Dead Battery... another day goes by...

I was anxious to get on her this morning and take her to work. I head out of the house, get on her and turn the key, I kick her over and I got no spark whatsoever. I put my hand in front of the headlight and sure enough, the battery was dead...

One more day goes by without being able to ride her to work...

What on earth is wrong with it now? Have I killed the battery? Is there a short in the wiring hack job, causing the battery to discharge? WTF...?

Air Filters...

I picked up a couple of UNI pod air filters for the chopper from Lakes and then I ran over to the "other" place to pick up the Pilot Jets that I had ordered a few days prior... for some reason my jets had not been ordered, needless to say I was more than a little irritated. The gentleman that was very helpful the day I ordered these jets, could not explain why these jets were not ordered as he had requested, obviously someone else chose to override his decision to please a customer.

I went home and installed these air filters and put the original pilots back in this beast and she fired right up... and stayed running after the idle was adjusted.

I still can't believe that the lack of air filters on this bike would make her run rich and fail to run at an idle, but sure enough, that's all it took to keep her purring. Now I'm glad that I didn't waste a few bucks on those jets, now I'll call them tomorrow and cancel my order they failed to place to begin with, screw'em.

Now that the bike is running with no apparent problems I'm taking her for a ride... finally. A few laps around the neighborhood making my loops bigger and bigger trying to keep a safe distance from home, just in case she decides to quit on me. I passed the Mobil station by the house and thought I should top her off just in case, but changed my mind because I wasn't going to go far, then a mile down the road she starts chuggin'... I looked down at the fuel filters and sure enough they were dry... Hey Mike... come and save me with a gas can...

Meanwhile, Waterford's finest rolls by me, then they decide to make a loop back by and run my plate... Thank God I put plates and insurance on this before my impatience allowed me to take her for a spin without.

She road fairly well, but I did notice that the front shocks need some attention.

I think I'll ride her to work tomorrow...

Wiring schematic change...

WooHoo... I found a change to the wiring schematic that tells me where the brown wire coming off the rectifier is suppose to go. The brown lead is suppose to go to the ignition through a 10 amp fuse, and the red goes to the battery through a 20 amp fuse. Maybe this will solve all the problems with this nightmare...



I can't wait to get home tonight to make this change and see if this makes a difference...

Carburetor tuning continuation...

Ok, so after doing some more research I found out that the Pilot Jets that Mike has are for Mikuni VM style carbs, I happen to have the Mikuni BS carbs. These VM Pilot Jets look as if they are the same but the metering orofice is located near the screw head end instead of the tip. The look and fit as if they are interchangeable but they are not. It's no wonder I've been chasing my tail for the past week or so. Now I need to find the BS style Jets.

After shopping around and checking everywhere this evening after work, I finally found a place that could could order these Pilot Jets even though they did not carry them. I can pick them up on Wednesday...

I got home and decided to fiddle with the bike some more and would try to find the VM Pilot Jet that seems to be the closest equivelent to the BS Jet that I need, there seems to be approximately 20 points difference in jet numbers so I'll jump down to a # 25 VM Pilot which should be close to a #45 BS Pilot. I got'em swapped out and she fired right up but then quite suddenly and I couldn't get here started again. The lights seemed real dim so I put the charger on her and gave her a few minutes, turned the key and the lights were real bright, so I gave her a kick and she started right up again. I then decided to take the charger clips off the battery and the negative lead was so hot it burned my thumb. I shut her down and Mike and I tried to trace the problem to see what was wired wrong.

After messing with the wiring for another hour or so with Mike and I butting heads on what needs to be changed we decided to throw in the towel and call it a night. I don't doubt Mike's abilities, but his suggestions don't compute with my brain. I don't understand enough about the circuit in order to troubleshoot any problems that might arise later.

Tomorrow is another day...

Happy Birthday Buckshott...

Happy Birthday wishes go out to my son Drew. I wish I was there...

We should get together and have a few beers... Oh wait, your only Fifteen, sorry I'll have to drink your share since your not of legal age yet. I know somewhere, someone will consume a few Black Label Light's for you...

For all you do... this Bud's for you... when your old enough to drink it Buckshott, the King of Kids... Have a happy day...

Carburetor tuning continuation...

Since putting in those #50's didn't make a difference, I figured I might as well step up to the #55's, then I tried the #60's. Still nothing... Starts right up, but she won't run at idle, she slows right down and quits without me juicing the throttle.

So since none of those Pilot Jets seem to make a difference I guess I'll have to bite the bullet and take off the valve covers and check & adjust the valve lash. This wasn't quite as labor intensive as I thought it was going to be, and after all that she still didn't run any better.

I'm really lost... I wish I knew what I was doing...

Carburetor tuning continued...

Since changing the Pilot Jet to the #40 made no difference last night, Mike decided to give his buddy a call at Lakes Motor Sports to see what he recommended. His suggestion was to go the opposite direction with the Pilot Jet size and check the valve lash and make sure they were within spec which happens to be .005 +/- .001.

I figured the easiest would be to swap out the Jets again, so I put in #50's and played around with the idle and mixture screws, to no avail...

Time to put the bike away and go put the boat in the water for tomorrow's adventure at Quake on the Lake...

I'll get back to this on Sunday...