redglbx wrote: ↑Sun Apr 17, 2022 8:23 am
I’ll add a couple of things to all this. On my 76 that I’ve been riding and modifying since new and I had a lot of trouble with over heating and charging over time. Charging, the wing or most old Honda’s for that matter have a poor charging system which is just barely adequate to keep the bike running and the battery charged (LED’s are your friend). Which a fully charged battery should provide 2.2volts per each of the 6 cells for a total of 13.2 volts. The Oe wing system should provide around 14 or so volts, not uncommon to see 15 to 16 volts (boiled battery) charging, the oe Honda regulator/rectifier isn’t very good ! I ended up with a Ricks mosfet regulator/rectifier which keeps the charging voltage right at 14.2v give or take .2v .. it’s a bit more expensive but no more boiled batteries. This doesn’t you help if it’s a cooked stator but I beIieve Ricks offers a lifetime garuntee on his. Swap the regulator/rectifier from your other bike first before pulling the engine. Also look closely at the 3 yellow wires and their connector, particularly the connector, they are a problem ! Most like me just cut the plug out and solder the wires directly to each other.
My battery is new, so that isnt an issue.
When I did the same FSM test to the spare rectifier, it netted the same results -- 125k ohms on the diodes. Hence why I would like someone here to do a reading on theirs. I need a known good part to compare mine against.
The stator is cooked. Not only is one leg weak, but they are all shorted to ground. I saw another post here saying the three legs will still output 50v if shorted to ground, but as soon as they are asked to go under load, they stop working.
My plug is fine and not overheated.
Cooling, man I can’t tell you the number of times my 76 over heated, I did it all, replaced the water pump & hoses and even had a custom 4 row radiator made ($380) which helped but didn’t fix things. I found that the fan didn’t come on because of a bad switch and ultimately I plugged the fan into a 12v source to ensure it worked right. It did come on in the bike but it didn’t spin as fast as it should, so a new 9” hi volume pancake fan went in with an adjustable thermo switch for off/on control, big help ! The Oe fan is rated to around 400cfm vs the new fan which is 1200cfm I believe, you can definitely hear when it comes on ! I really hate hot coolant in the crotch !
This is something that is hard to judge. If its obviously turning slowly, thats one thing. But when mine was running, it seemed to be turning fairly fast, and the radiators was scorching hot. I believe I have some sort of tuning issue as when the bike is above idle (like at 3000rpm while doing the charging tests) its constantly popping and banging out the left muffler. I need to do a timing check and valve adjustment when I have the time.
One of the things that ultimately helped with the overheating is setting the timing dynamically, I have a Dyna setup and Randakk for years now has maintained that statically setting the timing causes it to be over advanced 6-10 degrees, he is absolutely correct ! With all the things I’ve done my bike now runs pretty cool all the time, I’m happy !
By the way if you go with a used radiator take it to a local shop and have it cleaned out and tested to make sure you have a good piece. Anyway that’s my story !
Honestly I have been putting off replacing the points as I'd like to just go with the dyna system. Mine seem to be working okay for now, but I will be checking them soon. I've already replaced the condensers and added the ground strap, but that made no difference to how it runs.