What did you do to your bike today?

[CatatonicBug]

Installed a new (to me) CB system on the bike this weekend! I've never used a CB before, so this is a new thing entirely for me. Thanks to Madmax-im, I now have a JMCB-2003 handlebar-mounted radio with a wired headset and 3' antenna. I may purchase an additional headset for SWMBO's helmet in the future, as it allows for an intercom feature as well. It will make it nice for the local group rides I attend, where the leaders use their CBs for organizing the rides. I can plug my phone into the system for GPS/music. I am contemplating the purchase of the integration system that would allow actual phone calls to be made hrough the system, but J&M wants an additional $360 for that piece . Since I have a fairing, I managed to fit all the wiring in the empty headlight bucket, taping into the switched power and ground already in there.

[natemoen]

Did a final install on some led lights I have under the rear seat cowel, side covers, and tank. I had them mocked up before but it was pretty poorly done and I blew a fuse cause of it so I did it right finally.

Had to do some clutch adjustments. I really think I might be getting near the end of the life of my EBC springs. Got about 4000 miles on them. Hopefully I can make.it.through till winter with these and then I will put in some barnett springs.

Had to ground out my neutral light wire to the engine case cause it was messing with the pickups, so I gotta go in there soon when I have more time. When I replaced the pickup coil wires and soldered the new wire to the old wire at the factory splice down in the loom there was a little pointy spot that I was concerned about but didn't fix. So I am guessing that the pointy spot wore through the shrink tube, and I found several cracks in the neutral light wire while I was grounding it, so I might just pull the wire out and replace it all.

[natemoen]

Had picked up a used Geezer Reg/Rect awhile back and finally put on today. 14.53 volts at the battery at idle now!

Also swapped back to the brass floats in my carbs. Set them at 26.3mm (dont know why I picked that number). Now she seems to fall flat right at about 7 grand, power just drops off hard all of a sudden. Haven't check the plugs yet, but going to have to pull the carbs off again now.

[petejw]

Had picked up a used Geezer Reg/Rect awhile back and finally put on today. 14.53 volts at the battery at idle now!

Also swapped back to the brass floats in my carbs. Set them at 26.3mm (dont know why I picked that number). Now she seems to fall flat right at about 7 grand, power just drops off hard all of a sudden. Haven't check the plugs yet, but going to have to pull the carbs off again now.

hey nate,
when i was messing around with the float heights on my carbs
the leaner i went the longer it took for the mains to kick in at
1mm under, the mains didnt kick in at all, also the engine ran much
hotter.

[natemoen]

Hmmm, my brain was working backwards apparently. I was intending to go rich on the floats but now I realize after your post Pete that I went lean, now it makes way more sense.

[petejw]

Hmmm, my brain was working backwards apparently. I was intending to go rich on the floats but now I realize after your post Pete that I went lean, now it makes way more sense.

stick to the stock setting nate, i found no benefit
other than using more fuel and the bike bogging down under accel,
running on the rich side, i had pods and a fairly open exhaust.
a little on the lean side (.2mm) wont hurt, sounds anal
but every .2mm made a difference to how the bike ran,
i spent over a weekend pulling my carbs off and messing with
the float levels only, stock or slightly on the lean side made the bike
run well.
to see if uve got a good float setting ride the bike in 5th gear
at 2000rpm and crack the throttle open all the way, the bike should
pull nicely without bogging or running flat.
hope that helps a bit.

[BA80]

Rode it........from Bigfoots place in KC back to usluT. Had a good weekend and put 650 miles on ol' okie.

Went from asluT to Topeka and met and visited with a few Journey 4 Justice friends and then over to KC to Harry's and drank all his beer, well almost all.

The weather is great right now

[motoman]

Hmmm, my brain was working backwards apparently. I was intending to go rich on the floats but now I realize after your post Pete that I went lean, now it makes way more sense.

Yup, can't get enough wind across the top of that 'straw' to pull fuel upward when the level of fuel in the 'straw is way down too low. Same principle.......

