. I'm glad to pay him what he's owned for finding things I probably wouldn't have noticed or checked. For me it's worth the peace of mind to pay 400+ bucks every so often to have someone really qualified look over my bike rather than me keep fiddling with it as if it were my H.S. science experiment, hehe.



The installed main jets, even with the 160 mains, at least I wasn't running lean and doing damage to the engine all that time while riding the last couple of months.



I can't wait to see what the bike will feel like now with proper jetting and want to know what the gas mileage will be like.



questions...



1) Shouldn't my mileage go up with smaller main jets & tuning?



2) Should my performance go up with proper tuning and cleaned out carbs?



3) Should the huge flat spot from 4-5000rpm go away?



3) Why hasn't marvel mystery oil once in awhile in the tank and some stuff that is supposed to take water out of the fuel system taken the water out of the floats he found? (I am assuming from some bad gas, I never did wash the bike with a hose or anything)



Thanks for the help guys....the bike was fast b4, I can't imagine what the bike should feel like now...what's your best guess?





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[marc11]

1) Your mileage MAY go up, but your performance WILL go up, becuase you will be getting a better burn. 160's are way to large for just a pipe and plastic needles are just a joke.



2) The flat spot should be gone, or atleast cleaned up a lot.



3) Personally I wouldn't run anything through my gas, however, nothing will clean crap on the bottom of your float bowls and even if it did, you would probably get it stuck in the jet anyway.



Best thig to do is drop the float bowls once in a year and clean them, also, couldn't hurt to run a fuel filter.

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[marc11]

Go sintered! It will stop like never before! Also, if you haven't done this in a while, replace the fluid front and rear, get your self a mity vac, for about $30, makes replacing and bleeding brakes childs play. If you REALLY want a nice feeling brake handle, replace your lines with braided ones from someone like Galfer. Did this on my ZRX, holy crap, its like having a whole new braking system. Will replace the ones on my ZZR this winter.

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[Guest]

running screen filters in fuel tank, one each for primary and reserve now.



Had one inline fuel filter, mechanic added a second now just to be sure it catches anything from my (slowly) rusting tank until I kreeme and POR-15 it.



He said the xtra fuel filter will not impeed fuel flow.



Thanks!



Bryce

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[Guest]

Called Jimmy,



I asked him if my bike survived the jaunt down Rt. 83

testing high speeds or if it puked and sputtered to a

horrible death? He responded with a chuckle..."no

she's fine, rips like hell!" I asked him if there was

a noticeable flat spot between 4-5000 RPM like was

there b4...he said he "didn't notice anything." I

asked him how fast he took the bike...he said "well I

don't mean to brang but....hehe.....140 and still

pulling hard."



So I'm happy. He also fixed my sketchy rear brake

like. Said there was some adjustment on the back of

the brake light itself that needed adjusting or

soemthing and all is good.



He said only other thing he noticed was that I needed

new brake pads up frant. he used fully sintered

Dunlop pads @ 35/set + labor = 70 bucks. I passed and

said I would do them myself, I think I can handle

that.



No final tally on the damage to the wallet but it's

all good if he keeps it around $500. It's worth the

piece of mind.



Thanks for everyone's help.....just gotta figure out

if the xtra wear of the sintered pads are worth the

xtra stopping power and sintered get better as they

heat up according to him. I know the zx and gpz eat

rotors cause they are stopping such heavy bikes so

we'll c. Gotta do some research!



Bryce





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