Saturday, Mar 4, 2000
I’m starting the 300 Miles service a bit early (245 miles) as I’m beginning to hear some noises. I’ll wait for the full 300 miles before I change the oil, though.
adjust valves
I popped off the valve covers and re-torqued the head bolts to 25 ft-lbs. They needed it. Each bolt took about 1/8 to 1/4 turn before the torque wrench clicked. After torquing the heads I checked the valve clearances. They were spot on. I verified the cylinder base nuts were nice and tight, too.
Spark plug close-up
Other plug close-up
The plugs were removed and checked. They look OK and the gap is fine (as expected). Removing the plug makes it easier to turn the engine to TDC to check the valves.
nut
As long as I’m in the general area I loosened the exhaust nuts and applied some more anti-seize, then made sure they were nice and tight. I also checked the carburator mounting nuts. They were a bit loose; I tightened them. The looseness was probably because I didn’t tighten them enough at installation – it’s easy to over tighten these nuts, something I don’t want to do.
points
Timing: the S mark
The front cover was removed after disconnecting the battery ground wire. The point gap was set at the S mark. The ground wire was re-connected. Anti-seize was put on the threads of the spark-plugs and they were torqued to 10 ft-lbs. The bike is ready to start.
Ready to check timing
The air tubes were removed from the carbs and the timing light attached. This timing light runs on D-cell batteries. The meter in the picture is used to adjust the carbs by balancing the air flow.
The nuts holding the magneto body were loosened to allow timing adjustments. When the bike was started the timing light shows that at idle I’m between the S and the F marks: too far advanced. Unfortunately, moving the magneto body does not correct the timing enough. I’ll have to loosen the magneto rotor and move it a bit. Tomorrow. It’s getting cold in the garage (and it’s raining again).
Sunday, Mar 5, 2000
Damn… it’s too cold to work in the garage today AND there’s a little puddle of oil under the right cylinder head. Probably didn’t clean the gasket off well enough when I put the valve cover back on yesterday. Maybe tomorrow (although it’s supposed to be even colder, but without the rain).
Monday, Mar 6, 2000
I’m doing something wrong, but am not sure what. The bike is running OK, but the points are way off. The story…
magneto rotor
rotor removed; old generator wiring
new generator wiring
assembled points/advance mechanism
I popped of the body of the magneto so I could pull the rotor to re-adjust (first picture). Once the rotor was off the mis-routing of the generator wiring was glaring, so I re-routed the wires (2nd and 3rd pictures). The magneto rotor and body were re-installed. The 4th picture is just before re-attaching the spark plug wires.
The problem is that when I gap the points correctly then try to static time the bike I can’t even get close. However, when I
- set the flywheel at the S mark
- center the magneto body
- align the .| mark on the magneto rotor with the points plate
- adjust the points so they just open at this point
the bike runs just fine. A timing light shows I’m close to the S at idle and right on the F at high RPM. The bike fires with a single kick. The only problem is that the point gap is way too large when measured on the cam lobe. Strange.
Later… not so strange. That’s the way the after market points plate works. Timing is adjusted by changing the point gap. The actual gap has no relationship to the gap specified for the original points. Oh.
Saturday, Mar 1, 2000
oil drain plug, before cleaning
oil drain plug, after cleaning
The bike had just over 300 miles when I returned from Saturday breakfast. While still warm I drained the oil. Note the drain plug in the first picture. Those bits stuck to the magnetic portion are why the oil is changes so early. The drain plug went back in looking like the 2nd picture (but with a new crush ring).
I’ll change oil again at 600 miles, and at 1200 miles. At 1200 miles I’ll also remove and clean the oil pan (and the 4 magnets glued to the bottom of the oil pan).
I checked the spokes and they need to be tightened. It’ll be a lot easier to do off the bike, so I plan on pulling the wheels next week.
Monday, Mar 13, 2000
old points, points plate
Sometimes the old, unimproved is better than the new and improved. I took off the points plate conversion, replacing it with the original points plate. The original has an advantage in that the points can be rotated on the plate – I’m guessing this is to adjust for manufacturing differences in the advance mechanism.
With the old points, points plate the adjustment procedure becomes:
- rotate engine until the S mark on the flywheel is on the index mark
- mount magneto rotor so the vertical mark is straight up
- mount magneto so the vertical mark is in the notch of the points plate
- Install advance mechanism. Rotate the engine so the points are on a cam lobe and set the gap to 0.40 mm (0.16 inch)
- rotate engine until the S mark on the flywheel is back on the index mark.
- Remove the condenser connection from the points and hook up a meter. Loosen the two screws holding the points to the points plate.
- rotate the points so they just open. On my bike this required the points to be moved to their limit in one direction. That’s probably why the new points plate didn’t let me set the gap correctly.
- Remove the advance mechanism and tighten the screws holding the points to the points plate.
- Install the advance mechanism. Re attach the condenser.
- Set the spark gap
- Double check the points gap
Once that was done I attached a timing light and verified all was OK. I had to tweak the timing by moving the magneto body a very small amount… the vertical mark on the magneto rotor is still in the notch of the points plate at the S mark.
Anybody need a points plate conversion kit? (Someone did.)
Rear wheel spoke tweaking
Front wheel spoke tweaking
Ready to ride
Both wheels were pulled and the spokes re-torqued. None were excessivly loose, but I brought all of them to spec. The wheels were mounted, the bike bounced a few times, then both front and rear pinch bolts were tightened. I should be ready for the next 300 miles.