So I came upon this thread of nutjobs on ADVRider:



Some of the photos are nuts. But I can't figure out why so many of them seem to keep falling down.

From what I can tell, K bikes are basically their own religion

It may be a cult.

This thread has made me really want to keep the my k12rs. I still havent sorted all of the problems since the gasket project. ( its surging like there is a vacuum leak or fuel injector/ air/ running rich issue) Ive been so disenchanted with it lately ive been considering getting rid of it. I think i need to get it right and then give it a full season to fall in love with it again. thanks for keeping me off the ledge guys.

yea, I was wondering about that. It's the last 10% of a project that's always the worst and this is really what separates people.

I'm told this is how they break Navy Seals in training. Put them through hell and give them hope that it'll be over in the next 10 minutes. Anyone can hold out that long. But when that time comes, and they've held on to that goal in their head and the drill instructors tells them they have to go some indeterminate time more, many will ring out. Imagine how they feel when the drill instructor ends the exercise only a few minutes later.

DO NOT GIVE UP. Seriously. You need to finish this one. You're so close and have done such a huge amount of work and you're so close.

You can take some carb cleaner to figure out where a vacuum leak might be.

How do you use carb cleaner to figure that out. Ive become very good at disassembing and reassembling the bike, but diagnosis is what eludes me. ( its what separated a guy in his garage from a mechanic i know.. but still) I have put in new fuel injector seals between the manifold and the injector tip. Ive checked the spark plugs and wires, used injector cleaner and its getting better, but its still not right yet. Any suggestions would be helpful. Id like to enjoy a ride once more before the snow.

If you suspect a vacuum leak the idea is that it's sucking air from the outside into the engine. So if you were to spray carb cleaner onto the leak, it'll suck the cleaner into the engine and cause the RPM's to change.

So in momentary bursts spray carb cleaner onto the areas you suspect may be leaking. If you hear the RPM's change then you know you're in the area of the leak. I once used this trick to find a single hose clamp that had not been tightened down enough. After a complete engine rebuild I was in the same boat you're in, it just didn't run right. That one hose connections, after a week of investigation, turned out to be the only thing wrong.

To see what it sounds like you can shoot some into the air intake so you have a baseline for comparison.

The carb cleaner will dry out seals, etc, over time, so you don't want to go crazy with it. (i.e. don't empty a whole can.) Some suggest using WD40, which will increase RPMs, but it's extremely flammable so I have a hard time recommending that.

Wear safety goggles, of course.

This is my experience. Everytime you major overhaul an engine such as head gasket etc. do not. I mean do not jump to conclusions. Run it for a while. While my motor disassembly have more to do with BMW car engines I would imagine its similar in some ways.

I once replace a head from a bent valve and the car after reassembly puff white smoke for the next 50 miles. Which translate to 3 days of ringing it out. Then it's fine.

You can determine if you have a true leak by unplugging the vacuum hose and see if the rpm changes. If the vacuum is large enough then it wouldn't change much. If t changes dramatically you may be looking at another problem

I always find that the best solution is to have a friend or "management" once over it

That's one thing that's nice about my garage. Built-in "management" as your videos have shown, coffee mug in hand.