[motoman]

After having chased an electrical gremlin very well disguised as a carb issue(those gremlins do it well) on and off for the past 3+yrs., I found the issue. Up in the main circuit(higher voltage) above 3800rpm it ran smooth and fine. Down in idle circuit(under 3800rpm), not so much with black plugs, stumble and all that goes with this cond. Having the LD tourer(ST), it was just easier when acting up to just park it off in the corner of the man-cave. Finially decided to either solve the issue or get rid of it. Got an anolog meter as the digital has no place for these kinda checks(too slow to react). From 12.8V @ the battery and 12.5V with key on, found a drop down to 10V at the brown wire out of regulator....not good. Key on at the primary leads of coil plug-ins, 9.5V....even worse, aside from the fact the TCI wasn't likely even triggering a mechanical advance.....not good, specially at lower rpm's. This all cleverly diguised itself as an idle circuit fuel issue to the point of not being able to even correctly set idle mixtures or sync. properly(low vacuum levels, incorrect timing advance, etc.) Short of removing fairing and removing the cute little Yammy bag that has all that forward electrical in it(had yrs.previously removed bag and unplugged, cleaned and dielectic greased ALL electrical), I sprayed electrical contact cleaner heavily down into switch assembly. That amazingly got the 9.5V up to 11.5V at all those previous connections. Put carbs back on leaving them with the too low of float levels(25mm chasing my tail), idle mixes out 4turns to compensate for the now known electrical issue, and it ran overall like a Swiss clock cept for the too low of float levels, giving it a built-in rev-limiter@ 7200rpm(fuel starvation) and a now rich idle circuit that cleared with a blip of the throttle. So, short of a half a volt that looks like requiring me to remove fairing to remove bag to get at ignition plug-in and remove ignition switch, CAREFULLY disassembling and cleaning contacts, CORRECTLY setting float levels, re-setting idle mixes and re-syncing carbs, this ole' lumbering tourer should be back to its old self. Watch out, those primary electrical gremlins are good at disguising themselves, and even fool an ole' seasoned 'wrench' like myself.....specially if lazily skipping just a couple of standard checks that I should of known better not to, as it mimmicked a fuel issue to a tee. I'll also capture the half a volt and re-install it where it needs to go.

[jwhughes3]

Brant you have the patience of Job.

Glad you got it going right.

I tip my hat to your mad troubleshooting skills.

John

[natemoen]

Put the Pacifico fairing and lowers on. Gotta say that is a PITA!!! Still need to find some LED side marker lights for it to replace the melted ones that were on there when I go it but I am not in any hurry. So now I shall see what it is like riding behind a fairing, I liked the windshield way better than without so maybe this will be even better!

[motoman]

Brant you have the patience of Job.

Glad you got it going right.

I tip my hat to your mad troubleshooting skills.

John

Thanks John. I DO have to give alot of that credit to 3Phase though. After finding low primary voltage to coils and a couple phone calls he got me aboard the correct color wires to narrow that voltage drop down to the ign. switch, its plug-in connection or both. Now if I just had that big jar of precious all important smoke to put back in the wiring.....just need 3/4 of a volt and sure it's hiding around the ign. switch contacts somewhere......I'll capture im' when it least expects it.......patience grasshopper.....

[motoman]

Put the Pacifico fairing and lowers on. Gotta say that is a PITA!!! Still need to find some LED side marker lights for it to replace the melted ones that were on there when I go it but I am not in any hurry. So now I shall see what it is like riding behind a fairing, I liked the windshield way better than without so maybe this will be even better!

Nice, looks WAY more complete now Natemoen! Paint and stripe the cases to match and it'll look even better. I remember what you started with, so good job!

[natemoen]

Nice, looks WAY more complete now Natemoen! Paint and stripe the cases to match and it'll look even better. I remember what you started with, so good job!

I haven't decided if I want to paint the boxes yet. I just don't know if print would last on them really either.

I forgot to say also put a volt meter in. There will soon also be a oil temp and oil pressure gauge in there too.


(yes that is my idle voltage)

[motoman]

I haven't decided if I want to paint the boxes yet. I just don't know if print would last on them really either.

I forgot to say also put a volt meter in. There will soon also be a oil temp and oil pressure gauge in there too.


(yes that is my idle voltage)

Hope it don't go up much from there!. Ideal charging voltage on any twelve volt automotive system is 13.8V-14.2V. Why bikes in general seem to be a bit above that is anyones guess. Even my STeed will max @14.8....yikes. Pertaining to the side boxes, being metal, could soda-blast, or sand blast since those are a heavy gauge, some metal etching primer and a few coats of matching automotive paint......sounds like an off riding season project.