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Blood, sweat, tears & beers . . .

Discussion in 'Pull up a chair and sit for a spell' started by joshbob, Apr 6, 2011.

  1. hotroadking

    hotroadking Super Moderator Staff Member

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    I'd still test the ohms on your wires
    if you change the wires and it
    doesn't fix it pretty much the same result
    but at least you'll have a good idea if it's
    the wires...
  2. joshbob

    joshbob Well-Known Member

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    Yup, I plan on testing the wires & coil.

    One of the boys on Shovelhead USA said that he drains his float bowl if the bike sits for a week or two and flushes it out with fresh gas. Says it starts every time after that.
    Last edited: Feb 8, 2012
  3. joshbob

    joshbob Well-Known Member

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    Visited Tattoo yesterday. He's loaded up with 4x4s, bikes, boat motors, you name it. I told him of my starting woes and he thinks I haven't been shooting enough gas into the cylinders, plus I'm using the wrong starting technique. Also says I should get rid of the Champion plugs and switch to Autolites or Bosch and use more gap, like .030 to even 040. He's only been kick starting his '67 shovel for over 30 years so I'm gonna take his advice:

    Switching plugs; bigger gap (which means hotter spark I'm told). Changing wires. More fuel when starting (6 to 8 twists of accelerator) & changing starting routine. He also recommends taking the baffles out of my pipes - says it will make starting easier and motor will like it too. Can't say my neighbors will, though! But my bike is now officially 35 years old, so I don't need to have it inspected.
    Last edited: Feb 9, 2012
  4. cowboy

    cowboy Moderator Staff Member

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    Josh how long are the baffles ?
  5. hotroadking

    hotroadking Super Moderator Staff Member

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    baffles are good create backpressure and help low end tq

    I'd leave um in. you don't want tickets for noise issues either..

    Odd that he'd think you need more fuel when the plugs were
    soaking wet...
  6. FLHTbiker

    FLHTbiker Moderator Staff Member

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    My thoughts on the plugs as well
  7. chucktx

    chucktx Moderator Staff Member

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    dont do a bunch of changing.........change stuff one at a time, then try.......if ya do a bunch of changing before trying, you will really get confused!!!!!
  8. joshbob

    joshbob Well-Known Member

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    BAFFLES are 10 1/2" long in 34" pipes. I'm going to leave 'em in. As far as I can tell, they work fine. J&P recommended them for my pipe size.
    PLUG ISSUE: Plugs were fouled after riding it 15 miles. Changed plugs and tried starting it many times - checked plugs each time and they were dry even after pumping accelerator 4 or 5 times. I guess Tattoo thinks I am starving the engine of fuel.

    I just changed to my new wires (Accel) but haven't tried to start it yet - too dang cold - the oil will feel like molasses in January.
    BTW, OLD PLUG WIRE reading using 20K scale on my new digital multimeter: .38 on the 16" wire and .17 on the 7" wire, whatever that means.
    NEW WIRE reading using the same scale: .01 on the long wire and .00 on the short wire. My new wires are only slightly shorter (but bigger around) than my old ones. Can someone tell me what the ohm readings mean? I assume the new wires have less resistance. Then I should have hotter spark at the plugs?

    Yup - I'm going to try to start it after only changing the wires. If no go, then I'll try something else. I'm really hoping it's the wires . . . .

    Attached Files:

    Last edited: Feb 9, 2012
  9. Lucifer

    Lucifer Well-Known Member

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    Agreed...fresh plugs and new wires,leave the baffles in and try your original starting routine first....
  10. joshbob

    joshbob Well-Known Member

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    Okay.
  11. hotroadking

    hotroadking Super Moderator Staff Member

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    That is resistance. Higher reading means more resistance I think


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
  12. FLHTbiker

    FLHTbiker Moderator Staff Member

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    Yep Lucifer is right. The old pug wires are giving you a higher resistance which means less power to the plugs. Replacing them is a good idea and should help.
  13. cowboy

    cowboy Moderator Staff Member

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    I had the 10 in baffles in my shovel 56 in drag pipes , I cut them in half bike ran a bit better & still had the back presure it needed & just a hair louder cops never bug me but I did]nt go around pulling all the throttle at once :rolleyes:
  14. joshbob

    joshbob Well-Known Member

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    It's going to be pretty darn cold this weekend - don't know if I'll get out to try and start the beast. I guess there's no hurry.

    Ken is sending me the 1340 EVO tuners kit, and says it has the correct needle and jets for my shovel. I now have #50 and #165 jets in the carb and I'm getting #46 and #180 respectively. Could be the reason I'm fouling plugs - wrong needle and the slow jet too big at #50?
    Last edited: Feb 10, 2012
  15. Lucifer

    Lucifer Well-Known Member

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    Joshbob, you were using too high a scale(20Kohm=20,000 ohms) that's why you got a .00ohm reading on the new shorter wire....set the meter on the 2Kohm setting,as there's no way those wires have more than 2000 ohm's resistance...
    I can't remember the acceptable resistance range for the plug wires ,but it should be in the manual...with a digital multi meter if you get 0 ohms you're scale selection is too high(unless you're on the lowest scale), if you get 1 the scale is too low...
  16. hotroadking

    hotroadking Super Moderator Staff Member

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    there ya go...

    resistance is futile - no spark!
  17. joshbob

    joshbob Well-Known Member

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    Ha-ha! Well, all I know for sure is that the new wires have a lot less resistance. I have spark. But I had that before.

    Old wires are 162 ohms and 375 ohms.
    New wires are .7 ohms and 1.4 ohms. All using 2000K scale. I think you're supposed to move the decimal point 2 places over to the right so the reading would be 70 ohms and 140 ohms. Say, 'ohms, whaddya tink of dat?
  18. HicCup

    HicCup Banned A-Hole

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    JoshBob's Shovel is best lookin ride on this hear cite. To heck wit them twin cams..:cool:
  19. joshbob

    joshbob Well-Known Member

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    Well, thanks, HicCup, but I'll bet it's the only one NOT RUNNING!:eek:
  20. Lucifer

    Lucifer Well-Known Member

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    :roflmao:I tink you got 'er...when you check for spark, it should be sharp bright blue....I think you'll get better spark to light the candles through your new wires...:cool:

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