Project Yamaha Fazer 600 Part 2 Cam-Chain Of Fools!

Al has picked up a neglected Fazer to pass the time while his turbo ZRX is at the exhaust welders. He’s made a mixed bag of discoveries this month. Would you like the good news or the bad news first?

So, on with my rather neglected 43kmile T-reg Fazer 600: I’m going to start with the good…

As we covered last month, the first issues to look at are the rattly cam-chain and the leaky carbs, so I charge down to Wokingham with a car boot full of tools and cameras. Big CC obviously has a wall of Snap-On tool chests, but as we know, there’s nothing like your own tools, even if they’re a bit ‘pro-am’. Besides, whenever I work down there, I spend more time looking for tools in unfamiliar chests than I do using them.

The Fazer fundamentals come flooding back (I’ve had a couple of these in years gone by) and I have the seat and side panels off in minutes, followed by the tank. There’s a minor panic when I get to the fuel tap – when I turn it ‘off’, it starts leaking from the tap body. I quickly unplug the fuel sensor wiring, breather pipes and fuel line, then whip the tank up and off and outside, sitting it at an angle so the fuel stops dripping.

The Fazer fuel arrangements are a bit weird as it happens. It’s carburetted, obviously, but has an external electric fuel pump, presumably to improve on the gravity feed. The tap is not accessible until you lift the tank, so it’s not something you can turn off on a regular basis. If it’s only moved a few times in the past 20 years, I’m guessing that might be part of the reason for its leaking when I do finally turn it off.