Derestrict your bike! A guide here!

[JonB]

OK, so I have been sat around today pretty bored at uni and I was thinking of topics that were kind of lacking on this forum. I notice there are a huge amount of threads with members from here on restricted licences asking how to "de-restrict" their bikes. Now I know an easy option is to take it too a garage and pay £30 for an hours worth of labour. But to be honest you can easily do it yourself. Take it from me, nearly 3 years ago I had no mechanical knowledge whatsoever and I managed to take parts off my bike, replace some important inlets in the carburettors, put it back together and have a fully working bike.

The aim of this guide is hopefully to have multiple contributions for other members of this forum each hopefully detailing how to de-restrict their bike, so hopefully we will have enough guides to cover most of the main bikes. If your bike is not present in this thread then you can take some info from these bikes and apply it to your own especially if you own a bike of the same make. I do recommend buying or borrowing a workshop manual to help you as they are very good. However I bought myself a Haynes Manual to help me through. It looks complicated when you look through the manual but it is actually very easy to use.

This guide can be used to describe how to de-restrict a bike from 33BHP or even something as simple as a 50cc or 125cc. It will always be there to help somebody de-restrict their bike. Obviously there are legal implications to de-restricting your bike and I do not condone breaking the bindings of your insurance contract and licence, therefore if any legal complications come to the fore later on, I will not take any responsibility at all.

My guide will be on how to de-restrict a Suzuki Bandit 600 with the Official Suzuki Restriction Kit. This is not the same as the FI international kit, but I will provide information on how to take the carburettors out of the Bandit so you can take the washers out of the inlets.

Unfortunately I have no pictures to accompany my guide, however I might upload a few in a couple of weeks showing which parts to unscrew etc. I am not taking full credit for this guide, it is in my own words, but a lot of the information comes from my Haynes manual. My Bandit is also a K4 2004 model so can vary a little compared to the pre-2000 Bandit 600's, however pretty much all of it is the same.

So here we start. Make sure your bike is off and can be on the side-stand, no need for it to be on the centre stand at all, though if you find the lean a little difficult to operate on, it can be helpful to use the centre stand. The main things to be done to get to the carburettors on the Bandit is to separate the carburettors from the engine and the airbox.

First of all you need to remove the fuel tank. Make sure the fuel tap is turned to the ON position and that the fuel cap is secure. Remove the seat and the side panels (this is quite easily on K models onwards there are 3 Allen key bolts that can be undone, the side panels just slide off. The side panels are black). Remove the screw from the centre of the fuel tap knob, then pull the knob off the tap. next you need to unscrew the bolts securing the rear of the tank to the tank bracket on the frame. These are usually four quite large bolts with some spacers beneath them. Next draw the tank back slightly and raise it up at the rear, then release the clamp securing the fuel hose to the tap and detach the hose. Also detach the vacuum hose from the tap and the water drain hose from it's union on the underside of the tank. On Post K model Bandits disconnect the fuel gauge wire connector. Remove the tank by carefully drawing it back and away from the bike, take care not to lose the mounting rubbers from the front of the tank and from the sides of the tank and the frame, noting how they fit. Finally just makes you store the tank carefully.

So that is the fuel tank removed, now on to isolating the air box and the carburettors. Firstly on post K Model Bandit's remove the trim panel from each side of the machine; they are secured by two screws and a hook at the lower mounting point. (The trim is shiny silver). On post K Models remove the two screws from the top of the air filter housing which retain it to the frame tabs, also remove the four bolts which retain the fuel tank mounting bracket to the frame. On all models, release the clamp securing the breather hose to the front of the air filter housing where fitted and detach the hose. Slacken the clamps securing the air filter housing rubbers to the carburettor air intakes. Manoeuvre the air filter housing backwards do that the rubbers detach from the carburettor intakes and provide clearance for the carburettors to be removed. Remove the air filter cover from the housing to provide extra clearance, if required - it is secured by two screws. Note how the lugs on the bottom of the cover locate in the slots in the housing. On GSF600Y/SY models onwards trace the throttle position sensor wiring and disconnect the connector. On UK GSF600V/SV models onwards (or earlier models if fitted), disconnect the carburettor heater wiring connectors from the carburettors. Slacken the clamps securing the carburettors to the cylinder head adapters and ease the carburettors off the adapters, noting how they fit. Manoeuvre the carburettors out of the right hand side of the frame, noting the routing of the various hoses, and support them on the frame or engine for the removal of the cables. (Note Keep the carburettors upright to prevent fuel spillage from the float chambers and the possibility of the piston diaphragms being damaged).

