You can tune a piano, but you can't...

I got a lot of things done on my bike today. First things first. I got my Carbtune II! I am amazed it arrived so quickly. That and the colortune were both on my porch when I got home from FTMS. But first...

So I tested the primary and secondary coil resistance. Everything is within spec. Getting to the wiring wasn't so easy. I had to shift things around a bit, and it was closer to the handlebars than I thought it would be. It was wedged behind the radiator cap housing. I was finally able to check everything, and it looks ok. The other setting was 3.2ohms, but I am not going to post that picture. It looks just like this one, 'cept the numbers are different.

I then removed all the spark plug caps (thanks Hap, for the terminology tip) and tested each one for resistance. The lowest number I got was 8.2. (It's within specs, but still a tad elevated for something that is supposed to be rated at 5kohms or less). This one, however, was tested at 32.0kohms. I'm surprised it was even sending a spark to the coil (probably wasn't.) Another tested at 18.6 so I decided then and there to call Hap. He recommended getting new spark plug caps, model # SD05F, so I hustled my butt up to FTMS and picked up 4. I could have gotten away with buying just 2, but I wanted everything even steven.

Here is the new cap. Just for giggles, I tested it's rating and it tested right where it was supposed to. The only problem: These caps are for a 14mm plug, and I have 12mm. I was assured by the good folks at FTMS that this one would work, and the 14mm (the B in the code) was for the threads. I switched orange boots and slid them into place. The clickety click click of the plug being seated was a clue, as was the fact the bike fired right up.

I also ordered the 12mm from them, and will probably return these just because. I ordered the iridium plugs, which will be in on Wednesday. No sense messing with size differences when I don't have to.

Here it is, sitting snug as a bug in a ... well, spark plug. The plug is seated firmly and the bike turned over sans problems. All four were easy to install, and had no problems with the wiring. I was warned it might be too short, but things have worked out so far, and have a bit of slack to spare. I am hoping the 12mm fit as well.

Man, that engine looks dirty.





So, I got the Carbtune all put together, hooked up my gas supply (made by yours truly) and hooked up the carbtune to the bike. Easy cheesy. This first pic is a shot of my carb vacuum before doing any adjusting. The bike is running at operating temperature, (app 1100rpms) and seems to only have a problem with carb #4. I was really expecting things to be way off, but lo and behold, only that one had a problem. I haven't hooked the colortune up yet, this is just the carbtune.



Kind of anti-climactic, to be honest. I was really expecting armageddon with massive changes needing to be applied. So much for that. This bike is really surpassing all of my expectations as to how it's holding up. Little corrosion, mostly quick fixes, inexpensive. It almost made me think this was an expense I could have done without.






Here it is after adjusting one lousy screw. One screw! And only about a quarter turn (if that). Running like a top. I gave it throttle, and it dropped right back to where it was supposed to be. I don't really know enough about reading the settings... the manual states the levels aren't important, and to check with your vehicles manual.

The colortune is another issue. I don't think I can use it correctly yet because the caps are 14mm and the colortune plug is 12mm. I tried hooking it up, but saw nothing down the tube as far as the pretty blue bunsen burner color was concerned. I guess I am going to have to get those 12mm caps after all.

All in all, an excellent day of tinkering. I have learned a lot, like: stochiometric: the perfect mixture of fuel and air to form the perfect explosion. (14.7 air:1 part fuel)

Tomorrow, more tinkering. I may even hit other motorcycle shops and see if they have the 12mm SD05F caps I need. At least then I'd be able to work with the color tune. I am hoping the hard start problem might be corrected as well, but that may be a lot to ask for. Hey, I can dream, can't I?

Resistance is futile...

FINALLY! I removed the plug caps from the wiring and was able to test the resistance of each. The 12.18 reading comes from wires 1&4 and the 12.29 comes from wire 2&3. After removing each boot, for good measure I clipped off about a 1/4" of wiring at the end of each, in case there was any corrosion. I didn't actually see any except on one screw in a spark plug cap. I cleaned it up as best I could and applied dielectric grease to all points. Put it all back together and fired it up. Now, as far as I could tell, there wasn't a whole lot of difference in the start (still required a spray of starter fluid) but if definitely idle'd better, especially when cold. In fact, I am beginning to suspect a faulty choke lever. Why? Well, before I started the bike, I turned on the prime lever on the petcock, then turned on the choke. I tried starting and it caught, albeit briefly for about 3-5 seconds, then died. So, I applied starter spray to the airbox and it fired up. It was running pretty rough but I turned off the prime (I am apt to forget it if I don't), so on a lark, I shut off the choke and it seemed to idle better. It was a lot smoother than before. I don't know if its a combination of things, or the choke, or the prime... but at least now I think it may be fuel related (either too much or too little fuel). In the case of the last problem, it was obviously a result of too much fuel and not enough spark. New plugs fixed that problem, however. I'll figure it out, by trial and error, but eventually, I'll figure it out.

