I bought an '02 Savage stock, it has about 15k miles on it. I have a non heated garage to do work in. My wrenching level is zero, however I do fix printers and copiers for a living so i'm good at following instructions and reading diagrams. I live in northern Indiana so it gets a tad cold in the winter, so i'm wondering if i should leave jetting the carbs till the spring? Anyway here is the list of things i would like to do to my bike over the winter months, please let me know if i'm going to bite off more then i can chew.

1. Broken things:
* The horn does not work, i'd like to replace it with a 125db one if possible, but first i need to break out the multi meter to see whats wrong in the first place.
* I am missing a screw that hold the brake line bracket into the front fender, need to get one of those.

2. General Maintenance:
* Oil change (do that in the spring right?)
* Change the brake fluid (because i want to?)
* Cleaning and polishing. i have some blue on the pipes i want to remove plus a general chrome polish is in order.
* Replace spark plug, because its $11 and why not.

3. Tuning/upgrades. I live at about 600ft above sea level and i get back firing and blue on the pipes:
* Remove that brass plug and use the set screw.
* replace the stock air filter with a K&N high flow version
* replace the exhaust
* clean the carbs
* rejet the carbs. I should do this in the spring as close to riding season as possible right?


4. Cosmetic
* remove gas tank to have a body shop beat the dents out/paint it
* replace tail light with LED light
* replace headlight with LED light
* New pegs
* new gel grips

I just want to know if im getting in over my head with all this.

got ya, also, would installing one of these be hard to do? http://www.amazon.com/SAE-USB-Adapter-Motorcycle-Charger/dp/B007VFFQRE/ref=sr...

While it list compatibility with iphone, don't count on it as found out by another member recently.

- an $11.00 spark plug ain't gonna' do anything that a $3.00 spark plug won't...

- LED lights are iffy... some work good and are really bright, some can't be seen at all in daylight...
...and they're just plain annoying as headlights...

- also,.. get a Raptor petcock (see tech section)...
... and check the timing chain adjuster...

Use Shell Rotella oil... synth or dyno...

How's yer' tires?... Brake pads?...

verslagen1 wrote on 08/18/14 at 09:22:40:


I have an android phone.

No, rear brakes get squeaky when you need to take them apart and clean them up a bit.  Washing the bike and putting it away wet is not good, or letting it sit where it gets wet.

Take the rear wheel off, clean every thing off, sand the rust off the steel drum and a light sanding off the shoes to remove the glaze, then clean them off.  While you have it apart it never hurts to lube the shaft in the hub.

Dave

Xenokilla wrote on 08/18/14 at 07:17:05:


If you're rejetting, expect to go through some spark plugs. I bought a 10-pack for about $25. I went through 4 plugs before I got the carb dialed in. You don't want to rejet with $11 spark plugs.

Rejetting means riding, riding soft, riding hard. You want to do this testing on dry, straight roads. So, yeah, wait for spring, but do take the carb out over the winter, do the white spacer mod, replace the  screws  with hex fasteners, that will make re-jetting a 20 minute job come baseball season. Identify the jets that you have in the carb when you're cleaning the carb, then order 1-2-3 stages up on the main, and at least one stage up on the pilot.

Budget an entire afternoon to flushing & bleeding the brake fluid. It's kind of tricky, and it helps to have three hands.

1st2know wrote on 08/18/14 at 19:25:22:

Well maybe not to a trained hand.
put a tube on the bleeder and put it in a jar.
remove the top on the master.
crack the bleeder then pop the top off a beer.
if you guzzle the beer, you should see the fluid coming out before you finish.  if not, open the bleeder more and open another beer. now it should be flowing good, if not, put your finger over the end of the tube lightly and squeeze the lever...    ok, brake lever this time.  cap the tube tightly with your finger and release and squeeze again.  once it's flowing wipe your finger off and sip your beer.  Don't let the master suck air, watch the level and let it go down, but fill it before it can suck air.  it will start to suck down a little cone down then refill and keep it full.  Since you're not supposed to keep an open can, buy the small can push it about half to 2/3 thru the can.  That'll clean out the whole system and give you enough to make sure you don't have to open another.

there are speed bleeders and other little devices that make it easier to bleed by putting a one way valve on or in place of the stock bleeder.  but a gravity bleed is easy, just watch the level.