new member 2002 FZ1

hi I have been riding for 50 years, owned quite a few different bikes, but this is my first litre bike. It had been sitting about 8 years, and the carbs were gushing fuel out. I took the carbs off, cleaned them, found that the float levels were all over the place. Don't know how that happens. Put them back and to my surprise she fired right up. Went through the bike, changed all the fluids, followed the shop manual for maintenance, put on some new Michelin Road 5 tires, and licenced it.

Well it is quite a bike, I can't believe the power, on the throttle she just wants to leave earth and head for the moon. I don't feel any of the famous lean surges I've read about, but what I do notice is that she doesn't like a light throttle, bitches and grumbles and snatches especially in lower gears. Behaves just like an air cooled Ducati in fact, the bike I was on before the FZ1. I'm wondering if Ivan's kit cures that condition, or if that is something you just get used to. Also it has a giant Yoshimura can on it that does a lot of popping on decel and light throttle. So looking for any suggestions on how to make it run better. I don't know what if anything has been done to the carbs. The air injection system has been removed and it has a K&N filter inside what looks like a stock air box.

Another noise I hear seems to be from a gearwhine in the transmission, not a bad sound, but quite distinct during decel. The bike has 22,000 miles and feels pretty tight.
 
Not sure about the carbureted bikes, but blocking off the AIS on the 2006 and up models stops the popping on deceleration.

I used some Youtube vids to figure out how to just plug mine instead of installing block off plates.
 
Ivan’s will help - a lot. You should see improvement across the board after install.
I’ve done the full gamut of mods and did before and after dyno runs to measure effectiveness. I recommend Ivan’s jet kit, the air box mod with new filter, porting the boots as easy items to wake the engine up and make it more responsive and pleasant. I also installed a thinner Cometic head gasket to raise compression, cleaned up the head flashings with a Dremel and hand timed the cams after installing adjustable cam gears. It is all documented in the FZ1OA website in text and photos.

All together I added 12 hp at the rear wheel. Dyno shows 140hp at the rear wheel now which means something on the order of 160 at the crank. I get fuel mileage consistently in the low to mid 40’s in mixed riding. And the engine is a delight at any rpm.

There are some simple suspension mods you should consider. Recommend raising the forks 8-10mm to get a little more weight on the front end. Recommend replacing the dogbones to increase the effective rate of the rear spring by 20%. The rear is way too soft in stock form. Even better, changing out the rear shock is recommended and cheap. The R6 shock or the BMW shock are recommended (I’ve had both and they are an improvement. I ended up with a Penske and it is a delight but these are harder to find.). The Raven fork mod on the FZOA site is very simple for the front forks and makes a very nice difference for about $30 and an hour or two of your time. Lastly, braided brake lines and upgraded brake pads are cheap but extremely welcomed improvements in braking performance and feel.

Welcome to the Gen 1 world. The bike is stellar even after all these years, even more so with the simple, cheap and very effective mods I’ve described above.

Best,
Ron
 
Did you write down the jetting when you were in there cleaning the carbs? It might already have the jet kit in it. Most people do that when they remove the AIS and air box. Ivan's and Dale's kits are good and get you pretty close, but sometimes it takes a couple tries to get it dialed in just right. Depending on altitude and conditions... ya know.
 
Did you write down the jetting when you were in there cleaning the carbs? It might already have the jet kit in it. Most people do that when they remove the AIS and air box. Ivan's and Dale's kits are good and get you pretty close, but sometimes it takes a couple tries to get it dialed in just right. Depending on altitude and conditions... ya know.
the needles look stock, compared to the tapers on Ivan's. Anyhow I ordered Ivan's kit today, so will see how things go once I get my hands on that.
Ivan’s will help - a lot. You should see improvement across the board after install.
I’ve done the full gamut of mods and did before and after dyno runs to measure effectiveness. I recommend Ivan’s jet kit, the air box mod with new filter, porting the boots as easy items to wake the engine up and make it more responsive and pleasant. I also installed a thinner Cometic head gasket to raise compression, cleaned up the head flashings with a Dremel and hand timed the cams after installing adjustable cam gears. It is all documented in the FZ1OA website in text and photos.

All together I added 12 hp at the rear wheel. Dyno shows 140hp at the rear wheel now which means something on the order of 160 at the crank. I get fuel mileage consistently in the low to mid 40’s in mixed riding. And the engine is a delight at any rpm.

There are some simple suspension mods you should consider. Recommend raising the forks 8-10mm to get a little more weight on the front end. Recommend replacing the dogbones to increase the effective rate of the rear spring by 20%. The rear is way too soft in stock form. Even better, changing out the rear shock is recommended and cheap. The R6 shock or the BMW shock are recommended (I’ve had both and they are an improvement. I ended up with a Penske and it is a delight but these are harder to find.). The Raven fork mod on the FZOA site is very simple for the front forks and makes a very nice difference for about $30 and an hour or two of your time. Lastly, braided brake lines and upgraded brake pads are cheap but extremely welcomed improvements in braking performance and feel.

Welcome to the Gen 1 world. The bike is stellar even after all these years, even more so with the simple, cheap and very effective mods I’ve described above.

