Jeff Williams 20th Annual Oklahoma City Bike Show and Swapmeet: Part 2

Jeff Williams 20th Annual Oklahoma City Bike Show and Swapmeet: Part 1

Generally the big Jeff Williams Oklahoma City Motorcycle Show and Swapmeet is a big weekend for me. I'm not going to try and hype this year as a big one for me personally, because sadly it wasn't.  I didn't have anything I felt like showing, so I didn't. I didn't even have a running bike to ride up on a decent day. None of my close riding buddies could make it for breakfast, lunch, or a beer after. Most of my Saturday was spent at a Ridercoach preseason briefing.  I had a few specific parts to try and find to ship to Columbus, but nothing specific that I needed or could afford particularly.

Still, I went out on Sunday morning with my oldest son and we had a good time. I swapped stories with most of the usual vendors and the guys I usually see at these things. As far as my blog goes, I got pictures of the bikes I thought were interesting. I also played around with the creative shot features on my Canon camera and tried to find the most interesting angles I could. I didn't stick around for the awards.

ENJOY.

Jeff Williams 20th Annual Oklahoma City Bike Show and Swapmeet: Part 5

More information on Carb'ed Kawasaki Vulcan 1500 Fuel Pumps

DO NOT BUY A $25 FUEL PUMP. It will crap the bed on the first all day trip. The rest of this blog is still relevant though.


This isn't my usual step by step blog. This is more of an informational blog about everything I learned about Carb'ed Kawasaki Fuel Pumps this time.


The first good news is that unlike the last time I had to replace one of these, there are now aftermarket alternatives to the $300 OEM Kawasaki pumps. I got one for like $25 delivered. It might not be as good as OEM, but for $25 I will buy a spare and keep it in the saddlebag.


The first bad thing about the aftermarket pump is that the inlet is not clearly marked. I discovered that you can blow into one fitting and if it blows out the other then that's the inlet. There is a check valve that makes this thing work.

The next bad part is that you can actually hear this one running. The tick tick is the pump. Initially when it was dry, it was really loud. I believe there is some kind of sensor for it to know when to pump at a higher frequency hence the irregular pattern to the sound. The other thing I realized today was that the pump is a reciprocating pump, I had assumed it was rotary pump like a oil pump. More on this further is this post.


This brings be back to something I had forgotten from the last time I replaced one of these pumps. These universal points switch repair kits are readily available online, but I have never found any instructions on how they work or how to install them.

 


I decide to figure out how to swap the points switch since my old pump was junk anyway. Let me tell you that prying these halves apart is not the way to fix one of these



You get a good look at the how the pump works though. The fuel never goes deeper than the 1/3 of the pump body where the inlet/outlet are. There is a reciprocating rod that pushes a diaphragm back and forth. The diaphragm pulls fuel in and pushes the fuel through the check valve and towards the carb.


The point switch is under the black cap. I thought so initially, but I couldn't figure out how to remove it until I just destroyed it. There is a screw that holds it together, but where is the head for the screw? Here's a look at the point switch and the chip that I assume controls the pressure. The coil that makes the magnetic field is inside the housing. I have no idea if a switch kit could have fixed this one.


The screw head has to be hidden under this glued on cover.


I decided to drill into the cover to see what I could find. As soon as my bit hit the head of the screw, the plastic cover popped off. I would suppose that the glue is not real thick, so if you're repairing one you could carefully cut the glue seam with an exacto knife to access the screw and remove the cap.

Kawasaki 1500/1600 Long Reach Spark Plug Boot Replacement

So I was looking at my 2002 Kawasaki Vulcan 1500 Classic's sparkplugs and boots, and noticed that the plugs with the tubes, (left front and right rear) had nasty corrosion. Obviously the drains don't drain all that well. 


Luckily the boots are replaceable with NGK Stock number 8062. My local O'Reilley's got me two really quick.

Speed Dealers Customs Switchbox Installation

So along with the new frontend and new clutch lever and mastercylinder, I wanted to do new switch boxes. I have been scheming on some Speed Dealer Customs low profile switch boxes. They seem simple clean and runable. There are a couple of similar items on the web and some come with switches, but the Speed Dealer boxes are the least money, but don't include a switch. There's not a ton of information on the web about which switches you need, but it was really simple to find at a Radio Shack, even if Radio Shacks are getting harder to find.

Speed Dealers shipped crazy fast and clearly has a real person filling orders. I bought three boxes and instead of three sets each with a drill bit and tap only one drill bit and tap were shipped.



For my left side, I wanted a horn button and hi-off-lo switch for my headlight. So I bought a normally open SPST mini momentary pushbutton switch for the horn; Radio Shack 275-1547(4 pack). The hi-off-lo switch is a SPDT mini center-off toggle switch; Radio Shack 275-0325. It's the same switch I have been running for a headlight switch for quite a bit.

For the right side, I need a engine cut-off switch. I couldn't find an on-off switch, so I used an on-on switch. I just won't connect the other side. It's a SPDT mini toggle switch; Radio Shack 275-0635.


I gambled and bought an extra two port switch box with the hope to be able to move my volt meter from the dash to the bars. This should work out okay.


I won't have to look down as far to see if my regulator has come unplugged.


I will start with double sided tape on each of the boxes.


Middle one.


I am a bit concerned about the dimpling actually taking up too much room inside the bars. These bars were freebies, I actually can't seem to find off the shelf 16 inch non-dimpled bars with springer riser spacing on the knurls.


Here's a shot of the brake light switch. Luckily the wires from it will go into the bars past the dimple.


This is the view from the seat.


Here's the view on the left side.


So time to drill and tap the mounting holes.


I took off all the rest of the hand controls and I used a transfer punch to mark the bar to keep the drill from slipping.





Here's another look at the dimples and box.


I got the mounting hole drilled. The tape lets the box slip a bit, so next time I will do just the taped hole then punch and drill the switch hole.


See how the old center punch mark is not in the center any more.


I was actually pleasantly surprised by the amount of material that can be tapped in the wall of a basic one inch handlebar.


Now to start into the other hole. I re-center punched it, and then started the hole with a center drill.


The switch clearance is supposed to 15mm. The toggle switches need pretty much all that space.




I figured I would use a step bit like the OCC guys used to build all their awesome theme bikes on TV. The problem is that the bit is too long before it gets big enough. But it is a start.


I might be able to clearance the rest with this countersink.


As big as the step bit will go.


That's bigger, but I don't like it.


This is the tool to do it. It makes the hole bigger where you need it.


A couple of checks and this seems to finally fit.


Something like this.


That's real nice.


Drill and tap here.


Almost got the left side done and this happened.


Luckily it wasn't jammed up too bad and I had another 8-32 tap in my box.


The push button doesn't need the full 15mm so a step bit works great. But the headlight switch will needs clearanced larger.


Looking good.


Full mock-up left side.


Full mock-up right side.