Two Questions - Re: 1988 FZR400

[cerebusx]

Hi,

Just bought a 1988 FZR400 last week as my city commute bike (I ride a K1200R normally and I'm also just building a GSXR/R1 06 hybrid) and wondered if I could pick the brains of people on here who know much more about this bike:

- Has anyone tried fitting another rear shock to this model and if so does anyone know the length/fit required? I have an R1 and R6 rear shock spare and wondered if I could fit one of these.
- What tyres on the market (110/70 and 140/60 I believe) are best for this? I currently have Dunlops on it.
- Can anyone recommend a mechanic near London that can look at my engine? (I have white smoke at startup which stops once warmed up and need to verify it's okay)

Many thanks in advance for any help.

Lee

[Evilchicken0]

I think it's a 150 rear and there's not much choice - Bridgestone BT090 092 or Dunlop 207/208. If you want a softer tyre theres the newish Dunlop Alpha 10 but it's not really a comuter tyre.

I think it's best to measure up the shocks you have and the 400's unit and see the difference. I think the R6 shock might fit but not really sure.

I'm not sure I'd want to recomend anybody to look at the engine .. but I'm in London Euston if your around one evening.

[cerebusx]

Actually, that was three questions wasn't it... oops

Thanks for the tyre info, don't suppose you know the nearest place to stock them around London - FWR maybe?

I work on Grays Inn Road, just a few hundred metres from Euston, I'd definitely appreciate you taking a look at it for me one evening, it's more to know that it's not being done a wrong by running it still as I appreciate old bikes will smoke somewhat anyway and the engine is relatively sweet for a 20 year old one when opened up. I'd just like to slowly but surely get it back in a decent state if possible without wrecking the motor in the process.

That brings me to another question, do these bikes have a speed limiter, a red light comes up on the dash and it won't go any faster than that point? To be honest given its age I don't want to thrash it anyway but did wonder what the light it is.

[Evilchicken0]

There's a Japanese speed restriction that comes in at 180kmh ... thats 112mph so I'm sure you never get to that on a public road ....
For that to go away you can fit a kmh > mph mechanical converter. You want a gold one that sits at the bottm of the speedo cable (the blue top fitting one won't let you fit the top fairing). This effectively moves the restriction to 180 mph.

or you can fit a derestriction box which plugs into the loom behind the speedo, your speedo will read kmh.

then you can replace the CDI with a molested one ... I've seen chinese derestricted ones on e-bay for about £60.

I assume your bike has twin air intakes above twin headlights .... making it a FZR400R 3EN1 ???

[cerebusx]

Yeah it has the ducts over the lights, so from what I've found online it's a 3EN1.

I can't imagine that I've reached anywhere near this speed when the red light has come on though, more like 70ish mph which makes me wonder what on earth it's telling me :)

Do any of the later models parts fit this model (eg 3TJ) ? Such as the end cans for example... I have a stock one on it which is soooooooooo quiet it's spooky and I'd like to get a 2nd hand one of ebay to replace it sometime. I have some new pads, air filter and oil filter coming which I'll fit next week so that'll hopefully perk it up a bit, might change the plugs after that.

[Evilchicken0]

A red light ... is this one of the four "idiot" lights on the bottom right of the dash ???
If so it's a low oil pressure light and doesn't sound good.
It maybe linked to the white smoke on start up ... have a look on the bottom of the oil filler cap - if there's a light brown froth or scum then it could be a head gasket leaking. Have a look at the coolant filler too, and see if theres coolant in the header tank (under a rear side panel)

[cerebusx]

Checked the oil cap and no scum on the underside in fact it's clean as a whistle; the coolant header has coolant in it as I added some on Saturday but to be honest it had some in it already so didn't need much.... just fired it up and still have the white smoke at startup though. It's typically water for white smoke isn't it?

[Evilchicken0]

yes water is white smoke ... sometimes called steam

Hmm ... odd then cos white smoke has to come from somewhere and the only other way to get water into the combustion is through the fuel ... from the fuel tank ???

[cerebusx]

He he he, very good

It's weird, I started it up and rode it into work this morning, white plume at start-up but abates after a30 seconds... nothing once warmed up as I kept checking at each traffic light. Maybe the engine needs a good reconditioning, well who wouldn't after 20 years of abuse :)

Any things that you'd recommend I do first? (other than worry about it seizing, I'm already doing that)

Cheers for the help.

Lee

[Fzr400Trev]

new spark plugs, new oil, new oil filter, fresh water, tyre pressures, clean ir check air filter,
fresh brake fluid, check state of brake pads. check oil in front forks, oil the chain.....
then ride it as if you stole it !!! :D