More in the continuing saga of Gunner and 2 wheeled iron......
The 1974 Honda Xl 350 that Ive owned, but never started, and left to languish in the weeds for 10 yrs, has been one of the 3 bikes Ive been putting with. The Royal Enfield/Indian Chief I started several weeks ago, after 37 yrs of ownership....chuckle.
I orignally found the wiring had been torn up badly, and the coil not putting out a spark. I fixed the ignition wiring, and installed a used
6vt AC coil, and condenser from a pickup truck, along with a new plug and cap (the old cap wouldnt conduct through it), I managed to get a nice blue spark. But it wouldnt start consitantly or run for any period of time.Taking the carby apart, I found it missing a Slo Jet with some fucktards impromtu jet stuffed into the hole. Tuesday, I found a used jet at a motorcycle shop in Bakersfield and Wed I reassembed the carby, after checking float height, replacing all the seals and o rings and so forth.
I installed the carby, put fresh gas in the tank, kicked it 3 times and she started and sat there idling rather nicely. Gray smoke slowly cleared out and became a bit of black smoke but it idled pretty fair.
Since the clutch appeared to be frozen, I put it in gear with the engine off, and rocked it back and forth for a few minutes, checking for clutch action and suddenly the clutch came free. I went into the house, dug out a helmet, and puttered up and down the alley way for 15 minutes, getting used to the bike, changing gears, seeing what it needed . A quick punch of the rear break pedal did little, so adjusted that. A quick grab of the front brake caused the front wheel to freeze, so adjusted that. Sprayed the chain with Kroil, checked this and that.
It idles with black smoke, indicating a rich condition, and the air jet really doesnt do much of anything when turned in or out. So evidently there is an issue there. I didnt check the needle clip position, so that will be done tommorow. There is a hose that comes out fo the carby and goes back into the airbox (airbox not installed) and that opens and closes a diaphram on the carby that makes the engine speed up or slow down...no idea what it does. The Clymer that a neighbor gave me today gives the carby much of a pass, no details to speak of, not even clip position, the bastards!!
It leaks badly at the exhaust port, Im not sure if there is a gasket in there, but it did quiet down after the engine got warm. Valves need to be adjusted, oil changed, new points installed and so forth.
Anything over an idle, the engine bogs and sputters in a certain range, then speeds up rapidly while riding when you crank on it. So there has to be an air leak somewhere, and it pushes out black smoke at any speed range. And the timing may not be advancing....sigh
But it runs, doesnt push out oil smoke and no Bad Noises come from the engine... Now its just detail work. Getting the lights and other wiring fixed up, Replacement or repair the seat etc etc
I didnt want to sink any money in it because I didnt know if the engine was hosed or not. Now I can feel comfortable putting some time and effort into it.
Many of the internal seals were flat black rubber disks, which I replaced with O rings that I had on hand, not having the same rubber disks or stock to make em from.
Anyone familar with the Keihen carby with the lever that lifts the slide, rather than having the slide lifed directly by the throttle cable? Anything I should check to see what the over rich condition is caused by? Ill drop the needle valve a slot to the recommended one from the
After this is resolved, comes the BMW, which should either be the easiest, or hardest to get running again...sigh
Gunner
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