Time to see what all the Tecate hype is about?

[brandonlowe2]

These are a buddy's of mine here in town....

[Red Rider]

I went ahead and ordered up a petcock rebuild kit on Tuesday, and it arrived today. I was tempted to just get a complete aftermarket petcock, but I was hoping to keep the original one if possible. While rebuilding it, I realized the petcock was missing the long tube and filter that leaves some fuel available for reserve. As it was, it only had the filter for reserve. Had I realized this sooner, I would have sprung for the aftermarket petcock. Anyway, I used the rebuild kit to rebuild the original petcock and it works like a charm. After about 30 minutes of searching in the garage, I found a suitable tube to add to the "ON" side of the petcock, thus allowing some reserve fuel to be left over. The new "ON" tube won't have a filter on it like the "RES" side does, but I will be running an inline filter between the petcock and carburetor anyway, so it really doesn't matter. The main leak was coming from the petcock-to-tank gasket, but after the rebuild no more leaky there either.

Now that the first hurdle has been cleared, tomorrow I can reinstall the tank, add some fuel to her, and fire her up so I can start trouble-shooting the KIPS.

[Red Rider]

Contrary to my expectations, I didn't get done what I planned to accomplish today/tonight. My plans were fairly simple: Reinstall the tank, add some fuel to her, and fire her up so I could start trouble-shooting the KIPS. Before I could install the tank, I noticed the L top radiator mount was attached to the frame via bailing wire & a zip-tie. Off on a tangent we go! No big deal, I'll just find the appropriate sized bolt/washer, and I'm good to go. Well, as luck would have it, the vibrating bailing wire has boogered up the nut's threads. Not wanting to remove the L radiator to quickly re-tap the threads, it was a slow, half turn at a time process to re-tap the threads with the radiator still installed, but problem solved.

Back to the tank installation. While preparing to install new fuel line, I notice that the carburetor-to-airbox boot is pulling away from the boot mounting ring, and just doesn't look right. Oh no, sidetracked again! I remove the FAIS airbox from the bike and proceed to remove the boot from the airbox. Oh well, the airbox is filthy, and needs a good cleaning anyway (rationalizing). After removing the boot from the airbox, I can see what's wrong. When the boot's flange was sandwiched in between the airbox and the airfilter cage, it wasn't flat (had a wrinkle in the flange). Contaminants were able to enter the airbox via the wrinkle, but weren't able to bypass the airfilter, so it wasn't critical, but it wasn't correct either. There goes about 2 hours to clean the entire airbox, fix the boot wrinkle, and reinstall. Now, back to the new fuel line. Tank installation goes smoothly, as does the new fuel line & inline fuel filter install. Pour some fresh fuel in, open the petcock, and fuel flows through the inline filter, and into the carburetor as it should.

The Tecate fires up fairly easily (for a forward kicking Honda guy), but I can't get it to idle, and I'm tired, dirty, & hungry. Time to clean up & call it quits for the night.

[Red Rider]

I got a little more work done on the Tecate today. While waiting for my friend (the owner) to arrive, I came up with a plan for the airbox lid. In the pics, you may have noticed that someone (previous owner) had gone crazy with a 1/4" & 1/2" drill bit on the lid. I'm all for more airflow, but the randomly drilled holes looked like crap. My plan is to rivet on a tastefully designed aluminum sheet metal ring to the lid's perimeter, which covers the holes on the perimeter of the lid. The center of the ring will then have a screen insert.

After my friend arrived, I removed the actuator cover, and the L rack plug. He fired it up, and kept it running, while I checked for actuator lever movement. No matter how high he revved it, the actuator lever never moved. My next step is to remove the clutch cover & cylinder, and check all of the power-valve components.

[yaegerb]

I got a little more work done on the Tecate today. While waiting for my friend (the owner) to arrive, I came up with a plan for the airbox lid. In the pics, you may have noticed that someone (previous owner) had gone crazy with a 1/4" & 1/2" drill bit on the lid. I'm all for more airflow, but the randomly drilled holes looked like crap. My plan is to rivet on a tastefully designed aluminum sheet metal ring to the lid's perimeter, which covers the holes on the perimeter of the lid. The center of the ring will then have a screen insert.

After my friend arrived, I removed the actuator cover, and the L rack plug. He fired it up, and kept it running, while I checked for actuator lever movement. No matter how high he revved it, the actuator lever never moved. My next step is to remove the clutch cover & cylinder, and check all of the power-valve components.

Here's a tip for the powervalve. If you find that it is severely corroded you can use easy off oven cleaner to remove the carbon from the part. Just spray the blade and components liberally, let sit for a few minutes and dunk in hot water. Repeat if necessary and do this in a well ventilated area. I did this once in my shop and about got gassed out.

P.S....I can't believe people use that product in their ovens.