Next we need to detach the throttle cables from the carburettors. I'll tell you now, I didn't have to go that far with this kit as I could get to required part of the carburettor with it still in between the air box and engine, but detached. However for those of you who need to get in the carburettors I'll go into detail as to how to do it. Right to detach the throttle cables from the carburettors you need to slacken the top locknut on one of the cables, then unscrew the adjuster until the bottom locknut is clear of the bracket. Free the adjuster from it's mounting bracket and detach the inner cable from the throttle cam. Repeat for the other cable. Keep the carburettors upright to prevent fuel spillage.

Now we need to disconnect the choke cable and to do this we need to free the choke outer cable from it's Oval shaped bracket on the carburettor and detach the inner cable from the choke linkage bar. Note how the spring ends locate on the bracket and linkage bar.

Back to the carburettors and it's necessary to slacken the drain screws and drain all of the fuel from the carburettors. Once all the fuel is drained, tighten the drain screws securely.

Now you are ready to take the restrictors out if you have the official kit. Here is how to do it.

Remove the four screws on the top of one your carburettors and take the cover off. Next a spring will probably pop out on you, keep this spring and the green piston assembly. Carefully remove the diaphragm (this is the restrictor) and replace with the ones you should have been given when your bike was restricted. Repeat this for all four of the carburettors and then reverse my disassembly instructions. putting the carburettors back in, make sure you attach everything you detached earlier. It's best to go back on how you took it apart so it all fits on easier. Make sure you tighten all bolts securely. When putting the tank on, if you are a complete newbie like me you might get confused that you have a hose that goes to nowhere, that's the overflow pipe, just let it hang somewhere out of the way. If you had an FI kit, I suspect it would be quite easy to find the washers in the carburettors to remove, however if anybody would like me to send them an email or PM on how to disassemble a carburettor, just drop me a PM.

Anybody who has a pre K model Bandit and has found some things are different feel free to add in your own post. I understand this guide is probably quite hard to follow without pictures but I will attempt to take apart my bike over Christmas to put some pictures up.

Many thanks to Haynes Manuals to help me compile this guide. I hope people find this helpful as I would have appreciated something like this before I de-restricted my bike.

Coombs, M. Mather, P. (2004) Suzuki GSF600 & 1200 Bandit Fours; Service and Repair Manual. Yeovil. Haynes.

Jon B
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Be careful whose advice you buy, but, be patient with those who supply it. Advice is a form of nostalgia, dispensing it is a way of fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the ugly parts and recycling it for more than it?s worth.

[JGY6000]

erm, just a quick note, on the pre k modle to remove the official suzuki carb diaphram restrictors all you have to do is remove the tank and then from there just unscrew the top covers of each carb...and replace them

[JonB]

Thanks for that. Very helpful. I wish it was that simple on the K models.
____________________
Be careful whose advice you buy, but, be patient with those who supply it. Advice is a form of nostalgia, dispensing it is a way of fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the ugly parts and recycling it for more than it?s worth.

[Wafer_Thin_Ham]

This thread needs Haynes style oily hands pics.
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[mowgli0929]

brilliant! just what I was looking for. Thanks a lot, yes pics would be a lifesaver.

[mowgli0929]

brilliant! just what I was looking for. Thanks a lot, yes pics would be a lifesaver.