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The DR/DRZ Thread

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After reading an hour or 2 on Thumpertalk, I found some pretty solid info from Eddie Sisneros. I will be riding mostly in BB, where our property is at 3000+ alt. I ride the BB Valley over to Solitario quite often. From what I read from Eddie, you keep the same pilot setup, a 45 adjusting for altitude if you use a vacuum hose to join the 2 nipples on the carb, and seal off the engine vacuum nipple. You go to a 48 if it is lean. I am going with the recommendation from Dynojet on the main. I am also going to pull the slide to see if it is damaged. There is also a fix for the AP if the plastic actuator is worn, which mine is. I have rebuilt many carbs in my 55 years of riding and this one is most challenging. I did find this link: http://www.keihin-fcr.com/index.php?route=product/category&path=111
$80 plus shipping and parts looks pretty tempting.
 
Crew Chief said:
I'm not a great carb guy, but it seems to me that when I've had the high idle problem that you describe, that I've made the idle mixture a bit richer and closed the idle stop on the throttle a bit. I usually fuss between the two until I find a good setting.

I didn't think that the KLX had an accelerator pump on a stock carburetor.
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This is the FCV 39 Pumper carb which is standard on the 03 KLX 400.
The carb came with:
142 Main
45/65 Pilot
Deceleration enrichment valve
Slightly worn arm on Accelerator pump.

Started it up on the lift, and all went well, no leaks, no pops, and warmed up idle was better than ever. Now to button it up and take it for a test drive. Not so sure about the 6 gallon tank, seems a bit much. i have a Clark on the DRZ, and it works fine. 6 gallons with at least a gallon below the petcock doesn't seem like such a good thing. I know Scott loved to go on long dirt road and trail rides. But 300 mile range on a dirt bike?
 

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Let us know how it runs.

That is the carb that is on all my mx bikes and all my buddies mx / enduro bikes. They can be your friend and enemy.
 
sandman said:
Let us know how it runs.

That is the carb that is on all my mx bikes and all my buddies mx / enduro bikes. They can be your friend and enemy.
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A carb made good with hoses and gizmos. I am hoping to not have to totally disassemble the carb to use it. It is a monster. Why all the spaghetti? Is this what an environmental friendly carb looks like? Scott was pretty sick the last year of life, and it sat up most of that time. He used Stabil and Seafoam, but I think Ethanol finally took its toll regardless of the additives.

I did a quick clean up and replaced the gaskets, and diaphragms hoping it would be driveable. I drove it about 20 miles at BB, and between the bog and high idle I nearly crashed a few times. Slowing down on gravel in turns required me to ride the clutch. Then I came down with a UTI and quit driving it for a few months. I am not sure what happened, maybe a leaky petcock, but bowl was clogged up and the needle and seat were one. I had to pry the needle out of the seat. all the brass was corroded and the float was green, probably from the brass corrosion staining it.
 
My carb is pretty environmentally Friendly on my DR650 and it just has a overflow vent and the vacuum for the petcock. Mpg's are regularly around 45 to 50. It just varies from one bike to another and what they are trying to do or compensate for. I think what they were trying to do with that carb was give you all the power available and then also trying to eliminate decel pop and some of the bad characteristics of the CV carbs, which is always a bit of a nuisance on a lot of the Thumpers.

It sounds like you have it sorted pretty well now so hopefully your riding will be problem free. Glad you were able to fiddle with the bits and get it rolling right.
 
Just took a round trip from here to Houston and back and got 32 mpg...Gonna check the spark plug in the morning and see if that's it but It's probably the carb. Anybody have any ideas as to what could be causing the low mileage? 2001 DRZ-400, IMS 3.2gal tank from what I can tell anyways. From what I gather I should be getting 40-60 ish. hmm. Any help would be greatly appreciated, I'd like to get it all ready to go for MexTrek in October so I have a while but it does need to be fixed before it messes something up big time. I'ts a sumo as well. I'm going to check the Vapor speedo tomorrow to make sure it's set to the right wheel size and such.
 
