GarnZ

Slice..... I had a look at >The TX/XS 500 Forum? www.xs500forum.com. Just what I wanted. Thanks again. RegardZ

Slice, thanks for that confirmatioin... Now, do I need to remove enge from frame to remove head? YPVS TONE, excuse ny ignorance .... Where do I see PM's RegardZ

JimR, It is a two piece head and my examination idicates there is no way I can remove the head without breaking the camchain as it appears to be looped thru the head alloy casting.

I just checked out a 1973 TX500 head and it appears that I will have to split the cam-chain just to remove the head. Can anyone confirm this? I am also wondering now, is there enough room to remove the head whilst engine is in the frame? The engine is running well (low mileage) there is just a bit of an oil leak about level with the two inside exhaust bolts RegardZ

I have a 1998 FZX 250 and the damper rod is a fixed length, non adjustable. It appears the only adjustment available is the amount of fluid and weight you put in. It also has distance pieces that are thin wall tubes 110 mm long. I was told 350ml each leg, This sounds correct as the there was 300ml in when dismantled. I agree and it makes sense to control amount of fluid to riders weight and to take your time when filling. Just can't understand the bit mentioned above. Probably perculiar to the later YZF 250 RegardZ.

Thanks Drewpy, all carbs are off long, philip head driver, rubbers are good. I would hate to fit one of the throttle cables without removing the carbs. RegardZ.

How do I remove the carbs on my Yamaha FZX Zeal. Do I have to drop the engine? I can look down, with a lot of gear off the bike, and see some hex socket headed bolts holding down each carb. My thought is, that the engine is designed to drop down, once the external hex socket headed bolts are removed from the side of the engine/chassis. Any help will be appreciated! Also, just noticed clamps around manifold rubbers. A tiny little phillips head screw holding the clamp secure... How do I get those out? RegardZ

Drewpy, thanks for your comment. I usually have the fork bottoms polished, however, I thought I would try and see if I can get that original finish. This first photo is the lower front fork of a Kawaski Z1,,, Polished. The seond photo is of the Yamaha Zeal .... Linished finish (stage one). This was done very carefully on a bench-grinder linishing attachment using that pot scourer type belt. I still have to "hand finish" by standing upright in a soft jaw vice and with a long piece of "3M" pot scourer work backward and forwards to get the desired finish. I was surprised how good the "scourer" belt performed.... No groove or ripples. Stage two will tell me how well I've done, then (stage three), the POR "Glisten"... the non-yellowing clear coat. Just in case some of you haven't seen the grinder attachment mentioned above, this is it! RegardZ.

I have decided to clean up the alloy lower front forks. I usually get them polished to look pretty. This time I am going to have a crack at linishing and then hit them with non-yellowing clear lacquer. Here they are now ~ RegardZ.

Here is the Taper Roller Bearing Set supplied.... "LInk" ... made in Japan Part # 90 - 140 - 03 Steering Bearing Set. Suitable for... Yamaha: FZ400R '92-93, TX500 '73-74, XS500 '75-78, XS500R, XZ550, FZ600 '86-88, SRX600, TX650 '74, XJ650/S , XS650/S TX750 '73, XJ750, XS1, XV750SE, XV920 XV1000 '81-82. A bit of a worry, they don't mention the little Yamaha FZX250 Zeal! Regardz

Thanks guys, as Drewpy and Airhead mentioned, I was able to order a set of tapered roller bearings for the Zeal. Evidently, they are used on other Yamaha models ... XS500 and TRX something! I will post the make and part number when they come in along with their "like" machine/s. RegardZ.

I have just pulled the upper & lower triple trees off a 1998 Zeal and found the 19 ball bearing surfaces galled and coroded. Do they make Taper roller bearings for this model Zeal? RegardZ.

Without a workshop manual available, I will save more queies on separate topics. On this topic.... Does 300ml per leg seem right for fork oil? It seems a little high , however there is a 110mm hollow spacer that would take a bit of filling! The 300ml was approx the amount of oil I drained out of the legs. I'll use 15 weight! Regardz. Ps.... Just cheated to edit my findings from the Zelous forum........... Specifications Say ~ 350ml /leg could this be the reason They were sagging?

Here is where I put the bar, to lift front of bike, for the removal of front forks... There was minimum lifting, as the removal of the front wheel and brake caliper allowed necessary ground clearance. Anyone know the weight and fork oil capacity of these Zeals? RegardZ.

Thanks for your answers. I did solve the problem... I firstly removed the front guard/ fender, then I removed the fuel tank and put the bike in gear on a flat surface. I was then able to utilise that initial idea of hanging the bike between two saw horses (photo tomorrow) . I carefully passed a length of gal water pipe, about 1 metre long, through the space where two structual members are joined. I removed the coils, only because the coils leads did not allow me to view the path of the pipe and to avoid any damage. I only had to add a couple of blocks of wood on top of the saw horses to just have the front wheel lift trom the gound. This could be done by hand (no jack required) one side at a time. I loosened all the fork retaining bolts and removed the two front brake retaining bolts. I then extracted the front axle after removing the clamping allan headed bolt. The forks were easily removed. I undid the top caps and removed the springs and spacer (plus a 1mm washer) I have purchasesd new fork seals and have some 15 wt fluid. There is a spacer at the top 110 mm long. As a practice assembly, I put the spring in the tube and followed it with the long spacer. I then tried to compress the assemby and screw the top cap down. NO way!....... PROBLEM. I may have to call on some expertise from a motorcycle shop to get that spring compressed, top up with oil and get that top cap screwwed down! In the mean time, I will need an 8mm In-hex socket ( long.... approx 35mm) to remove the damper unit from the bottom of the forks.... Will require a impact driver (rattle gun). More later.... RegardZ.

Sorry, I think I placed my query in the "Bar" initially. Anyway, here it is in the correct area. How do I remove the front forks from the Zeal which hasn't got a centre-stand? There doesn't seem a suitable point to jack the front of the bike to do the job! My thoughts are ~ Make up a dummy side-stand for the opposite side! Not sure where balance point is! Pass a solid bar through a gap in the frame (tank removed) and support it on two saw-horses. Help is needed ... RegardZ.

I'm thinking if buying a Yamaha FZX 250 Zeal. Early as poss after 1992 The first thing to tackle is.....How do I get the seat a bit higher? Thinking about... having extra foam in seat professionally done! It looks dificult because of the smooth design wrapping under the tank. Providing larger wheels. Particularly front wheel. Longer shocks on rear. Any suggestions welcome. RegardZ.

Hi members, I'm new to Yamaha have been interested mainly in 71-78 Kawasaki Z1's for the last 20 odd years. I'm not much with two strokes ... looking at small 4 stroke Yamaha's. Couldn't help to notice the beautiful design of those FZx 250's "Zeal" about 91-99 odd. Love to fit a 450 motor in them. Love that "Porpoise" tank.... clever frame design.... Would like to lift the seat a touch! Possibly bigger front wheel? Will pursue this interest later under the correct topic in this forum. RegardZ ~ Garn <Sydney, Australia>