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Fairing mods and removal

S

stevenlockett256839

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Hey people, newbie to the group. Just bought myself a 1997 concours and I want to lighten it up a bit and make it look and feel like more of a street bike. Ive seen the fairing removals and cutting but Id love to see more examples. Half nekkid ect. Also where to get a smaller windshield, how to cover up the side bag holes and how to cover the holes with half fairing removed. Im from canada and its my first bike. I have lots of good mechanic friends but will do as much by myself. I want to make it just a sportier, lighter and faster bike. As well as any good maintenance add ons or tips. If possible as many pictures and videos as possible its how I learn. I know I could have bought the bike I wanted but personality and budget...... Thanks!
 
For maintenance tips Steve Sefsick / shoodabeenengineering has a bunch of how to videos on you tube. They are fantastic
 
forum.concours.org

Cutting my Madstad windshield to fit me.

Last year I went to handle bars because I couldn't take the pressure on my shoulders and neck. This made my windshield too short. I bought a Madstad on C10 classifieds to get some adjustability and hopefully some additional heat relief. A couple days riding at the Dry Creek Rendevous revealed...
forum.concours.org forum.concours.org
 
THE biggest ( and really only ) major concern with the C10 is "hydrolock"
A situation created by the combination of a petcock and float valve failure ( leak)
Allowing gas to seep into the cylinders and when the bike is started it bends a connecting rod.
Steve Sefsick video is the best resource for this.
Purchasing Kawasaki float bowels with drain tubes is the simplest solution me thinks.
Cheers
Bob
 
Probably the best way to get a smaller windshield is to simply cut yours down to the size/shape you need.
EZ to do, just tape off the section where you want to do the cut, draw a line and cut with a jig saw or band saw.
After cutting, wrap sandpaper around a block of wood and smooth the edges.

Also, instead of removing the lower fairing, one of our European members (Ralf) cut a large triangular hole in the middle of the fairing. HIs method fully exposed the motor/carbs.
He basically removed about 1/2 of the material and vents from the fairing. Not sure I can find the photo, but it really looks good.

Ride safe, Ted

ONO sed; Purchasing Kawasaki float bowels with drain tubes is the simplest solution me thinks.

Question; Which Kawasaki bowls would fit?
 
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Question; Which Kawasaki bowls would fit?

Ted,
I can't remember off the top of my head
I just tried to look back for the thread that identifies the float bowels, but I can't find it.
If I recall correctly, it was a couple years of the Kawasaki Vulcan maybe?
I'll keep looking
Cheers
Bob
 
ONOBob said:
Question; Which Kawasaki bowls would fit?

Ted,
I can't remember off the top of my head
I just tried to look back for the thread that identifies the float bowels, but I can't find it.
If I recall correctly, it was a couple years of the Kawasaki Vulcan maybe?
I'll keep looking
Cheers
Bob
Click to expand...
ZG1200 Voyager
 
Wow guys thanks alot for all the comments. I just picked her up today. Little but rougher than I imagined but 1000 bucks isnt to bad. Going to run over all the regular maintenance and give an update. Little did I know the coolant has already been changed over. Also to the gentleman who wanted tool storage back. Mayby a good multitool might do enough? Thats the route im thinking.
 
connie_rider said:
Probably the best way to get a smaller windshield is to simply cut yours down to the size/shape you need.
EZ to do, just tape off the section where you want to do the cut, draw a line and cut with a jig saw or band saw.
After cutting, wrap sandpaper around a block of wood and smooth the edges.

Also, instead of removing the lower fairing, one of our European members (Ralf) cut a large triangular hole in the middle of the fairing. Basically removing about 1/2 of the material and vents from the fairing. Not sure I can find the photo, but it really looks good.

Ride safe, Ted
I believe you had sent me the photo awhile back48A79026-8774-43FE-B596-9A3FE31A4857.jpeg
Click to expand...
 
Bud said:
ZG1200 Voyager
Click to expand...
Yes, the voyager float bowls come with factory overflow tubes. They fit up just fine, but the only difference is that the drain screws all point towards the right side of the bike, rather than half each direction, as the C10 stock carbs do. They are still accessible, you just need a longer screwdriver to reach #1 and #2. That's the "standard" direction from the Keihin CVKs used on lots of Kawasakis and other bikes, (my ZX600-C has all the screws towards the right side).

There are also some Chinese copies of these bowls on ebay that come with overflow tubes. I bought one out of curiosity, and it was better than I expected, but still obviously a lower-quality copy. The tube would need to be trimmed down a bit and opened up at teh top to be ideal, but otherwise I think they would work fine.