Here's the bike, everything plugged back in and running. The idle is set at about 1100rpms, the bike is moderately warm, everything apparently hunky dory. Now, if it only it were warmer outside!

I think I am going to upgrade the coils this winter at some point, probably after I paint the tank, and with the weather being what it is, that may happen sooner than I think. The coils are a little pricey, but I think this is a step in the right direction.
Jim from the list is going to send me one of his used diaphragms, to replace the one that is damaged on my bike. Since tuning the carbs is moot without proper vacuum, I'm hoping this will solve this one small issue The carb tune is set to arrive any day now, and my heart beats a bit faster each time I think about it, about a smooth sounding bike, tuned to perfection.

But the list keeps growing of things that I want to do to the bike. New steel braided brake lines, new front tire, complete tear down of the carbs and cleaning, engine cleaning, bike painting...

sheesh... I may never get it done.

Then again, if I was done, what fun would it be? I mean, all I'd be able to do is ride it around, and who wants to do just that?

Cold and windy

Really windy today, about 25mph. That and the cold... I guess I'll wait til another day to ride the bike.

I am, however, going to check the resistances on my coils. Hopefully this is the cause of the poor starts. Some of the reading I have been doing seems to point in this direction. And dynacoils are only about $135.00 (not including the plug wires). It's only money, right?

I got an interesting email from Hap who basically stated that working on the bike, for him, is a labor of love. He doesn't mind the servicing, the tuning or the small things that pop up on occasion. I can relate to that. I do enjoy doing all these little things, getting my hands dirty (horror of horrors! dirt under the fingernails!) and smelling like exhaust. Sometimes it seems a bit much, but all I have to do is take a break and come back to it later. It's not like I depend on the bike as my main means of transportation. I've already spent probably close to $600 on the bike in the past 4 months. It is my hope that after the coils, all that will remain to do are minor things.

Checking the resisitance of the coils involves removing the boot of the spark plug wire (which requires twisting the boot until it comes off) and exposing the wire underneath. This has to be done on plugs 1&4 and 2&3 respectively. Using the multimeter, you can check to see how much resistance there is. The higher the resistance, the poorer the spark and resulting hard starts.

I'm going to print out the instructions Hap sent me, just to be safe. Shouldn't take too long.

I'll post more in a while.

Old Man Winter

Stupid weather! I was so hoping to get a ride in today, but looks like I am going to have to wait a while for the snow to completely clear up. I'm not sure I'm ready to brave the roads with slushy snow on them. However, I did go out and buy the stuff for my external fuel tank. Talk about a hassle! I thought for sure, since I printed out exactly what I needed, I could just walk in to any hardware store and pick the stuff up. No luck. I had to go to 3 different stores, buying items from each to make one complete system.

All I need to do is drill a hole in the bottom (or roughly the bottom) of the can, attach the hose adapter with rubber seals in place (to prevent leaking) attach my fuel line, attach the petcock, and I'll be ready.

I hope. I figure I might as well get this done since I can't tune my carbs without some sort of fuel system in place. That little petcock was almost $7! Outrageous! But, All in all, the whole setup is going to cost less than $20.00 whereas a fuel supply bought from somewher ranges about $49.00-60.00.

I started the bike today, just to see how it would react in truly cold weather. Of course, it did it's usual runs for about 3 seconds, then quits, then requires a spritz of starter spray. After that though, it ran pretty well. Oily whitish colored smoke is jetting from my exhaust, which I hope is the seafoam. I've been hitting it pretty hard with the stuff, hoping to get the carbs cleaned out. Hap told me it might run terribly until the carbs are clean.

I'll post some pics of the finished product (the alt. fuel supply) when it is finished. Since I've never been overly mechanically inclined, I think these kind of projects are good for me.

(Insert 3 hour block)

Okay, here is the final product. While it is a bit rough, I think it will work for what I need it for. I drilled a hole in the bottom then made the hole bigger by moving the bit back and forth, enlarging the opening. I tested it with water and of course, it leaked. So, since I was unable to add the additional washer on the inside of the container, I added a silicone sealant, thereby sealing up any holes.

