Jump to content

Snaggletooth

Supporting Member
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    4,545

  • Joined

  • Last visited

 Content Type 

Everything posted by Snaggletooth

  1. Snaggletooth
    Lutz makes an interesting point on the tolerances of the new parts along with the heavier oil. Might be on to something there. The bike caught on the first try this morning, with 10/40 back in it, with no problem. Started fine everytime after that. And no....no Molykote for me thanks.
  2. Snaggletooth
    It ain't quite like that. LOL! The old one would miss a beat now and then and rattle once in a while. Sounded like a future problem......so with the NOS parts, new as in never used still in package, they went in as long as I had the bike apart to do the stator replacement. Better to tear it down once than twice. It went on my list as preventative maintanence.
  3. Snaggletooth
    Hey again Squeeze. I gotta tell ya.....I'm a bit baffled on this one. It really makes no sense even with the heavier oil. 10W.....to 20W.....not all that much difference. And it's not like it's dropping below zero overnight. I really expected to find a broken spring or two or the housing spit open. But when I replaced the old one this spring and really for no good reason other than I had the NOS parts on the shelf and was already inside to do the stator, I found no problem with it either. I mic'd the rollers for roundness and the contact surface of the collar on the 72 tooth gear and other than it being coated with black gunge when cleaned up it checked out fine and the surface was round and smooth. I mic'd the new rollers today and the collar surface and found no problems. I had a thought hit me this afternoon that maybe I had grabbed some oil by mistake that had some weird lube additive in it that was coating the collar preventing it from gripping or causing it the rollers to hang up. Doh! I did see my brand in the 20/50 and grabbed four of them and never read the bottles. After digging in the trash I found the bottles and it was just my normal oil. I hate it when I over think a problem. I'm old school Lutz. I'm old so I'm old school. I built racing engines for my CB 750 stroker and my 900 Kaws with knurled pistons for Gods sake. I had motors that the tolerances were so tight that I had to fire up a salamander heater to warm up the engine enough to let it turn over. I freaked out the first time I opened up a modern bike motor and found that the piston was nothing more than a ring holder. Seemed to me that half of it was missing. LOL! So the idea that an oil change can screw up a running bike amazes me. There has to be more to it than that. I'll figure it out. BTW.....I did try the bike a little while ago. Hooked right up. Running in 2 second flat. Go figure. Thinking about the good old days.....I threw in a pic I found taken back in 79 or 80 if I remember right. That's me on the far side. Home built bike, jeans and a bombers jacket. I did beat the kid on the sponsored, shop built, make for the track, lots-o-cash racer. He broke his helmet he threw it so hard. Bad days for him. Great day for me. Had a few great days at that track. I also learned back than that it was illegal to operate a motorcycle on a state highway with wheelie bars attached. Or so the State Patrol said so. I got a ticket even though I made it clear that it wasn't a "wheelie bar", it was my center stand. The trooper did offer to write me another ticket for defective vehicle as it was kind low. I stuck with the 1st ticket. I knew when to quit.
  4. Snaggletooth
    Check around under "Drag Specialties". They are Barons Minis. I found some on Ebay awhile back for mine. I'd like tp find some of the cork gaskets for mine.
  5. Snaggletooth
    If your dealer found you a bigger rack have him see if he has another one covered with dust somewhere back there. I'm hunting for a larger one myself. The one that came on mine is only about 12 X 9 inches. My tank bag needs one about 12 x 18 to fit right. Mike
  6. Snaggletooth
    Hey Lutz! Good to hear from you. I just came in from washing up. I tried the bike this morning and the same thing. Dead cold......no catchy! I pulled the cover and the rotor off to see what was going on. As soon as I got the rotor and gear off I wrapped them in cheese cloth and took it down to my shop to get a good look at it. I rinsed it still wrapped in the cheese cloth to catch anything that might be loose. Found nothing. The 72 tooth gear looks like it did the day I installed it. It was NOS when I bought it and so was the engage clutch. The gear collar surface is great and no signs of cracking or damage of any kind. No cracks around base of collar. The clutch body shows no cracks nor were the staked bolts loose at all. Rollers: All good. Springs: No bends or stretch. Pins: No damage or wear. Idler gears: Still look new. No wear. (also NOS this spring) So I threw it back together with the old gaskets and new bolts staked in the rotor. I did check the inside of the engine case for any signs of something that might have been flopping around in there.....nuttin. Filled