I tried to have Steve do the tubes on my carbs, but it was after the shop fire, so he was not doing them. I ended up doing it myself, and only ruined one bowl learning how (I bought a spare on ebay; since so many models use these bowls, the right-hand drain screw ones are easy to find)
 
stevenlockett256839 said:
You did exactly what I want to do!!!! Im just struggling with high idle when I turn it to choke.
Click to expand...
Could you possibly have the lever pulled on too much when you start it?

On all the C10s I've had, the enricher lever usually only needs to be about straight up on cold starts, never all the way on. Otherwise you'll have that engine immediately revving at 4000 - 5000 rpm and more immediately on cold start!

You get a feel for it. Even at that setting its touchy and can easily make the bike idle too high with just a tiny bit too much enricher lever.

Now when starting cold after a few weeks or winter layover, it may require a little more than that until carb bowls are full and all cylinders are firing.

Once started, you have to be immediately available to tend it, as once stuff starts kicking in the revs can jump really quickly there too.
 
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Yup,. every Kawasaki with these carbs I've owned or ridden is finicky about the enricher on cold starts. This Connie is actually the most docile of any. I start with most of all enricher if it's a dead cold start, but keep my finger on it and knock it back as required to keep the idle at 2k rpm or less. It takes a couple minutes and few more reductions as it warms up. I usually take off before it's warmed enough to completely turn it off, so I just flip it off once I'm on the street. I'll leave it on if I have to stop at an intersection right away, as it would otherwise die, but once you're on the throttle and it's partly warm, you don't need it (might have a bit of low-range hesitation, but that's all).

My 600 is waaaay more temperamental, even with freshly rebuilt and adjusted carbs. It's got the same size carbs (32mm), but on a much smaller motor, with more high strung cams. It takes a lot of babysitting to keep it on the razor's edge between 5k rpm and dying.

If you ever have these carbs torn down, you'll see why the enricher is touchy. It doesn't have a tapered needle, but a dual plunger, with the outer diameter controlling air bypass, and the inner pin opening up the enricher fuel circuit. The air bypass has a little more control, with a slot in the bore and a bevel on the plunger, but the fuel pin is hardly more than open or closed.

Here's what they look like inside:1000004973.png
 
Stasch said:
Could you possibly have the lever pulled on too much when you start it?

On all the C10s I've had, the enricher lever usually only needs to be about straight up on cold starts, never all the way on. Otherwise you'll have that engine immediately revving at 4000 - 5000 rpm and more immediately on cold start!

You get a feel for it. Even at that setting its touchy and can easily make the bike idle too high with just a tiny bit too much enricher lever.

Now when starting cold after a few weeks or winter layover, it may require a little more than that until carb bowls are full and all cylinders are firing.

Once started, you have to be immediately available to tend it, as once stuff starts kicking in the revs can jump really quickly there too.
Click to expand...
Okay new problem, I havent ridden it but have had it running. I thought I had everything figured. Checked the glass today and needed a small top up its at 1/2 - 2/3. Started it up ran it to warm it up, revved 4k ish and the bike died out and now when I turn the key nothing....... No lights just nothing. Any clues?
 
stevenlockett256839 said:
Okay new problem, I havent ridden it but have had it running. I thought I had everything figured. Checked the glass today and needed a small top up its at 1/2 - 2/3. Started it up ran it to warm it up, revved 4k ish and the bike died out and now when I turn the key nothing....... No lights just nothing. Any clues?
Click to expand...
Smack the junction box with the key on.
 
Yeah, there are some relays and diodes in the junction box, in addition to circuit traces that connect the terminals and fuses.

If you have a wiring diagram (I think you can find one posted somewhere in the forum or tech section), you can find which pins to check for power and narrow down where the gap in electrons is at.

Of course, first thing to check is battery connections and the ground cable and wires. Sometimes a poor battery connection will work for a bit, and then arc and burn up and go high-resistance.
 
stevenlockett256839 said:
Okay new problem, I havent ridden it but have had it running. I thought I had everything figured. Checked the glass today and needed a small top up its at 1/2 - 2/3. Started it up ran it to warm it up, revved 4k ish and the bike died out and now when I turn the key nothing....... No lights just nothing. Any clues?
Click to expand...

If you’re talking about the oil level “glass”??
You cannot trust it.
It’s crazy how the viewable oil level changes on a c10 after it sits.
 
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