Q: My 2003 Kawasaki Z1000 recently left a rather large and alarming pool of oil on my garage floor. It did scare me a little because it’s never given me any problems in the past.

So I cleaned the bike then ran it and found the oil was coming from behind the front sprocket cover, which I then removed to find out exactly what the problem is. And it’s that large seal behind the front drive sprocket that is pissin’ out oil.

My nearest Kawasaki dealer told me that I’d have to split the crankcases to change the seal, which will obviously be expensive. So my question is, do you think I could pull out the old seal and just ‘shove’ a new one in there without causing any more damage. Is it worth a try or am I just being a silly old bugger?

Daniel O’Shea

A: If we just pushed a new seal in at our workshop and the bike came back still leaking oil we would look like incompetent fools, right?

But saying that I have heard of people doing what you said and getting away with it, so it might be worth a try but don’t say I told you to do so, please.

 It’ll be hard to pull out the old seal to begin with because it has a lip or ridge at the back of it to hold it in place. So once you get it out and then try to fit the new one I’d cover the edge of the new seal with silicone, which might help when you try to tap it in with a blunt device of some kind. If you damage the inner seal though, where the bush slides in behind the sprocket, you’ll be back to where you started, so be gentle and careful. But the correct way for a perfect job is certainly to split the cases – your call?

Q: Hello dudes and I hope your New Year is going sweet? Mine is, because my uncle has just given me his old Suzuki GS850 (1982 I think) with a shaft drive, that hasn’t seen daylight or ran for the past 15 years.

It seems to be all there but it has been painted a very unattractive gloss black sometime in the past, and it has a four-into-one exhaust, obviously the bike doesn’t run.

So I thought I’d ask you dudes, where do I begin to get this thing running again? And will it cost me a fortune because I like to convert my hard earned cash into ‘social activities’ rather than spending it on things like this?

Arrie Corsova

A: The first thing to buy will be a new battery for around R600, because then it will at least turn over, or should, and the old one will be useless by now. Then, I’d drain the oil but don’t change the filter just yet, then fill it with some detergent type oil.

The carbs will have to come off and be thoroughly cleaned by a professional mechanic who knows what they’re doing. Then take off the points cover on the right of the bike, as you sit on it, and check, clean and adjust the points and set the timing, all of the settings and how to do that can be found on the Net. And a new set of plugs is a good idea and make sure the air filter is clean and in good condition or you’ll need one of those as well.

Once the engine runs take the bike for a ride to make sure the clutch and gearbox are Ok. Then when you get back drain the oil again and replace the oil filter and fill with a good 10W40 oil – Motul is a good choice here.

That should get it all going but you will need patience and time to get it running ‘sweet’ as you would say. Also the shims will need to checked and a compression test will show you how things are inside, and don’t forget to change the diff’ oil too. So it’s not going to be cheap or quick –your choice?

Q: "I have a BMW S1000RR and I was thinking of installing some high- performance camshafts. I know you work on BMW’s race bikes so I thought it best to ask you before I spend some money?

Will they affect bottom end performance and what sort of gains could I expect to see on a dyno, or am I just being a fool? I only do the odd track day and primarily just ride the bike (fast) on the road.

Juan"

A: It’s not just a case of ‘dropping’ in camshafts on this bike and they’re quite efficient from the factory anyway. I would say that aftermarket items will have a longer duration, but this can effect bottom end compression because the valves will stay open for longer.

So you’d have to fit a thinner head gasket to raise the compression and perhaps even a set of new pistons to match up with the new camshafts, to get the best from them. The cams alone can cost over R20,000, and then add on labour and other parts so I hope you have deep pockets.

Our race bike only has a full titanium Akrapovic exhaust, altered mapping and degreed cams. It now makes close to 190hp at the wheel! Do you really need more than that I don’t think so? Spend your money on a nice holiday instead.

Q: Hi there you guys and happy New Year and all that.

Over the holidays my 2006 Yamaha R1 decided to give me a horrible problem, which pissed me off to say the least because it’s always been a reliable old fox.

When I press the starter button, and hold it in, the bike will fire up but when I let go of the button it stops! Before I head up the path of spending cash at a dealer I thought I’d urgently ask Billy’s Bikes. So what could I possibly look for and I hope it’s not the ECU or something similar? Sometimes I wish kick-starts we’re still a thing left on modern motorbikes, right?

Looking forward to your reply (every day).

Kevin Davenport   Western Cape.

A: Sit back and relax man because we’ve had this problem before at my workshop and managed to find it after hours of head scratching, and to fix it it’ll cost you next to nothing.

Take off the left hand side of the fairing and you’ll find the main fuse box. Go in there and you’ll find a simple blow fuse. For some reason, even when blown, the engine will turn over and run and then, like you said, stall when you disengage the starter button. So just swap the fuse and everything should be OK, unless it immediately blows again, then you might need an electrician to find out where it’s shorting out. Either way, you most certainly don’t need a new ECU. 

Happy New year…