New to me blaster...couple questions

[RaWarrior]

I just got a '90 Blaster in trade for my old '93 Suzuki Quadrunner 4x4(painfully slow) that needed a fair bit of work. Plus, I rarely ever used or needed the 4x4 and wanted something a lot more fun for trails and jumping. Craigslist turned up someone who wanted to trade straight across, and here I am.

Apart from the kill switch not working(have to stall it) and the completely missing rear brake it's pretty nice. Runs like a top, 100% stock. Smooth idle, no hiccups, and the top end really screams. Way faster than I was expecting a 200 to be. Just as I think I'm about to over-rev the motor, the powerband hits like a lightswitch turning on. Guess I'm more used to 4 strokes there.

Couple questions:
-The oil injection bottle is gone, and there's a screw shoved in the hose. P/O said he always ran 40:1 premix(is that right?). Should I disable the pump by removing the gear, or does it really not matter?
-This thing is loud, even with the stock exhaust. I don't care so much, but a lot of people where I ride do and I don't want to start catching flak about the noise. Are any of the aftermarket silencers quieter than stock without killing power?
-How often should the trans oil be changed? A couple people I know with 2 stroke dirt bikes religiously change the oil after every ride, though that seems kind of excessive to me. 4 stroke motorcycles usually take 10-40 or so(as long as it's not "energy conserving"), I assume something similar here? Hell I only change the oil in the bike every 7 or 8k miles, when neutral gets hard to find.
-It leaks oil(couple drips overnight) from the shift-shaft seal. I assume it's just a "pry it out and shove the new one in" deal?
-I'm not sure if they're missing or were never there, but there is no heel guard and it would be pretty easy for your heel to go into the rear tire. Any suggestions on what to put there?
-The p/o said he thought it held about 2.5 gallons of gas when empty. Is that about right?


Overall though I'm pretty impressed with this little quad. It's light, agile, and surprisingly peppy. I was expecting the 2 stroke to have nothing in the low end, but it's really very trail friendly and has decent grunt down low. It's loads more fun than the old Quadrunner 230 I had a few years ago.

 

[scotj77]

32/1 is the mixture most of us run. never had stock exhaust but they are suppose to be pretty quiet. I change my trans oil with 10w40 4 stroke oil every time i go on an all day ride or about once every two weeks if i am ridding only an hour a day or so. 2.5 gallons is close to right i think. shift shaft.. that is how you do it. a lot of people mod for yzf 450 heal guards. hope this helps

 

[super noober]

wow thats kinda alot all at once man lol fist off welcome aboard you will love it here. i would do a cleaner job on the oil blockoff if it was me, i change my oil every couple rides. i run yfz 450 heel guards and they work/look great and can be had on ebay for pretty cheap. good luck man and any more questions feel free to ask

 

[royalt67]

The YFZ heel guards are cool, but the stockers are fine and a simple bolt on. Ebay is your friend. Hey Noober, don't you have some laying around?

I've never heard anyone call the stock exhaust loud before, but maybe your muffler packing is blown out?

The other guys covered everything else, I think, but personally I think there are alot of people out there who like to change oil. After all, it's just TRANSMISSION oil. There aren't even any combustion by-products getting in to it like a 4-stroke (assuming good crank seals). Oil under these conditions should be good for years! Ok, I don't go that long, but a couple of months should be no big deal (the manual says 6 months). I like magnetic drain plugs though, to cut down on floaters. The thing is, use good quality oil, I use synthetic, but seldom the $10/quart stuff. Yamaha says 10w/30 motor oil, just not anything with "friction modifiers" like slick50 or teflon.

 

[Whitty21]

all that info should tie it up nicely, i agree with royal on the packing, i suggest you just get new exhaust, more money but likely worth it. I can't really talk cause i somehow still have stock exhaust, F7 coming soon though, anyways, welcome man

 

[RaWarrior]

It's possible the muffler is blown out, I mean this thing really has the braaaaap sound when you get on it and it's loud.

While I know I'll probably get a million answers, what's a good aftermarket slip-on that doesn't cost a fortune? Looking on ebay there's loads of different brands, and styles within a brand (powercore vs turbinecore). If anybody has a used can (or heel guards) they'd be willing to part with for a reasonable price let me know.

Otherwise thanks for the other info. Already found a wiring diagram here to help me chase down it's electrical issues...lots of good info here.

 

[RaWarrior]

OK, took it out for the first "ride" yesterday. Before that I had just kind of run it around the yard a bit. Did probably 40 miles. Got all the electrical gremlins sorted out with the help of the manual.

Anyway, noticed a couple things. After running it hard(not necessarily WOT), but say at a moderate RPM in 5th gear for several minutes, when I slowed down, the idle was really high. If you shut it down, waited a minute or two, then restarted, it was fine again and at the normal speed. Temps were around 70-75 all day, dry/dusty trails with some time in a sand pit. When I got this quad, the airbox lid was already missing, though the p/o seemed pretty clueless mechanical-wise about the quad. He said when he got it it ran like crap, so he got a used carb off an '03 and put on. So I'm pretty doubtful he has ever touched the carb(when I got it the idle screw was totally shut, he wondered why it wouldn't idle). IME, a fast idle means it was running too hot. Could the missing airbox lid and (assume) stock jetting make it run too lean? If so, what jet would you suggest if the airbox is open?

Second, I blew through a puddle that was deeper than I was expecting. The motor cut out, came back, farted a bit, then died. When I kicked it, it would "sneeze" out the exhaust, every time. After like 10 minutes of trying to re-start it, sneeze...sneeze....sneeze.....vroom, it randomly fired right back up again and ran fine. I had drained the bowl and let it refill to no avail. Something got wet in the ignition maybe?

Otherwise it was a strong performer all day. Was pretty much dead even with a Raptor 350, a 400ex nudged me out, but not by that much(rider was on the "heavy" side too lol). It was fine for a couple feet of air, but beyond that and I felt the rear end start bottoming out. Suspension upgrade is probably next on the list....the stock shocks certainly leave something to be desired.

 

[Dude]

You need to rejet the carb for the lack of airbox lid my man!

 

[RaWarrior]

It had a 250 main in it, which I assume is stock. Plug was a grayish-yellow color. Not too bad, but looked a bit on the lean side.

I went up to a 290, but that was definitely too rich. Plug was black, wouldn't hold an idle for more than a few seconds, and bogged all over the place. Even at 50:1, it was smoking like crazy. Then split the difference and tried a 270, which worked out a lot better. Plug is now the ideal cardboard color, idles good after playing with the screw a bit, and virtually no bogging(only if you keep the RPMs up for a long time after letting off the gas, it'll hesitate a tiny bit when you get back on).

I tried 32:1, and the smoke was ridiculous. I mean I was leaving clouds behind me on the trail, people in my group were complaining about it was so bad, they all said I must be running waaaay too rich on oil. I'm using Amsoil HP Injector, what I've always used in my 2 strokes(get a good deal on it). It specifies for pre-mix to use 50:1, so I tried that. Smoke is still pretty substantial, you can still "see" puffs, but just right out of the muffler, it doesn't "hang around" like it did before.

 

[royalt67]

Sounds like for a "newbie" you are figuring it out fairly well. You are probably in the right ballpark now with your jetting. Some suggestions you might try for that hesitation. Check your needle and see what slot the clip is in. Hard to tell from here if that is a lean hesitation or a rich bog, but if it in the #2 from the top then try #3. If it is in #3 then try #2. You might also try a slightly larger pilot jet (25?)

Blasters don't usually smoke bad at 32:1. Chances are your shift shaft seal is not the only one you should be thinking about replacing. It's a good bet that you need to replace the crank seals. You can put them off for a while since it runs good (you are compensating for the airleak with jetting), but keep an eye on your oil level, a leaking right side seal will suck a lot of oil.

Decent price for a complete set.
YAMAHA BLASTER COMPLETE OIL SEAL KIT CRANK-TRANS CASE: eBay Motors (item 200444500707 end time Oct-25-10 12:20:24 PDT)

 

[RaWarrior]

I'm pretty familiar with snowmobiles and motorcycles so the carb tuning/jetting thing isn't totally foreign to me, but I don't know a whole lot about 2 stroke wet clutch motors like this. Most of my experience is with 4 stroke CV carb motors that just share the oil for everything.

There's no oil leak underneath the quad anymore after changing the shift seal, but I did notice that after burning a full tank of gas, the trans oil was down maybe a bit. Not a huge drop, like maybe from the top of the sight glass to maybe half way down after all day. But what you say makes sense, the crank seals are probably a bit leaky. How big of a deal is that to change? Are those a "normal maintenance" item, or something that shouldn't really need to ever be changed(ideally)?

 

[royalt67]

They go bad over time, get brittle, lips wear out. That much loss is actually pretty significant. You should def change them. If you haven't already downloaded the service manual then do so. It has nice pics and explanations for teardown.

You will need a flywheel puller to do the left side (might as well do both). This one is the easiest. Remove left cover, flywheel, and stator assy. Pop it out, tap in a new one.

The left is harder, but not horrible. You remove the clutch assy and a couple gears to get down to it. Couple tips. Remove the right peg first, it has to come off to remove the cover. Tip the bike on its side a bit, I put 5gal buckets under the right side tires and stabilize with a strap to an overhead beam. this not only makes it easier to work on but also makes it impossible for the little clutch ball (inside clutch shaft) to fall out while you aren't looking. Also, before you take out the clutch, notice the marks on the hub and basket, that hub only goes in one way upon reassembly. Use blue locktite on the seal retainer screw, nowhere else.

This will make a big difference in how it runs, you might have to adjust your jetting.