[Red Rider]

Today's progress: I spent about 3 hours tearing down the Tecate today. After getting it to this point, I cleaned up the garage and quit for the night. I didn't thoroughly inspect everything yet, but a quick toying with the power-valve mechanism leads me to believe the centrifugal governor/actuator lever/rod is functioning correctly & freely. I can't seem to get the power-valves to open & close because the rack will not slide side-to-side freely, which it should. My guess is the power-valves are carboned up pretty good and will not rotate freely. The next time I work on it, I will focus my attention on disassembling the power-valves, and decarbonizing them. Since I am in need of a clutch cover & top-end gasket set, what do you Kawi guys recommend? I'm guessing I can go aftermarket (vesrah or cometic) on most of the engine's gaskets, but stay OEM for the cylinder head/base gasket?

[barnett468]

Since I am in need of a clutch cover & top-end gasket set, what do you Kawi guys recommend? I'm guessing I can go aftermarket (vesrah or cometic) on most of the engine's gaskets, but stay OEM for the cylinder head/base gasket?

My first choice for the head and base gaskets would be the factory gaskets since they are not known to have failures on "The TECATE....The Most Powerful 3 Wheeler In The Universe!", plus I don't know how the thickness of the other mfg's gaskets compare to them.

My second choice would be the Cometics . I have used many of their gaskets on the high perf automotive engines I have built and know many other people using them in extremely high compression apps with turbos and superchargers etc with xlnt results.



PREVIOUS KAWASAKI INTERNATIONAL R & D PROJECT ENGINEER AND ATV DEPARTMENT SUPERVISOR

[Red Rider]

That's pretty much what I expected. Thank you.

Well, I went back out into the garage after dinner, and decided to disassemble the cylinder. The power-valves were stuck pretty good, but I got everything removed. All of the gear splines on the rack and power-valves are okay. So far we've lucked out, and none of the hard to find power-valve parts have been damaged.

[RamsesRibb]

Can anyone explain why a T-4 handles like a banshee with one of the front wheels broken off

[barnett468]

Can anyone explain why a T-4 handles like a banshee with one of the front wheels broken off

Yes.


PREVIOUS KAWASAKI INTERNATIONAL R & D PROJECT ENGINEER AND ATV DEPARTMENT SUPERVISOR

[Red Rider]

Can anyone explain why a T-4 handles like a banshee with one of the front wheels broken off

Mainly because Barnett wasn't the "KAWASAKI INTERNATIONAL R & D PROJECT ENGINEER AND ATV DEPARTMENT SUPERVISOR" during it's development.

[barnett468]

Mainly because Barnett wasn't the "KAWASAKI INTERNATIONAL R & D PROJECT ENGINEER AND ATV DEPARTMENT SUPERVISOR" during it's development.

Actually I was, and I had personally modified the dangerous pos prototype that R and D in Japan had sent us so that it was actually better than the stock Suzuki in several ways . I did this in the face of vehement protests from the project manger from Japan whom came to the US for our testing of it whom also called Japan from out offices whining to them that I was going to cut his pos IN HALF in hopes of getting them to stop me . He did this to try and save face, and his job, because he was so confident that they had designed a masterpiece that he thought we would only make very small changes to it, therefore he had them make finished molds for many of the parts for it BEFORE he sent it to us to be tested . This meant that if they built it the way I wanted which is what ALL the people in the US R and D department preferred as well as what one of the top PRO 4 wheel racers in the country I eventually hired to do comparative testing preferred, it would have cost them a huge amount of money and delayed the project several more months and he likely would have have been transferred to their noodle making division.



PREVIOUS KAWASAKI INTERNATIONAL R & D PROJECT ENGINEER AND ATV DEPARTMENT SUPERVISOR

[OZQUAD44]

[QUOTE=arlaunch;1441257]

.
So you decided to get a high performance bike to go along with your 250r

That is the funniest post i have almost ever seen!

Thank you for staying on here barnett468.

Unlike 2 or 3 others i appreciate your posts. Especially when they are super duper funny!!

Agreed, we can always trust Barnett to espouse the virtues of green in the face of adversity. Regardless of what may. Sometimes it fails, sometimes it comes up gold. Don't change Barnett [emoji12]

I ride; red, green, blue (technically black and yellow), and yellow (as in four wheels, but let's not dwell on that) Each has its strengths, and each has its weaknesses.

Having owned a stock 87 T3, and having ridden a stock 86 250R, and currently owning a modified 85 250R. Make no mistake, pound for pound, a standard Tecate will eat a standard 250r for breakfast! The Tecate is lighter, it has more power, and lighting fast handling. Any one who doubts this hasn't ridden, good running, stock machines back to back. You only have to watch some of the old videos of the staduim races from back in the day, with a sea of privateers racing on green machines to confirm this.

But... The tecate has far more vibration, the backwards kick starter tries to remove the front of your shin/foot each time you kick it over, and there is not enough people around riding/modifying Tecates.

The solid design, and popularity of the Honda is it's real strength. Don't forget the 86 250R was in its third generation by the time 60 minutes killed our great sport. Years of racing ATC and trx250r's has given the honda a body of R&D, and a market full of parts tecate riders can only dream of.

Like I said, each machine has its strengths, and weaknesses. And you know what, I love this fact. Each machine is unique. And I also love that there are people on this site that are firmly in the red, green or blue camps.

