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Now, I can’t get the bike to start very easily. It is appears that it’s either not getting proper spark or fuel. I can eventually get the bike started after about 5 minutes of cranking and adjusting the carb idle screws and yes, charging the battery. I’m not sure the carb adjustments are the reason I’m getting it started. Once it starts, it appears to run poorly in neutral, especially at low end revs, yet once I put it in gear and gently start to let out the clutch it instantly dies and then won’t start for another long bout of cranking. So here’s what I’ve done since taking it around the block after the valve adjustment a few weeks ago. As a reminder, this bike was the one that bogged down at high speeds. After adjusting the valves the bike still started instantly but ran poorly.
Ignition/Spark: When I did the valve job a few weeks ago, I noticed that the signal rotor tabs were pretty rusty, so I very lightly polished the tips of these rotor tabs. Less than .002 inch was removed (gapped before and gapped after), and I adjusted the signal pick-ups inward slightly to get close to original gap. I also noticed that my 2 signal pick-ups did not consist of 4 wires as the manual states (Blue, Green, Yellow & Black), but 3. A blue wire goes to one pick-up, a Green wire goes to the other pick-up, with a Red wire attaching from 1 pick-up to the other pick-up. I checked the resistance across the Blue and Green wires with a multi-meter, near the ignitor box, and got 320 ohms. Dividing in half gets me 160ohms, so does that indicate I’m within range? And does this ignition system seem to be an “after market” or for a later model, since it has the wrong wiring? I’m asking that since my ignitor box has only 6 wires out, not the 8 described in the manual. The colors of my 6 ignitor wires match 6 in the manual, but I don’t have the solid Yellow and the solid Black wire. The ignitor unit also indicates it’s a 12volt system, but about 8.5 volts is the most I get checking across any wire combination (Orange/white stripe across Black/white stripe). The ignitor unit number is 32900-45110/131100-1901. Now I’ve checked for spark at the plugs and I do have a spark. I expected a stronger visual spark, but that may be due to my auto background, however I do have a spark to all plugs.
Carburetors: I also took the complete carb 4 pack off the bike and thanks to Mario Padilla supplying me with 4 viton o-rings, I replaced in the intake o-rings as suggested. Inspecting the inlet ducts did not indicate any rubber cracking or poor seating. Now, while I had the carbs off I adjusted the butterfly gaps with a drill bit as the article suggested. They were not off by much. I could have left them as is, but trying to be a perfectionist… I also blew filtered compressed air all around each carb, above the idle screws and through each air jet. I then adjusted the idle screws to 3 turns out, reassembled the carbs onto the bike, checked the petcock (functions properly), added the new air box (it’s properly sealed and with a new air filter) and started cranking the bike over, but to no avail. Then adjusting the idle screws out by 2, then 4 then in 3, then 5 and then it started, ran poorly then died as mentioned above. I then took the airbox off, reinstalled the air pods and the result was the same. I can’t believe that a very slight butterfly adjustment or air in the idle screw or into the air jet could cause such a calamity, and that’s why I started verifying I had a spark, but there’s spark.
Help once again!
Bob Gibson
Ignition/Spark: When I did the valve job a few weeks ago, I noticed that the signal rotor tabs were pretty rusty, so I very lightly polished the tips of these rotor tabs. Less than .002 inch was removed (gapped before and gapped after), and I adjusted the signal pick-ups inward slightly to get close to original gap. I also noticed that my 2 signal pick-ups did not consist of 4 wires as the manual states (Blue, Green, Yellow & Black), but 3. A blue wire goes to one pick-up, a Green wire goes to the other pick-up, with a Red wire attaching from 1 pick-up to the other pick-up. I checked the resistance across the Blue and Green wires with a multi-meter, near the ignitor box, and got 320 ohms. Dividing in half gets me 160ohms, so does that indicate I’m within range? And does this ignition system seem to be an “after market” or for a later model, since it has the wrong wiring? I’m asking that since my ignitor box has only 6 wires out, not the 8 described in the manual. The colors of my 6 ignitor wires match 6 in the manual, but I don’t have the solid Yellow and the solid Black wire. The ignitor unit also indicates it’s a 12volt system, but about 8.5 volts is the most I get checking across any wire combination (Orange/white stripe across Black/white stripe). The ignitor unit number is 32900-45110/131100-1901. Now I’ve checked for spark at the plugs and I do have a spark. I expected a stronger visual spark, but that may be due to my auto background, however I do have a spark to all plugs.
Carburetors: I also took the complete carb 4 pack off the bike and thanks to Mario Padilla supplying me with 4 viton o-rings, I replaced in the intake o-rings as suggested. Inspecting the inlet ducts did not indicate any rubber cracking or poor seating. Now, while I had the carbs off I adjusted the butterfly gaps with a drill bit as the article suggested. They were not off by much. I could have left them as is, but trying to be a perfectionist… I also blew filtered compressed air all around each carb, above the idle screws and through each air jet. I then adjusted the idle screws to 3 turns out, reassembled the carbs onto the bike, checked the petcock (functions properly), added the new air box (it’s properly sealed and with a new air filter) and started cranking the bike over, but to no avail. Then adjusting the idle screws out by 2, then 4 then in 3, then 5 and then it started, ran poorly then died as mentioned above. I then took the airbox off, reinstalled the air pods and the result was the same. I can’t believe that a very slight butterfly adjustment or air in the idle screw or into the air jet could cause such a calamity, and that’s why I started verifying I had a spark, but there’s spark.
Help once again!
Bob Gibson
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