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I just checked my records and I've gotten as low as 34MPG. I have a few instances in the 30's but most are 42 to 58 MPG. It really varies a lot as to how I'm riding it.
 
Polk540 said:
Just took a round trip from here to Houston and back and got 32 mpg...Gonna check the spark plug in the morning and see if that's it but It's probably the carb. Anybody have any ideas as to what could be causing the low mileage? 2001 DRZ-400, IMS 3.2gal tank from what I can tell anyways. From what I gather I should be getting 40-60 ish. hmm. Any help would be greatly appreciated, I'd like to get it all ready to go for MexTrek in October so I have a while but it does need to be fixed before it messes something up big time. I'ts a sumo as well. I'm going to check the Vapor speedo tomorrow to make sure it's set to the right wheel size and such.
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I have also gotten in the low 30s and a high of 70 MPH on the same trip. On the highway at 70 MPH, I get around 32. On the trails in Colorado I got 58 MPH on one tank. My experience on 1 trip: http://www.twtex.com/forums/showthread.php?t=110024
 
humanrace said:
I have also gotten in the low 30s and a high of 70 MPH on the same trip. On the highway at 70 MPH, I get around 32. On the trails in Colorado I got 58 MPH on one tank. My experience on 1 trip: http://www.twtex.com/forums/showthread.php?t=110024
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Thanks that was a good read, I guess I probably should expect it when I almost pin it in every gear and ride at 7k rpm at '77' indicated, I'm not sure if my vapor is set to the right tire diameter. I'll check it later today or tomorrow.
 
Wow, I am lucky to get 35 mpg with my DR-Z. Maybe if it didn't bounce off of the rev limiter constantly it would do better?
 
I did a quick clean up and replaced the gaskets, and diaphragms hoping it would be driveable. I drove it about 20 miles at BB, and between the bog and high idle I nearly crashed a few times. Slowing down on gravel in turns required me to ride the clutch. Then I came down with a UTI and quit driving it for a few months. I am not sure what happened, maybe a leaky petcock, but bowl was clogged up and the needle and seat were one. I had to pry the needle out of the seat. all the brass was corroded and the float was green, probably from the brass corrosion staining it.
Click to expand...

I just spent the day with a group and we all have this carb on our 450's. once these FCR carbs are clogged they can be a the point of no return. From our group we know of 3 that would never run right. In those 3 cases different carbs fixed the bikes.

In your cases you could also get another carb off a DRZ400s off ebay. Let us know how it turns out.
 
sandman said:
I just spent the day with a group and we all have this carb on our 450's. once these FCR carbs are clogged they can be a the point of no return. From our group we know of 3 that would never run right. In those 3 cases different carbs fixed the bikes.

In your cases you could also get another carb off a DRZ400s off ebay. Let us know how it turns out.
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The carb is much better, but not 100%. Started easily, and warmed up quickly. The idle adjusted pretty well, but still takes a couple of seconds to come down from idling too fast to a normal RPM. I can sort of stall it down more quickly by applying the brake with it in gear at low speed. I tried adjusting the Air screw, and there is no idle change from zero to 2.5 turns. The hesitation is completely gone, and acceleration is very nice. Now the idle is low enough to control the bike in low speed without having to pull in the clutch. Much safer.

I found a black plastic tank that is under 3 gallons in the stuff I got with the bike. I like the looks quite a bit better than the huge (IMS?) tank shown above. Also it will help me maintain fresh fuel better. I don't know what brand this is. There is a part number on the inside saddle, but nothing turned up in a Google search. It accepted the same petcock as the above tank, so it may be the same brand.
 

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Now a new question about gearing.
I have 15/47 sprocket setup. The 15 looks a bit big, as it looks like it dug out the outside swing arm rubber. See picture. What gives? Is the sprocket too big? Or, is the swing arm bushing worn? The chain is set with plenty of play. The teeth are clearly grooving the rubber on the outside of the swing arm.
 