it up with 10/40 and hit the switch. Caught on the first try dead cold. Started it about 7 or 8 times and let it run for a few minutes then shut it down and try again. It hit every time. I then let it idle for about 20 minutes and shut it down and tried again. Good to go. I'm going to let it sit overnight and see what happens in the morning. I may have let the gremlin out when I opened the case. LOL! Who knows? I've put about 5,000 miles on the bike since I installed the new engage clutch along with the Buckeye upgrade stator. Haven't had problem one until I changed the oil to 20/50. As the guys have reported that should not be the problem but it was the first thing I thought of as it was the only things that had changed. Well other than giving the fuel tank the epoxy liner. But that is another story and should play no part in this problem. As far as running the starter for extended periods of time.....not so much. I'd give it a 5 second crank and wait maybe 30 seconds before trying again. Maybe 10 or 15 tries each morning before it would catch. After it warmed up........no more problem. So whatever it was may be gone. I'll know more tomorrow morning. Thanks guys. Mike
  7. Snaggletooth
    Hey Dano. Now that sounds like an idea. I just happen to have a good rotor sitting around waiting for the one I have to go bad. What are the odds of that? So is Squeeze making the engage clutch himself or does he have something else cooking? So I'll keep looking into this slippery situation and see what I can figure out. Thanks guys Mike
  8. Snaggletooth
    Here is a weird one. First of all I might mention my engage clutch was new this spring along with the 72 tooth gear and the battery is not suspect at all. This just started after the last oil change from 10/40 to 20/50 oil, that was the day before this problem started. The bike has always started great. Touch of a button. Hot or cold. Since the change to 20/50, which I have never used before, and when the temps drop down into the mid 40's or so the bike has been difficult to start in the mornings and after long cooling off time where it gets back to cold to the touch. What I am finding is the starter is spinng but the engine is not turning when it's cold. No compression so no spark. It seems the engage clutch is not taking hold. After say 5 minutes of on and off cranking it will catch and fires right up. After it warms up a bit I have no problems at all with it starting again. If I leave the bike parked overnight I go through the same thing in the morning when it's cool out. After the first cold start, it's fine again. What this tells me is the the cold oil might be thick enough to keep the pawls from engaging properly to grip the face of the 72 tooth ring gear. But with that in mind as the engine warms up the oil should be a bit thicker. However the oil would be more fluid as it heats up so that may be a null point. When the engine is warmed up or up to running temps it starts with a touch of the switch. Cold. not so good until the engage clutch has been spinning for a while. Then it hits and off we go. By the way.....the engage clutch is quiet. None of the knocking common with a failure. So, anybody else run into this? There ya go Condor. You wanted some new problems. I'm here for ya buddy. Mike
  9. Snaggletooth
    I installed an upgrade (blade) fuse panel a year ago. It has extra fuses not required for the stock system so I have an advantage of running seperate curcuits for add ons. I run 15 amp fuse in the panel and a 10 amp on the line as a backup for the drivers. I installed the Buckeye upgrade stator this spring and it does a great job of pulling the load. With the 55 watt drivers, the rear light bar and the marker lights along with the stock lighting it only drops to 13.5 at an idle. Stopped with the brake lights on it will drop to 13.2. Running down the road she stays at 14.2 with everything on. I'm happy with those numbers.
  10. Snaggletooth
    In short......Yes. Better ride, better wear, more miles out of them. What tires did you go with?
  11. Snaggletooth
    Can't spell Crap without rap.
  12. Snaggletooth
    I ran the main power feed off the extra line on the fuse panel and then to the relay. I spliced into the high beam light and used that as a trigger to kick in the relay. I did use a smaller fuse in the new power line to the lights (besides the fuse in the panel) to keep it on the safe side. If the lights blow the smaller fuse you keep everything else and you know right where to go to fix it.
  13. Snaggletooth
    I hope you have better luck on used decel diaphragms than I did. Mine looked good, or at least a lot better than what I dug out of the used carbs I bought. New ones aren't too bad. I think I paid $18.00 each for them. I was disappointed with the forst set of carbs I bought off a "running" bike. LOL! Forgot to ask exactly what year it actually ran in. I learned. Even at that I was able to harvest a couple hundred bucks worth of parts out of a $75.00 investment. Have fun with it. Mike
  14. Snaggletooth
