I'm new to the bike world so hang with me in this short story. I bought the bike about 6 weeks ago and have been working on getting it on the road with some success. I pains-takingly removing Rattlecan Picassos paint blunder while waiting on parts then performed the basics; carb clean/rebuild, fresh gas, new fuel line and O-rings, checked spark plugs for color etc... I was able to get it running and moving but it fought me all the while. Let me also add quickly it has pods and 4-1 exhaust (as purchased).
Carbs: (KeiHin) I am in a hurry to get a few miles out of it before winter so I took a shortcut and bought the dynojet kit instead of doing the research to figure out what jets to get, from where, and how to set the needle. I'm still a little confused on replacing the primary mains and pilot jet, the dynojet kit only came with secondary mains. I drilled the slides and replaced the secondary mains. As far as the needle is concerned I'm at an impass. The originals are shorter and taper in quicker along the shaft. The dynojets are longer and taper slower. The result of this seems to be that there will be less opening for the fuel to pass by during all throttle range. Does this seem right? Should I keep the original needles in or just install the kit as dynojet intended? Shim the originals? Turn the idle air screw in? It idles quite poorly now. I bought bowls without the overflow/vent tubes because of the problems I've been having with them. A few were cracked and constantly leaking so I found tube that would slide over them without restricing float movement. When I discovered later models with the same carb had the overflow/vent tube removed I bought those bowls and am installing them now. The original setup was to have the bowl drains/vent/overflows piped into the airbox. To me this means the tubes would have been under a constant vacuum while running. That would have but the bowls under a vacuum, assisting in fuel flow under high demand. Having the pods on and the vent tubes/drains open to the atmosphere would mean vacuum loss, meaning the carbs are relying mostly on gravity to pull fuel in. I was having problems with intermitten power loss after hard acceleration but could keep the bike running by having the throttle most of the way open. It would die after allowing it to idle down. After about 2 minutes I could start and ride again, but not as responsive. Forums suggest stator, wires plugs and coils for the electrical side; tank vacuum, blocked strainer and hydrolock for fuel side. I verified proper tank ventilation(cleaned cap passages and drilled hole in cap one size larger to be sure) and fuel flow. So I guess the question there is am I right about the vent/overflow tubes being a possible cause for intermitten power loss via fuel starvation/vacuum leak? The bike is still apart for the current batch of parts so I haven't tested it yet but will if I get mixed reviews.
Suspension: I've bought a pair of Spectre front shocks to replace the originals. The single air port is appealing for a balanced suspension in the front...and the old ones were shot anyway. As a winter project I was planning on looking into a R1 front end. I don't want to break the bank doing to though. The objective is to stick a wider tire up front for looks. Any advice on this? Is there a way to get away from air shocks in the front otherwise?
Electrical: I have replaced the coils with Dynatek 3 ohm duals. I didn't realize I would need different coil side boots to fit it, so am replacing the wires all together next week. This plays off of the intermitten power loss I was experiencing. Im not too hot with the full testing procedures so I decided to just replace them. The fitment looks close to me, haven't tried to put the tank back on yet, waiting until next batch of parts is in and installed.
Engine: I haven't delved into the engine much yet. Just removed and cleaned/greased the timing advancer when I first had trouble with the bike running appropriately. Is it costly to have a shop do the valve clearance? Timing? Should I do these things ASAP of can they wait for the winter tear down? I plan on doing a documented complete teardown and custom restore this winter. Nothing fancy, just new parts and paint. Maybe move a few things around and tighten up the look a bit.
Other: The tach pukes oil now and again. Was thinking about going electrical and pluging it. Anyone have their bike setup all electrical/digital? Tach and speedo. I know I can just get a new seal pretty cheap. I wanted to clean up the front a bit and get rid of the speedo + tach lines. Not only that but the handle bars and pipes aren't original so the lines got melted quite a bit before I found good ways to route them. Previous owner... One last thing. The emissions deal. Remove it and put ape covers over the reed valves, or keep it? Does it affect the bike at all by removing it?
Desiderata
