May 9, 2009 test

The high speed test went GREAT! The bike ran excellent! I still have to figure out how to start it when it’s stone cold. The “white whistler” is a bear to start when it’s cold too.

Holly helped me load the bike up, and my friend Carl cut me a piece of board to use as a ramp. Thanks Quick Carl. I loaded the bike on the trailer and headed over to my mother in-laws house.  I did 4 wide open high speed runs. It ran the “swingers” There is a small flat spot down low, but that’s not going to matter since you pretty much have to flog the 400 engine to keep it on the boil. I had it up to 14k today and it was still pulling good. The real test will be on the track. I’m very pleased with the end result. I think I’m done now screwing around with the motor and tuning, Thank GOD! Thank you God.

I will still be writing in the blog of my racing and track day experiences. I will update it when new news comes my way.

I’d just like to thank everyone again who helped make my dream come true. When you stop dreaming, you stop living. Life is what you make it, so live it while you can. Thank you everyone!

Until such time……………………….

   

May 9, 2009

Well I’m getting ready to go to my mother in laws to do some high speed testing. I’m very happy that the bike started this time for me. For some reason these 400’s don’t like the cold. My “88 “is the same way. I’m looking forward to updating the blog later today with good news. Here are a couple of pictures before I load her up. I’ve been up since 4:00 am. Maybe nap time this afternoon, LOL

 

May 8, 2009

I got to run the bike up the street tonight after I set the carbs up the way Mark suggested. I now have 92.5 mains, needle set on the 2nd clip from the top. It ran really good when it got into the “happy zone” There’s a little flat spot around 3k but I can live with that. I’ll be headed back in the pits when the tack is reading 3k LOL. It really spooled up nice when it got too about 5k. Tomorrow, after I get all the body work put back on, I’m off to the the country drag strip to wind it up. I want to see what this little beast will do when it’s run thru the gears. Being in the neighborhood it’s very hard to put the bike thru it’s paces. I’m not real crazy about pissing off my neighbors either.

I’m very happy it’s running good again. I’ll put it thru it’s test tomorrow. Dedra has named this bike “Blue Lightning” LOL Let’s hope so! I’ll have some pics and a update tomorrow.

May 6, 2009

Happy days are here again! I got the little beast running. I’d like to thank my friends who helped me get thru this very rough few days. Dave B. my new friend from England, Thanks Mate for not letting me get down and give up. You’re words of encouragement went a long way. Thank you.

My other new friend Mark from the 400 club. Thanks Mark for getting me thru this, and answering all my stupid questions. I‘m indebted to you. Thanks a lot, you no doubt are “the man”.  You got my vote for the FZR 400 guru! :)

Both these guy’s were a HUGE help to me. Thanks again guy’s. Poor Carl had to hear me whine at work about my broken bike. No more whining Carl! LOL . Carl is a car guy and races a BMW. Rock on Carl man! Good luck the 17th at Putnam.

I still have a minor issue with the bike at idle, and I’ve asked Mark if he could help me thru it. This is where I screwed it up last time!!! LOL. I’m a heck of a lot more confident now that I have Mark in my corner. LOL. I left everything laying all over the shop after I got the bike running. I feel like the weight of the world is off my chest now. Maybe now I can think of something else other than what to try next to get the bike running. Now if I can just figure out where I parked my car……. LOL. I’m getting that warm fuzzy “pleased” feeling again!!! LOL . I’ll pick up the shop tomorrow and hopefully have the answer for the high idle. It looks like I may make my date with destiny after all !!!! Yahoo..!

Until such time…………………..

May 5, 2009

I’ve calmed down some since the last post. It’s not been a very good couple of day’s for me. Dave in England has been trying to keep my spirits up, and I met a gent named Mark from Florida. He’s also trying to steer me in the right direction. He’s a racer from Florida who runs a 400, along with his son.

I took Dave B’s advice tonight and drained the oil. Sure enough it had a gas smell to it, and it was right at the top of the oil sight glass. It’s supposed to be in the middle, so gas did get into the lower engine cases. That was from my floats sticking and draining gas into the intakes. Bummer. Anyway between getting help from Dave and Mark I’m hoping to get this little beast back on the right track. I haven’t given up yet, but if a nice 600 comes my way…… LOL  I’m going to put the carbs back to the stock setting based on what Mark told me and his experience with racing these bikes. It sure is nice to have blokes (thanks Dave for use of the Brit slag ) to help you out when you’re in a jam. The racing community is a great thing to have and fall back on. There are a lot of good people out there that race.

There’s a good race bike shop up here near Indy that Ruben Frankenfield has interest in. It’s called 35 Motorsports so I have another source if I can’t figure it out. My friend Jim and Matt told me about this place. Here is their web site address: http://www.35motorsports.com/contact.html

I’m going to chill out tonight and take a night off from wrenching on the bike. I think that may be a good thing for my blood pressure. LOL. I’ll be back with more news tomorrow. Hope the engine build is going A-OK Dave. One of us needs some good luck! :) Until such time……………………….

May 3 2009

Total disaster. I tried to get the bike going Sat. morning before I took it to my in-laws to see if I had the top end jetting right. The bike wouldn’t start at all. I tried all day Sat to get it running with no luck at all. I’m so pissed right now I could freaking scream. I was planning on running the bike  Sunday at Putnam to get ready for the school. I just tried again to get it going and NOTHING! It’s getting spark but backfiring like crazy when it fires at all. I’m so frustrated with this piece of shit motor. I’m not real happy with the way this is going. I’m going to put it back to stock settings and see if I can get it to run. I can’t even take the plugs out to dry them because I have to take the whole freaking bike apart to get to them. Oh I’m I mad right now. What a total waste of the weekend. I think I’ll just leave the POS alone for a few days, and try to calm down.  I’m going to start looking for a 600 motor.