    Thanks for pursuing this. It would be an interesting change for our bikes. Keep us posted on how things develope as you get some miles on it. Mike
  15. Snaggletooth
    They have one on permanent display at the Aerospace Museum here in Omaha. It's elevated above you as you walk through the front door you are looking at the nose of the thing. It's a pretty impressive sight. Not as good as watching one take off at night. Seen that a couple of times. And to think these have been around since what......the 60's? Oh Doh! Now I watch the vid! R/C.....very cool. That should keep the neighbors cat entertained.
  16. Snaggletooth
    The breather hose runs from a vent tube on the top of the crankcase to the bottom of the air box. The crankcase is zero pressure but the intake in the air box creates a vacumn that pulls vapor from the crankcase up into the air box and back into the intake to the carbs. The problem of oil getting into the air box is most noticed when the engine is over filled with oil, past the half way mark on the sight glass, and oil ends up in the box. Therefore the reason for the drain tube on the front left corner of the box. There is a mod for that that returns the oil back to the breather tube for another go around. The filter they are talking about is installed on the vent tube on the top of the engine, therefore eliminating the breather tube back to the box itself. So no more oil is passed that way, so no build up in the box. The port on the bottom of the box is simply plugged off. As the crank case is zero pressure the filter is nothing more than a vent, but filtered. As long as you don't overfill the oil it is a good fix. No more fighting to put the hose back on.
  17. Snaggletooth
    I had a little of that popping, but not bad. It went away when I checked my carb sync and found the #3 was a bit off. I know my decels are in good shape. I replaced them when I rebuilt the carbs. But if you have never opened them up it might be a good idea. Out of two sets of used carbs I have bought for harvesting parts I've only found three decel diaphragms that were any good. Lots of corrosion and hard diaphragms.
  18. Snaggletooth
    That is called the diaphragm and slider assembly. From the looks of the pic you are probably going to be looking for a replacement. The diaphragm can be replaced on a good slider but it looks like that one has pretty much given up the ghost. Best be taking a real good look at the other three also.
  19. Snaggletooth
    They are sweet aren't they. Got mine through Condors group buy when it all started. Be glad you mised that! Bet Condor wishes he had missed it. (Am I right Jack?) LOL! Anyway that's a long story. As a little time passes they will open up a bit and the rumble gets better. Not so much louder, just deeper. I was a bit surprised a while back when I came out of a store and found 3 guys looking at my bike. All three were riders and all three had HD's parked close by. I prepared myself for the usual banter by the HD crowd but the first thing they said was they pulled up and noticed my pipes. They thought they were odd for a bike like mine. Told them the story of the ordeal that Condor went through and how long it took to get them and when I told them what I paid for them they were stunned. (seeing what they paid for their pipes I suppose they would be) I fired the bike up and they liked the sound. Then I had to go an ruin it by saying if I pulled two plug wires off it sounded like a Harley. So much for any new friends that day. LOL! So enjoy. And keep that grin off your face when you hear that nice snarl when you shift at about 6,500 rpm. Sweet! Ah yes! I remember the pine cone story! The wife been mowing the yard since then? It's a battle scar my friend. You can always tell the story about the pine sapp addicted tree rodent that hates bikers to liven it up a bit. Mike
  20. Snaggletooth
    Check out this thread for a good discussion on batteries. http://www.venturerider.org/forum/showthread.php?t=33375&highlight=deka But I'm gonna tell you THE battery to get is the DEKA ETX18L. It's an AGM and the same foot print as the orginal battery and out performs the PC680. This post was from Josh at Bohannon Battery, a member here. "I put a load test on 2 different PC680 and ETX18L. First test: 1. PC680 drawn down to 9.5V with Carbon Pile Load Tester, 390CCA 2. ETX18L drawn down to 9.5V with Carbon Pile Load Tester, 650 CCA Second test: 1. PC680 drawn down to 9.5V with Carbon Pile Load Tester, 400CCA 2. ETX18L drawn down to 9.5V with Carbon Pile Load Tester, 700 CCA The first and second test were performed using different batteries. Both sets of batteries were initially charged with a 500mAH automatic charger, then left to sit for 14 days, not connected to the charger. Given this information I would without a doubt choose the ETX18L over the PC680." Condor bought one, then myself and I think Ozark did to. Maybe more of the guys here did to. I've got to tell you, the battery shipped was $82.95. By far the cheapest battery I ever bought and by far the best performing battery I have ever owned. Time comes for a new one, I don't expect that to be anytime soon, I'll buy a DEKA ETX18L again. This battery has solved ALL my starting problems, hot or cold. Always 12.8 volts on the digital meter EVERYTIME I hit the switch. It's been 6 months since I installed mine and I ride everyday. Everytime I check the battery it show at 100% charge. Check out Joshs web site and tell him Snaggletooth sent ya. http://www.bohannonbattery.com/html/deka.html Mike