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Another KLX Enduro question.
Scott, the previous owner, put a fan on the radiator, along with a manual on off switch. I noticed while I was playing with the idle without the fan on (ambient temp 99 DegF) that the radiator bypass pressured up the tank. It was fully warmed up, and I was taking my own sweet time to adjust the idle. I turned on the fan and drove it, and that stopped the boiling. Checked the coolant after cool-down, and the level was at the top of the radiator.

Did the Enduro version come without a fan? That seems pretty risky to me. That was a pretty quick boil over. I have a gallon of Evans Waterless coolant. Maybe I should use it for this. I brought up using it in a previous post for my DRZ400. I just haven't gotten around to putting it in, yet. I want to know the best way to completely purge the old coolant out of the 400 cooling system. Just 3% water contamination makes the Evans coolant ineffective. Any comments appreciated.
 
Winsur4 said:
Another KLX Enduro question.
Scott, the previous owner, put a fan on the radiator, along with a manual on off switch. I noticed while I was playing with the idle without the fan on (ambient temp 99 DegF) that the radiator bypass pressured up the tank. It was fully warmed up, and I was taking my own sweet time to adjust the idle. I turned on the fan and drove it, and that stopped the boiling. Checked the coolant after cool-down, and the level was at the top of the radiator.

Did the Enduro version come without a fan? That seems pretty risky to me. That was a pretty quick boil over. I have a gallon of Evans Waterless coolant. Maybe I should use it for this. I brought up using it in a previous post for my DRZ400. I just haven't gotten around to putting it in, yet. I want to know the best way to completely purge the old coolant out of the 400 cooling system. Just 3% water contamination makes the Evans coolant ineffective. Any comments appreciated.
Click to expand...

The KLX400R and DRZ400E did not come with fans from the factory. My KLXR has never boiled over running regular antifreeze despite some fairly rough conditions. I had planned to add a fan, but it hasn't been necessary.
Extended idling will test any system and a bike without a fan will overheat, but moving just a little air will cool it quickly.

Have you checked or replaced your rad cap? I believe stock is 1.1 bar.

Rockymountainatv.com sells a 1.8 bar cap with a builtin gauge for about $25.

On the frame chain slider, the OEM slider is cut across the front edge from the factory. Hard to tell from the pic, but that looks like a factory slider. Street legal bikes came with 15/44 gearing. I dont know if the cut is to allow it to flex around the swingarm easier or relief for the sprocket. Some owners run a 16 tooth front, so there is enough clearance to the swingarm.
 
Great info. The radiator cap looks like something I might try. I also found a fan switch that attaches to the radiator. The fitting for the fan switch is not on the KLX radiator. I am still interested in trying the Evans Waterless Coolant.
 
Winsur4, the pic you posted looks like a 4gallon IMS tank, same as I run. http://www.justgastanks.com/suzuki-drz400-ims-gas-tanks/
I dont think anyone makes a 6G tank for the DRZ. The largest I know of is the 4.5G made by Aqualine. If you have a 6G tank. please let me know who made it. My KLX is my remote camping bike. One recent trip, I had 7.8 gallons strapped on it. I'd like to know if someone makes a significantly larger tank than the 4G IMS.
 
JT said:
Winsur4, the pic you posted looks like a 4gallon IMS tank, same as I run. http:k//www.justgastanks.com/suzuki-drz400-ims-gas-tanks/
I dont think anyone makes a 6G tank for the DRZ. The largest I know of is the 4.5G made by Aqualine. If you have a 6G tank. please let me know who made it. My KLX is my remote camping bike. One recent trip, I had 7.8 gallons strapped on it. I'd like to know if someone makes a significantly larger tank than the 4G IMS.
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I was told it was 6 by someone, but I don't remember who. It looks like it should hold more. A quick look at an IMS tank online does look like it. It does look bigger than 4 gallons.
 
IMS HERE IS 4.25
 

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