K75s midlife refresh

[billday]

Never saw a choke light retrofit before.

Your driveshaft splines don't have a long future ahead of them.

Thanks again for all the great pics.

[The Mighty Gryphon]

BillDay, that choke light is pretty handy if your mental powers are as weak as mine.  I have rode my brick all day with the choke on.  The light is a good reminder.  I've done all three of my bricks.  They all have the bulb and the wiring, all you need to do is add the switch.  It's a bit of a pain to install, but definitely worthwhile, especially for us senior citizens.

[billday]

Luckily, it's not a true choke, but a throttle advance. So leaving it on only affects the bike at idle.

[kris]

I find my choke wants to come off of the full setting all by itself. Even at the midpoint click it seems to want to come off. I have yet to forget my choke...and my light works. Somewhere in these threads there is mention of "start and ride" with these bikes. Heinz doesn't really need a warm-up although I usually give her a couple of minutes and then ride easy for a bit.

As for parts-warshing in the house/ laundry tub/ basement shower!!....get the damn smell out before she gets back. And if she asks, "What's that smell???"....deny, deny, deny! Then respond, "I don't smell anything."

Good luck.

[rbm]

Kris, do you have the detent ball and spring installed in the choke lever and the detent plate installed in the clutch housing?  Missing either if these will leave the choke loose as you describe.

[K1300S]

a little work while the snow is falling.

got the injectors back from RC Engineering.


a little oil on the new orings and stuff them in the fuel rail


back on the bike


on to the rear brake
pistons retracted all the way.  easily done by hand


new pads installed


using the little tool speigler provides for twisting the hose end fitting to match the stock ones


caliper back on bike.  had to reshim the abs sensor to the correct gap to the index ring.


all bolted back up with peg plate.


if the power doesn't go out in this blizzard, will make more progress tomorrow...after clearing a few driveways...

[kris]

Looks sweet, Marshall. I have injector envy!!

[kris]

Robert, I overstated the notion of the choke coming off on it's own. Certainly at the high end it will come off to the midpoint, but I don't like her revving that high on a cold start anyway. It will easily hold at the first click but I (maybe subconsciously!!) pull it off within seconds of pulling away. It's a pleasure to be able to do that on the Brick, as opposed to the Kawi...she needs a little more warm up with those carbs.

[K1300S]

after two days of 6 hrs a day snow blowing neighbors driveways, got back to the bike refresh.

installed rear liner.


took the coils off, cleaned them up, cleaned all the connectors, and replaced






replaced the wheel and the starter,  put the left side case bracket and exhaust back on. 


DC is closed again tomorrow for snow removal...may get more done on the bike...

[Scud]

It's a "snow-day." I used to love those when I was a kid in Rochester, NY. Got to stay home and do projects because everything was closed.

Enjoy it. And keep up the good work. I'll be scanning through this thread as soon as can manage to get time to get mine up on the lift. Mine's been busy doing airport runs lately - lot of business travel for me to start this year.

[K1300S]

bonus question...

i noticed what looked like rust in the the tail compartment on the side.  dug around in there and found this.


was this a part of the stock tool kit?  valve gap go/no go guage?  too rusted to get accurate thickness..

[Scud]

I think those feeler gauges were for the ABS sensor gaps.

[K1300S]

that would make sense.  specs were about .015, .020 and .025.  approximating....with rust variance...

more progress today.
rear brakes bled. i use ATE Type200 brake fluid.


right side case bracket and intake snorkel back on.


bonus pic...this is the choke/fast idle switch connector in harness


60/40 distilled water/coolant mix to fill the cooling system


started installing the Skene front led lights. dug around in fairing for the parking light wiring for a trigger and found this.


look like a PO modded the front turn signals with dual filament bulbs triggered off the parking lights.

this is the recommended location for the Skene lights.  offset bracket from the  brake caliper bolt.  They are just temporarily dangling off the brackets.




thinking about alternate location with a custom bracket under headlight.  downside is that they are close to headlight and may not be as visible.



good progress in between clearing snow from driveways...

[TimTyler]

I'd just epoxy those little LED's to the front of the fork reflectors.

[Laitch]

I'd just epoxy those little LED's to the front of the fork reflectors.

+1

[K1300S]

i looked at that reflector location, but the angle is too raked back.  the LED's are pretty directional and have to be more vertical.

went for the under fairing location.  took some .5 x.5 in aluminum angle, cut 6in piece, drilled holes for the center mounting screw, light bar mounting studs and the wires.  painted with a couple coats of satin chassis black rattle can paint i had in stock.



mounted lights to bar, then attached to fairing using the center fairing screw on bottom.  no drilling of fairing.







wired module to take power off the parking light bulb plugs and lit it up.  yeow are they bright!  with the characteristic Skene flicker.

here is an off center shot


and here is directly ahead.  noticeable difference in brightness.


going to tidy up the wiring and velcro the LED control module to the inside of the fairing.

[Scud]

Can we all take turns sending our bikes to you?

[Glacial]

Can we all take turns sending our bikes to you?

+1
But I don't think we could afford that level of service!

[Laitch]

Extra light would seem to be helpful but you already have a bright head light in that position, Marshall. I thought those lights were designed for conspicuity, and conspicuity to approaching traffic is theoretically aided by a triangularity of lighting. Are you planning to add other front lighting?

[K1300S]

yes, the theory is that the farther you spread the lights, the "bigger" a target you appear.  I'll try them where they are for now.   need to get the bike outside in the dark with the headlight on to see how visible the lights and the "flicker" are.  I did leave enough wire on the modules that I can easily drop them down to the brake caliper mount points later with about 10 minutes of zip tie work and 8mm hex.

no additional lighting planned other than upping the wattage on the stock H4 and shifting headlight to a relay.

[Laitch]

I've got a Kisantech headlight modulator. It wakes up drivers at intersections when I'm turning but I shut it down behind cars in stopped traffic. I like it for long stretches of two lane where there's a higher possibility of a frustrated oncoming driver's passing somebody. That flashing headlight gets some attention.

[The Mighty Gryphon]

I had one of those headlight modulators and took it off after one season.  The flashing seemed to make other drivers pull over and slow down when I approached them from behind.  As I went by them, I frequently got annoyed looks, probably because flashing the headlight is a request to allow a faster vehicle to pass, and my headlight is flashing constantly.   

I didn't think it was a good idea to antagonize other drivers when their vehicles are so much larger than mine.   

[rbm]

No additional lighting planned other than upping the wattage on the stock H4 and shifting headlight to a relay.

If you're going that route, also replace the stock plastic H4 bulb connector with an aftermarket ceramic equivalent.  The OEM connector tends to melt from the heat of H4's exceeding standard spec 55/60.

[Laitch]

I didn't think it was a good idea to antagonize other drivers when their vehicles are so much larger than mine.

Never had that experience, Gryph, but I don't run them all the time either. Don't feel the need but, like I say, they stand out on the long, lonesome roads where people can tend to drift off.

[The Mighty Gryphon]

Yeah, I do a lot of expressway commuting, and thought the flash would help with my survivability.  That was really the only place I really wanted it, and it was where it seemed to annoy other drivers the most.   I wound up turning it off almost all the time. 

The last straw was how it would somehow flash the high beam at night, usually when I was riding in deer country and really wanted the extra beam power.  Since I replaced it with a pair of 10w LED lights I haven't really missed it.