Best,
Ron
thanks for the advice Ron.
Ivan’s will help - a lot. You should see improvement across the board after install.
I’ve done the full gamut of mods and did before and after dyno runs to measure effectiveness. I recommend Ivan’s jet kit, the air box mod with new filter, porting the boots as easy items to wake the engine up and make it more responsive and pleasant. I also installed a thinner Cometic head gasket to raise compression, cleaned up the head flashings with a Dremel and hand timed the cams after installing adjustable cam gears. It is all documented in the FZ1OA website in text and photos.

All together I added 12 hp at the rear wheel. Dyno shows 140hp at the rear wheel now which means something on the order of 160 at the crank. I get fuel mileage consistently in the low to mid 40’s in mixed riding. And the engine is a delight at any rpm.

There are some simple suspension mods you should consider. Recommend raising the forks 8-10mm to get a little more weight on the front end. Recommend replacing the dogbones to increase the effective rate of the rear spring by 20%. The rear is way too soft in stock form. Even better, changing out the rear shock is recommended and cheap. The R6 shock or the BMW shock are recommended (I’ve had both and they are an improvement. I ended up with a Penske and it is a delight but these are harder to find.). The Raven fork mod on the FZOA site is very simple for the front forks and makes a very nice difference for about $30 and an hour or two of your time. Lastly, braided brake lines and upgraded brake pads are cheap but extremely welcomed improvements in braking performance and feel.

Welcome to the Gen 1 world. The bike is stellar even after all these years, even more so with the simple, cheap and very effective mods I’ve described above.

Best,
Ron
thanks Ron for the advice, I will certainly be working on the carbs again, ordered the kit from Ivan today
 

Attachments

  • IMG_0417.JPG
    IMG_0417.JPG
    2.5 MB · Views: 13
just to add a note about the type of service you get ordering parts online.

Called Ivan's on November 2 and ordered the carb kit. Spoke with Ivan himself, very professional and pleasant. Parts were at my door in Vancouver BC Canada at 1:30 PM on November 4 via Fedex.

Placed an order with Partzilla on October 19 for the intake boots, throttle cables and carb diaphragms. Threw in the clutch cable for good measure. Next day I got a message saying the clutch cable wasn't available until December. I assumed they would ship the in-stock items and did nothing. Finally called them on November 1st and learned that they weren't going to ship anything until the order was complete. The person on the phone was pleasant and accommodating but really! what customer wants to wait 8 weeks for parts? So still waiting for UPS, Partzilla says they shipped same day (Nov 1) but UPS says they didn't get the info until Nov 2, now they are schlepping my parts around to all their depots in the the eastern US and I'm on the west coast of Canada. The provided tracking number didn't work until I called Partzilla back on the 3rd of November. I want to do the carbs this weekend but looks like it won't happen. I like to ride year round barring ice and snow so this delay is not making me very happy. I'm even less happy when I get a daily email from Partzilla urging me to buy ATV tires, Yamaha hats and shirts and other assorted garbage, just wish they would focus on getting my parts to me as quickly as possible, considering they have had my $450 US in their pockets since October 19.
 
I put the Ivan's kit in over the holidays, today was my first chance to go for a ride. I have to say I'm impressed. The bike starts and idles much better, gear change is much smoother, and although I didn't go tooo fast owing to the chance of black ice the engine seems to pull much stronger and smoother. I have to think that previously the carbs must have been incredibly lean at idle and in the lower RPMs. I still have some popping in the exhaust on decel, but the sound of the engine through the exhaust is much more authoritative. Well worth the time and money to install this kit.
 
coming up on 4 months with Ivan's kit, loving the bike. On another topic I find that the rear wheel locks up much faster at low speeds (<30 mph)than other bikes I've owned, to the point that I have had to train myself to not use it in low speed emergency braking. Just wondering if anyone else has this experience. I have changed the brake fluids, the pads and rotors are in good condition. I came close to dumping it when I had to stop in a hurry at low speed. At high speeds I can use both brakes to slow down fast, it is just a low speed problem. I have new tires, Michelin Pilot Road 5, so it's not an issue with bad tires.

I have hesitated to raise the forks from the stock setting because of this, assume that would transfer weight away from the rear wheel and make the problem worse.
 
coming up on 4 months with Ivan's kit, loving the bike. On another topic I find that the rear wheel locks up much faster at low speeds (<30 mph)than other bikes I've owned, to the point that I have had to train myself to not use it in low speed emergency braking. Just wondering if anyone else has this experience. I have changed the brake fluids, the pads and rotors are in good condition. I came close to dumping it when I had to stop in a hurry at low speed. At high speeds I can use both brakes to slow down fast, it is just a low speed problem. I have new tires, Michelin Pilot Road 5, so it's not an issue with bad tires.

I have hesitated to raise the forks from the stock setting because of this, assume that would transfer weight away from the rear wheel and make the problem worse.
Might check the front end sag, more than likely the preload is to soft. The front end dives too much, the rear lightens and locks up real easy. Been there, did that.
 
If you still have the stock suspension, you may want to consider a traxxion dynamics kit for the front and a modified R6R rear shock from Dean. (Not sure if he is on this board - but he is on fz1oa)
 
been riding this bike for a year now, just installed a used Sachs rear shock and spring assembly from an '11 S1000RR. What a difference that made! it has transformed the bike's handling and comfort, the rear tire actually stays on the pavement at high speeds. I haven't done a post-mortem on the original shock but it was unbelievably harsh and didn't seem to have any rebound damping whatsoever. I will now focus on the front-end, it isn't all that bad but I have found all the advice on this forum to be very helpful. The engine with Ivan's kit is wonderful.
 
Back
Top