Yellow '76: Getting Some Sun

[Lucien Harpress]

Brakes are bled, fluids are topped off, everything I can remember is tightened down, and she idles well enough to at least run her around the block tomorrow.



I've still got to do the sync, and possibly mix screws, but apart from being a bit lumpy at the bottom end, she runs surprisingly well for me not touching anything yet. She DOES need new plugs too- I'm running the original set, aka, the ones I used the mask the plug holes off when I painted the block. But that's small potatoes.

Regardless, will she be ready for Gilmore in a week and a half? Tough to say. Am I going to try anyway? You know it.

I'll leave you with an unposted pic of the right front brake caliper, mostly because they're never this clean and I thought it looked pretty.

[Lucien Harpress]

Finally got the old girl out in the sun and down the road, however brief it was.



First impressions? There's a lot of good here. One, the wheels didn't fall off. Neither did the front end. Slightly more seriously, the only real fluid leak I could see was a bit of oil from around the filter housing, hopefully which a quick snug-up of the center bolt took care of.



Not everything's sunshine and rainbows, though. First off, there's still air in the front brake lines. I've got the handle tied down for overnight to try to force some of it out, so I guess we'll see how that does.

More importantly, some combination of sync and idle mix is still off. Even though I got it close it still didn't seem to want to settle down to a even idle. I managed to calm it down a bit, but I suspect it's because carb 3 was off from the others by enough to do so. Secondly, while I had it idling after a ride or two (warmed up) I got curious and pulled some plug wires. 1, 2, and 3 almost killed the motor (1 especially so), but pulling the wire from 4 did next to nothing. I fiddled with the mix screw, and I got it to change the idle a bit (so it IS doing something), but it still off as I have it set up now. I was having similar issues before I tore it apart, so at least it's consistent.

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I'm going to try a round of colortune, just to see what things look like from the inside, then attempt another sync. It's definitely a pain when every minor change to the linkage sends the idle through the roof. On the plus side, once you get above the transition ports (around 4K rpm) everything smooths out and the bike runs absolutely wonderfully.

Again, will this be ready for Gilmore in a week? My answer is.. who knows?

[gltriker]

8 days until Gilmore?
Respectfully inquiring-
Have you got time to set your engine's valves lash clearance at 0.006" and the carburetors' air/fuel pilot screws at 3 turns out from seated before you attempt to dynamically idle speed synchronize all 4 carburetors, again?
Exhausting your patience trying to make this bike's engine behave well, with your hand off the throttle?
Facilitates making the engine so much less sensitive to achieving a consistently successful session of idle speed synchronization.
Certainly wouldn't be the first fiddler to benefit from Nixon's advisement, by any stretch of the imagination.

"a round of colortune" tells you what?
No. I can google the theory.

Yes, the Yellow is pretty to look at though

[CYBORG]

looking REALLY good. Looks loke a Gilmore show winner. Not sure if I'll make the show, but if I do, I'll be looking for it

[Lucien Harpress]

Any engine settings (valve clearance, timing) got set as part of the rebuild. Carbs were fiddled with relatively little, as they were decently close before tearing everything apart, so I'm relatively confident it's something there.

I'm going to take a bit of a weird tack first though and swap out my coils. Not to really solve any issues, but because while I was checking to see if I was getting good spark I found out my existing plug wires are completely shot cottage cheese. I clipped wire 4 (the problem cylinder) a couple times, and nothing was solid enough to screw the plug cap to.

In any case, the plan is to give the bike a good once over this weekend and depending on how that goes evaluate if I can make Gilmore with it or not.

[robin1731]

Any engine settings (valve clearance, timing) got set as part of the rebuild. Carbs were fiddled with relatively little, as they were decently close before tearing everything apart, so I'm relatively confident it's something there.

I'm going to take a bit of a weird tack first though and swap out my coils. Not to really solve any issues, but because while I was checking to see if I was getting good spark I found out my existing plug wires are completely shot cottage cheese. I clipped wire 4 (the problem cylinder) a couple times, and nothing was solid enough to screw the plug cap to.

In any case, the plan is to give the bike a good once over this weekend and depending on how that goes evaluate if I can make Gilmore with it or not.

Still stock coils? If it wasn't so far I'd say swing down here tomorrow and we'll throw the gauges on it.

[Lucien Harpress]

It's going to be stock coils, yeah. I still have to do the resistance checks on the second set to make sure they're good before I install them, but supposedly they work. We'll see.

Thanks for the offer. I'll see what I can do this weekend, but I might take you up on it later...

[Rat]

It's going to be stock coils, yeah. I still have to do the resistance checks on the second set to make sure they're good before I install them, but supposedly they work. We'll see.

Thanks for the offer. I'll see what I can do this weekend, but I might take you up on it later...

Join the party at Robin’s on the way to Vintage Days … July 15-16 … there will be beer … and Kawasakis …

Gord

[Lucien Harpress]

Now THERE'S an idea.....

[robin1731]

It's going to be stock coils, yeah. I still have to do the resistance checks on the second set to make sure they're good before I install them, but supposedly they work. We'll see.

Thanks for the offer. I'll see what I can do this weekend, but I might take you up on it later...

Join the party at Robin’s on the way to Vintage Days … July 15-16 … there will be beer … and Kawasakis …

Gord

Beer? You must be bringing some. LOL

[Oldewing]

His place is Mt. Dew

[Lucien Harpress]

Did a bit of messing around with the bike today. I got my coils swapped out with a minimum of swearing (seriously, who decided that lower bolt NEEDED to go there? How are you supposed to reach THAT?), and not only are the plug wires quite a bit more solid, they're all about 2 inches longer, which is a plus.

While I'm not going to say I solved my "only idles on 3" problem, it definitely improved a bit. It seemed like the plug was fouling out- I could blip the throttle and get it to run on all 4, but if I left it for a few seconds it would gradually idle down before eventually dropping down to 3 cylinders again. I ran that mixture screw in about half a turn and it seemed to make it better, although it still happens if I drop the idle too low. I still need to check sync too, but I think I'm heading the right direction.

[gltriker]

A bit of messing around , eh?
Swapped out the old ignition coils with another set of ignition coils. 2 inches longer wires is a plus.

How's about a little fiddling around now with the 4 air/fuel pilot adjuster screws?

Fiddle all 4 screws 3 full turns out from seated. Count the number of turns, in , each screw required to lightly seat and record that data before fiddling each air/fuel screw, out, 3 complete turns.

If you aren't happy after you try this readjustment session, fiddle each screw back the number of turns you had recorded before the 3 turns out settings were performed.

May as well hook up your vacuum idle synchronizing rig, too. Not a colortune.

This is for your benefit, not mine

[robin1731]

His place is Mt. Dew

Not any longer. The sugar wasn't doing me much good. I do have some root beer though.

[CYBORG]

got the same sugar problem .... root beer works for me