  21. Snaggletooth
    Yepper guys I got past all that already. To treat the tank the petcock and the fuel sender had to come out anyway. Just a reminder to anyone doing this in the future make sure ALL the screws you put in the tank are STEEL! I had a few mixed in that were nonmagnetic and man was it fun fishing those lil buggers out with a grabber. Always the lil guys! But anyway I just finished the epoxy treatment about a hour ago. Went well. The epoxy comes in a two part system. The part "A" is 16 oz and part "B" is 8 oz. According the the info that should treat a 10 gallon tank or two, 5 gallon tanks. As our 1st gens are about 5.3 if I remember right I decided to mix the whole batch rather than try for two coats. I figured if I missed a spot the first time I'd probably miss it the second time also. So I shot both cans into my mixing container and gave them a nice stir for about 4 minutes. Gotta go slow with this stuff as it does develope bubbles pretty easy. I had the sender and petcock holes closed off and poured in the 16 oz's of epoxy and banded the filler neck closed with a freezer bag. Spent the next 15 minutes rotating the tank to cover the interior as this stuff is thick. At 20 minutes I removed the cover plate from the petcock hole and let the remainder drain out. I made a good call on using the entire 16 oz's as I only recovered a little less than 3 oz's of leftover epoxy. So now I let it cure for a couple of days. The leftover epoxy is already set up and getting hard. The tank looks like I got full coverage as best I can tell with an inspection mirror. Got the carbs and fuel pump cleaned out of the rust that got through the filter and all new lines going on the fuel system. Installing a better filter and going to try to relocate it or modify the mounting bracket for easier access. Get that screw facing the outside of the bike so you can reach it. With the holiday weekend coming up I'm hoping to be riding again by Thursday. Now we shall see if it holds up better than the latex treament. Gotta go.
  22. Snaggletooth
    I wouldn't worry about having someone rebuild the starter. I tore the one off my '84 down and cleaned the insides up, installed a new set of brushes, added an extra ground wire to the brush plate and cleaned up the armature and made sure the grooves were clear if a small jewelers saw. Put it back together with a little lube on the bushings. It's been performing better than ever over the last year. I did add the heavier cables and just changed out the lead/acid battery for a DEKA AGM this spring. The bike now has NO starting problems at all and the old hot start issue is long gone. Hot or cold.....no problem. Believe me, if you can bend a wrench well enough to get the thing out of the bike........you can do the starter yourself. It's a pretty simple device. The bear is getting it off the bike onto the bench.
  23. Snaggletooth
    One of my coworkers just called and asked about the warrenty on a Star bike. He knew I try to keep up on stuff and we had talked in the past about the RSV and the 5 year coverage on it. He's looking at the 900cc to 950cc range models and is getting two different stories on them from two different dealers. One said one year and the other said two years. And of course they were both pushing the extended coverage. I'm not up to date on the other models and I can't find what I'm looking for on the net yet. Anybody got an answer?
  24. Snaggletooth
    Thanks Squidley. Just kind of wondering. Couldn't see any indication of welds on the outside of the neck that there might be anything welded inside. Gotta go get the IcyHot now. Spent the afternoon preping the tank for tomorrow. After shaking that thing several times with a pound of hardware inside and a 1/2 gallon of Acetone I know where the muscules are in my shoulders. LOL! Might need to pick up a new blow dryer tomorrow to. My High Tech Tank Drying System may have met its match today.
  25. Snaggletooth
    Ok.....I'm down to the tricky part. After dealing with the rust in my tank I'm down to applying the epoxy resin tomorrow. The tank looks a lot better than it did and the epoxy should solve any future rust issues. My question is, are there any interior baffles in the neck of the tank? I noticed while I was shaking the tank with a handful of grabber screws and a tube of BB's that very few made it into the filler neck. Using an inspection mirror I could not see anything in the upper neck but couldn't get that good of a look up inside. The only "baffle" I can see is the neck of the filler tube going down into the neck a few inches. Anything other than that? Just trying to figure the surface area so I mix enough epoxy to cover EVERYTHING! Thanks
×
×
  • Create New...