Three tribes riding on three wheels, ROCK ON!



Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[christph]

Actually I was, and I had personally modified the dangerous pos prototype that R and D in Japan had sent us so that it was actually better than the stock Suzuki in several ways . I did this in the face of vehement protests from the project manger from Japan whom came to the US for our testing of it whom also called Japan from out offices whining to them that I was going to cut his pos IN HALF in hopes of getting them to stop me . He did this to try and save face, and his job, because he was so confident that they had designed a masterpiece that he thought we would only make very small changes to it, therefore he had them make finished molds for many of the parts for it BEFORE he sent it to us to be tested . This meant that if they built it the way I wanted which is what ALL the people in the US R and D department preferred as well as what one of the top PRO 4 wheel racers in the country I eventually hired to do comparative testing preferred, it would have cost them a huge amount of money and delayed the project several more months and he likely would have have been transferred to their noodle making division.



PREVIOUS KAWASAKI INTERNATIONAL R & D PROJECT ENGINEER AND ATV DEPARTMENT SUPERVISOR

So, I'm unclear on the conclusion to this story, did they keep the original design or agree to some of your changes? Is it only the handling of the T-4 that is the problem or does it have other issues?

I wouldn't mind getting one someday, even though I'm not a big fan of how it looks. You guys knocked it out of the park with the looks of the 2nd generation Tecate 3 but the T-4 looks a bit odd to me.

For those of you looking to improve the handling of the T-4 there is a guy on Youtube--calls himself Dr. Q.--that discusses how to do it. He specializes in Quadracers but apparently has dabbled in the T-4.

[barnett468]

So, I'm unclear on the conclusion to this story, did they keep the original design or agree to some of your changes? Is it only the handling of the T-4 that is the problem or does it have other issues?

I wouldn't mind getting one someday, even though I'm not a big fan of how it looks.

Hi christph;

The story regarding the T4 is actually a VERY long one and I don't want to side track Red Riders thread regarding "The TECATE....The Most Powerful 3 Wheeler In The World!" with it so I will make this short for now . The handling was the only major issue . The single biggest problems are that it is too narrow and too short and the weight is biased too much to the front, so after some calculating I cured both of these problems by literally cutting the frame in half with a saw forward of the engine and lengthening it by around 1 1/2" . This may not sound like much of a change but it made a huge difference and huge improvement, and along with increasing the suspension stiffness, it finally allowed us to test it much more safely at much higher speeds.

We also had FIVE different people testing it at the same time from US R and D at one point just to prove to the project mgr and engineers from Japan that my modified version was far superior to theirs . In fact, with the exception of the 4 foot tall 90 pound rider that was the test rider for the bike in Japan, EVERYONE from the US went much faster on it (like around 10 seconds a lap) and 3 of the US testers had never even ridden a high perf 4 wheeler like the Suzuki before, however, their slow ass bozo "expert" rider from Japan whom could barely beat our novice riders went SLOWER on the modified bike . Well, I'm not saying that he intentionally went slower on my modified version to save himself from being transferred to the noodle factory also but it sure seemed more than a little odd to all of us in the US.

I was also planned to widen the track by around 1 - 1 1/2" but needed to test the longer chassis first to see exactly what affect that would have but after that was tested the clown in charge packed the bike up and went home and finished the "testing" there.

There were also a few ergonomic and ground clearance issues but these were insignificant by comparison to the massive handling issues . At the request of the head of all R and D in the US, I made a very lengthy report containing the test results and conclusions and exact detailed measurements/specs to improve all the areas of the bike we felt needed changing to make it acceptable to us.

The engine and gearing in the prototype was superb and I only planned minor changes to test.

Anyway, against EVERYONE'S wishes at US R and D, the clown from Japan made absolutely zero significant changes and the production bike is basically identical to the pos prototype.

This being said, if you are 4 feet tall and want a miniature 4 wheeler that is capable of turning on a dime and hurling the knobs off of the tires at will with a mere twist of the throttle, it is a great bike....as log as you don't plan on riding it faster than around 20 mph over moderately rough terrain, in which case you should make sure your insurance policy includes an accidental death clause.

They also asked me to build a T4 from a stock 85 Tecate using as many of the Tecate parts as possible which I did and it too handled far better than the T4 prototype and weighed around 20 lbs less but they killed the project partially because they eventually decided they didn't want to build two similar 4 wheelers that would be competing against each other for sales.

You guys knocked it out of the park with the looks of the 2nd generation Tecate 3 but the T-4 looks a bit odd to me.

I too love the styling of the 86/87 T3 compared to the "agricultural" look of the previous years but that styling was all done in Japan and we made only very minor changes to it in the US so we can't take any credit for that nor did any of us in the US care who got credit for anything since we believed that bike development was a TEAM effort, but unfortunately R and D in Japan seemed to share this concept less and less as time went by and I would be surprised if Kawasaki even still has a "real" R and D department in the US any longer.



PREVIOUS KAWASAKI INTERNATIONAL R & D PROJECT ENGINEER AND ATV DEPARTMENT SUPERVISOR