Blood, sweat, tears & beers . . .

Here is yet one more D.A. mistake, boys. Went out to try starting the ol' thang yesterday after putting the new wires on and gapping new plugs at .028". Saw the key in the ignition and of couse it was turned on - must have been there at least 3 or 4 days.

Charger has been on it since yesterday and I'm showing running lights this morning, so I guess it's okay. But it's very cold here and next opportunity to try starting won't be for a few more days yet . . . .

I did check the spark at the plugs after putting the new wires in and the spark didn't look any different than before - still appears weak, just a very thin white line - not the bright blue it should be.
Wondering if I may have the coil hooked up backwards. Wire from battery goes to the top and wire from points goes to the bottom on my set up. There are no markings on the coil. Some say it doesn't matter which wire goes where. Others say there would be a 15% voltage drop to the plugs if wires were reversed but bike would still run but would be hard to start (assuming they are talking about a bike with an electric starter). Going to try and sort this out using my manual and multimeter, but not holding my breath.

At any rate, there are so many variables it's just sometimes had to sort it all out.

Here's another one: quite a few of the guys on the shovelhead forum tell me that 75 PSI in the cylinders is too low. Should be at least 90 PSI or more for a fresh motor. Manual says it should be 90 PSI on a new bike. When I did the compression test, I didn't hold the throttle open. I was told just recently that I should hold the throttle open when doing a compression test. No one has told me WHY yet. Would this change the readings? So now I have doubts about my compression in the cylinders. Do I have enough? Is this contributing to my starting woes? Going nuts here in Hobgood.:gah:

Does that thing have condensor like cars had? Seen many cars with bad condensors that wouldn't start.Same symptons.

Here's a drawing that has the points going to the "top" of the coil...I really don't know if it would make a difference or not,it's not like reversing polarity on a motor,but easy enough to switch 'em....






Leaving the throttle closed doesn't allow the engine to pull in enough air to get an accurate reading,(would be low)...with the CV you'd have to lift the slide too....

I don't know how many miles you managed to get on the beast,but after 50-100 miles the heads are supposed to be re-torqued....

Charlie, some of the guys on ShovelheadUSA say the same thing. Some say to change the points, too. But the bike did run with the points/condensor I have now. They only have 15 miles on them. I use Accel high performance points/condensors as they are far superior to the aftermarket ones I had on the bike originally.
I inspected the points and they look new and are set to .018" on both the wide and narrow lobes. I'm going to look today in my manual or my motorcycle electrics book and see if there's some kind of test one can perform on condensors. I think I have a spare one if I need it . . . .

Cool sketch. I would have to lengthen both wires to reverse them as there is very little slack, at least temporarily by adding extension wires. This would be just for the plug test to see if spark is stronger when I open the points. Won't hurt to try. If the spark is noticably stronger, then I'd permanently lengthen the wires to fit.

I'm just going to assume my compression is in the ballpark, tired of worrying over all this mess - it did run for 15 miles and had good power in all gears. It just seemed to run fine, but hard to start.
I've already retorqued the heads (65 ft. lbs.) and that was what got rid of the leak at the front head gasket. Did this before I rode it. But will check torque again at 50 miles.

Don't rule out faulty NEW condensor. Seen that before (on cages).

Concerning condensors, the "manual says" to test it looking at the points when they open. If the points arc "slightly" when they are opened, the condensor is "probably" okay. If points arc too much or not at all, condensor needs to be replaced. Well, they arc slightly, I guess. Now I ask you, what kind of a half -assed way is that to test a condensor?:roflmao:
I tested a few other things.
BATTERY is at 12.8 volts after being charged. That's good.
COIL primary resistance is 4.3 ohms. That's a bit low by 4/10 of an ohm. Minimum should be 4.7 to 5.7 maximum. I suppose it's okay, though, but what do I know? That's according to "manual says".

Going back to my shop which I have been warming up the past hour or so. Will try to kick the beast alive. Only changes so far are the new wires . . . .

No start with the new wires, but after I changed the condensor, I was able to get it going (after many kicks) for about 10 minutes before it conked out. Couldn't get it started again. Only thing I can figure is it must be my starting technique. I begin by cleaning it out with several kicks, then turn on petcock, then throttle a couple squirts of gas into the cylinders, then turn on key, then kick, kick kick, squirt more gas, kick, kick kick, ect.
The sun was shining directly on the motor thru my windows, so I clearly saw the white/blue smoke exiting the rear pipe at the gasket. I saw that the pipe wasn't on the head squarely and that surprised me because I thought I had installed it so it would set flat against the flange. Crap!

Update on the continuing saga of blood, sweat & beers. I THINK I MAY HAVE FINALLY FIGURED IT OUT! I could hardly wait to get back from the shop to tell y'all. Well, first off, I took off the rear pipe that was leaking. Looked at the gasket and it was flatter toward the bolt side, so I simply twisted the gasket around about a half turn and put the pipe back on. It looked much better. I think I may have tightened the bolt too much first time around causing a leak on the opposite end of the bolt.

Next I thought, hell, might as well try and start it again since I'm here. Motor was still a little warm. Cleaned it out with 3 kicks, pulled out the enricher, injected 2 squirts of gas, key on, 1 kick and . . . . potato potato potato potato! Ran like a clock. No smoke from the rear exhaust port either.
So, I think that changing the condensor and new plug wires may have done the trick - plus the motor started real easy after it was warmed up a bit.
I'm gonna sleep good tonight!

Great news, it makes me happy for you.

Cool beans!
Sent from my Droid using Tapatalk

Mac the Wife is REALLY happy! I came in from the shop earlier all bummed out and now it's like 7th heaven around here!
I think one of the big things was the cold outside temps. Even with a well tuned engine, everybody was saying a kick starter is hard to get going when it's WINTER. And when it's winter AND wet - it's a double whammy. Doh!

Lucifer, I haven't tried switching the coil wires yet - but I don't think I'll need to now. YEEEEEEE-HAAAW!!! Yup, that's exactly what I yelled when the beast kicked over on the first kick! I don't think that was a fluke, either.

Good for you... I was about to discouraged and I am not there. Cold here too, but will get better latter this week. Time for you to get some seat time...

Way to go Nope, the coil wires weren't the problem,no need to switch 'em

Yup. After some lunch and a short nap I went back out to the shop and tried it again. I took my spare Accel condensor out of my tool bag and put it in and that's when things started to happen.
I think one of the weak points in a shovelhead's design is the single bolt holding the pipes on the heads. That's a real head scratcher to me why they did that. I wonder if they commonly had exhaust leaks back then?
I also checked for any vacuum leaks yesterday and didn't detect any.
Everything seems to be spot on.

Well, I suppose I can let this ol' thread start fading away now . . .

Hoo0-Raay Ta Dah ! What a relief. Get on that beast and RIDE IT LIKE YOU STOLE IT. C46

This has to be a near record number of responses for a thread. Shows how much we all wanna see a Bro get back on his scooter

After all this time, pain, frustration and success there is no way you can let this thread die!

Sent from my Droid using Tapatalk

Get to work Steveski.:roflmao: