Timing Mark

[oseaghdha]

....................

Having the head off makes it quite easy to see when the piston isn't moving up or down, but there's still a bit of slack where the crank can spin a few degrees before the piston starts to move in the opposite direction, so as has been stated, it looks DARN CLOSE, and unless you have a gauge/micrometer that you can put against the top of the piston to see when it has truly stopped moving, and then also note when/where on the timing plate the piston just starts to move both up and down, then mark the position in between those 2 points would provide a more accurate TDC point.

T.C.

THE best way is with an indicator: Zero the indicator where the piston stops moving at the top of the travel. Back off the crank a quarter rotation or so. Move the crank until you are .05" before TDC. Make a mark. Move the crank .05" after TDC. Make a mark there. Do this all in the normal direction of rotation.
The actual reading is not important as long as it's the same + and -.

True TDC will be exactly half way in between these two marks.

Even easier if you have a degree wheel.

I use this method to degree in camshafts. You would be surprised how sloppy the OEM marks are. Or maybe not.

[DGXSER]

Reality is your close enough the thing should fire up and run, you can fine tuen it with a timing light after it is running. Heck, it may be "off" because a PO who knew something timed it and that is where it wound up.

The "points" on these bikes is the pick-up coils behind the timing plate. They typically do not need replaced, you could check the gap on them though.

[mack]

previous owner

Well, I'm sorry to say that I am the previous owner. I'm the only one who has ever driven this bike. Bought it in Brandon Manitoba 4 August 1979. I haven't shown any pictures of the pre- restore appearance because I am too embarassed that I let it get to that condition. It's one thing to find an abandoned bike, covered in rust etc. and restore it, it's something quite different when your responsible for letting it get that bad. I'm really kicking myself about having it serviced by a dealership rather than learning to do it for myself. I've found all sorts of problems. The overflow pipe from the battery wasn't installed so the first corner I went through spilled acid on the fuse block, it's toast. There was three washers missing of the main jet screws in the carbs, they stripped all the slide locking screws , had to drill them out to get the carbs apart. The front master cylinder gasket wasn't reinstalled after the last brake job.Several other small things but what really p...ssed me off was when I went back to pick up the bike after this last servicing, they had put a shop sticker (advertisemnt) on the upper front fork in a position where it would have to slide in and out of the lower sleeve. Bad enough to have a sticker on the crome, but in that location was ridiculous. We had a heated discussion and they tried to remove it, but the guy couldn't peal it off and wanted to use a scrapper. Man. Good thing I never rode it much before I had to park it and go away for some military duty , which turned into a ten year absence, one arm pit of the world to another.

[randy]

WTF was I thinking? Well, I got some of it right. Must remember to have brain in gear before hitting keys

TDC is TDC is TDC. When you find TDC, align the pointer with the "T". Ignition timing is then set (5 d. BTDC) by rotating the pickup assembly.

DUH-UH!

[DGXSER]

LOL...do not feel to bad, we all have had that happen on something before. My uncle had a Triumph T3 that was mint except the windshield wipers would not work properly, so it went in the gargae behind the house for a few years, then kids came along, and family took over and twenty years later he went to pull the tarp off the T3 to find he had not accounted for the effect of a dirt floor in the garage. He eventually sold off what was left of the rusted away car for pennies.

Yeah, there is a reason most of us do all the work ourselves. I have found a few folks at my local shops I might trust to do the work on these old beast, but most of the do not even know what a carb is anymore. And none of them will ever care as much as I do about the work being done right.

[randy]

Reminds me of something that happened with my first bike, a 76 KZ400. My dad was a GM mechanic and taught me as I grew up. So I new V-8's with my eyes closed. I was having a problem changing the points on the KZ and he came to help me. His first question was 'where the hell is the distributor on this thing?'. Niether of us had seen a wasted spark system before

[tinman905]

Hey mack ,

You didn't mention anything about your cylinder head. It would be a good idea to freshen it up with new seals ,valve lapping and check the springs while it's off .

[mack]

Yep

Already done valves and stuff. #4 had one compressed inner spring but it was still within spec. I'll check the shims just before I re-install the head but I can't find a good set of feeler gages that have all .15 through .24. Right now I'm just cleaning the head up a bit. What a pain.

[TopCatGr58]

Randy, you're still a Smart Feller!

Hey Randy, thought I smelt a brain fart...., but I try to tread lightly since I, too, have cut a few of those over the years as well!

Mack, the vacuum advance pots are no longer available NEW, so you'll need to get a decent used one from Andreas Weiss...your side of the border, or Ebay or such.

But, yes, the new coils/wires/plug caps will go a long way towards making it much easier to start and run. Just remember to BYPASS the ballast resistor when you put on the new coils...providing you get the 3.0 ohm style ie. MikesXS....black or green, not the dyna ones that still come in 1.5 ohm type.
T.C.