I cut off a 4 inch piece of tubing, added the petcock then stuck it back together. In a couple hours, it'll be dry and ready for action!















Now I just have to wait for the carb tune to get here.

Dyna-might!

So I've been looking into dyna coils to replace the stock coils on the bike. I'm hoping it will improve the starting (and end the bike's dependence on starter fluid). The problem is, they're expensive. They seem to run about 130.00US, which is a lot of moola for something I don't necessarily need (at this point). It's definitely something I am going to have to do, but I think I have spent too much money on the bike this year.

The weather is getting cold, so I'm not sure how much more riding I am going to be able to get in. I'm hoping to take a nice roadtrip this weekend, and if the weather holds, this might be the last weekend to do so. I also need to burn off some more gas so I don't have to drain as much. Then, off comes the tank.

I'm hoping to get the carbtune II in the next week or so, and plan to tune the bike at least once. At least to become more familiar with it. I imagine this spring, the bike is going to fly.

I got notification of my membership with RIDE Michigan, a motorcycle club that seems pretty cool. I am the local chapter captain for the Lansing area! Wee! I plan on doing some stuff this spring with the club, recruiting members, etc. I'm also a member of the DRC (Dewitt Riding Club) a local bike club. Seems like a nice group of folks. I don't think I'll ever be one of those guys that wears dirty leathers and covered in tattoo's, but hey, if thats your bag, more power to you.

Nobody knows the trouble I've seen...

I'd noticed over the course of a couple days the bike getting boggier and boggier. No acceleration, lousy starting, as if the bike hadn't been tuned at all just a week previously. It was annoying, really. I rode it to work one night and when I got ready to leave, the bike wouldn't start. No matter how much starter spray I put in, it refused to turn over. This was 3:30am, freezing cold outside, and I was tired. Well, I finally got it started, but by then I had done something to it because the bike ran horribly. I hobbled home, and shut it off, leaving it to sit for the entire next day.

When I attempted to start it again, it was seriously resisting my efforts. I drained the battery trying to get it going, and had to jump it with my car. It finally started, but it was horrible! Absolutely no pick up, the throttle was sluggish and it sounded like it was trying to move a ton. I took it back home and decided to pull the carbs and see if they weren't clogged.

The first one I pulled (#4, I believe) exposed this little beauty. There is a tiny puncture in the diaphragm and will need to be replaced. While not entirely crippling, it does affect the vaccum, therefore affecting overall performace of the bike. The good news? Yamaha still makes the part. The bad news? $100.25
IN this period, I also broke down and ordered a carbtune system. Yes, it's expensive, but necessary. I am sure the bike is out of tune already, what with new jets being opened and more gunk being forced through the system. I have been pummeling the system with seafoam and it is my hope that by the time winter gets here, the seafoam will have done its job.

Well, I remembered that the socket wrench I had wouldn't fit the well, so I had to find one. I tried several different auto parts stores, and while they all carried spark plug sockets for cars, none had one for my bike. I was becoming increasingly frustrated, and finally decided to try Menards. Surprise of surprises, they had one.

I'll need to figure out a better way to remove those park plugs. The clearance is pretty small, and it took me much longer to remove them than it should have.

Guess what? Completely fouled! I must have soaked them in gasoline the previous night, flooded it out, and ruined the spark.
They smelled like gasoline too, high test octane. :)
So, I changed the plugs, armed with my new deep well, 18mm socket. While I was at it, I did an oil change (having the foresight to pick up a couple extra oil filters only days before) . I also changed the filter housing bolt. I was happy to get that old one off, rounded though it was.

It was getting late at this point so I filled the bike with oil, crossed my fingers and tried starting it up. Viola! It fired right up, with some gentle coaxing from me, of course. I took it up the street and it was as if it was a brand new bike. Amazing what something like properly conducting spark plugs will do for an engine.

I bought a cool blue flaming skull decal for my bike, applied it, then realized it doesn't really go with the burgundy color scheme. Oh well, I hung it on the window.

Beautiful day today. Took a short ride on the highway just to test him out, and he ran beautifully. Bill called me earlier and asked if I wanted to ride with him, alas, I was busy with other things, so I missed out. Perhaps there will be a few more nice days before the snow falls. However, they are forecasting rain and possible snow showers for Thursday. I'll need to burn off that tank of gas in the next couple of days, I guess, in preparation for the tank paint.