Carb question.....

[natemoen]

You need gigawats to break through the time space continuum.

Where could we mount a flux capacitor on these things?

[motoman]

You need gigawats to break through the time space continuum.

Maybe that's what it's missin'.

[BA80]

You need gigawats to break through the time space continuum.

[CaptonZap]

Not meaning to pile on, but there is a standard method of measuring the energy put out from the coil by the distance that the spark will jump from movable electrodes, and they usually give the KV for a given gap. Not as precise as Joules, but gives an understandable picture of what is of interest, i.e. the spark energy.

CZ

[TopCatGr58]

For the record, spark energy is usually measured in mJ (milli-Joules)

kV is a voltage measurement.

As you said, spark energy is important to make a hot spark.

Sorry, I used to sell OEM Ignition Coils to Chrysler back in the 1980s.

Hey Mike,

Well, that may be what the "energy" is measured in ....but for layman's terms and understanding the more common term seems to be VOLTS and K-volts.

See this quote from their webpage for DynaTek coils. I will note that they say both Kvolt level but then also say "Spark Energies" second to none, but don't actually mention the unit of energy...which I will assume would be milli-joules....but think that only Electrical techies would be aware or understand the latter, whereas almost everyone at least knows or is familiar with volts, and thereby K-Volts. ( A lot! ) And we know that OEM are around 15 K-volts, so these are/seem to be twice as strong/powerful???

Dynatek Coils : These high tech, top quality coils are designed for maximum performance. They produce spark voltages in excess of 30,000 volts and spark energies second to none. DYNA Coils are made to replace stock coils. Choose from three configurations and five variations of resistance for different applications. DYNA Coils work with point ignitions, aftermarket electronic ignitions and factory electronic ignitions. Before selecting a coil, check the coil primary resistance requirements as specified by the manufacturer of the ignition being used.

http://www.dynaonline.com/skins/products/accessories/Dyna_Coils/

And their Specs description at the bottom of the page again only mentions the K-volts parameter.

T.C.

[motoman]

I'll be getting back to this shortly. Did some mixture adjusting prior to two different group rides at the Colo.Rally past weekend. Results were improved.......but still not quite there.

[Radioguylogs]

Hey Brant,

....I know folks have reported good results with the VF coils, but do you really know how much spark energy (KV) they put out??

T.C.

For the record, spark energy is usually measured in mJ (milli-Joules)

kV is a voltage measurement.

As you said, spark energy is important to make a hot spark.

Sorry, I used to sell OEM Ignition Coils to Chrysler back in the 1980s.

[motoman]

Back from test riding, mostly Interstate. The re-adjustment made the difference! Seems happy at 4turns out on mixes. Think I'm out of those just a tad beyond highest in.vacuum, as plugs are dark,dark brown down inside with a tannish brown electrode.
Previously, at 2 1/2 turns out, down inside plugs would be black,black with a white porclien/electrode out on the 'slab'. That also left it at a low 14in. of vacuum at idle.
These later model carbs sure don't seem to follow the 'rule of thumb' that if idle mixes are beyond 2.5 turns out, steppin' up the idle circuit is needed.

I may or may not fine tune those idle mixes to just EXACTLY when highest in. vacuum is reached. A tad on the rich side runnin' in these hot temps sure isn't gonna hurt my feelings going to and from the rally. If it looks like it's bothersome down in the pilot circuit runnin in the higher elevations, I'll have the MorganTune with me anyways for any changes.

What's curious to me, is why the rich cond. with the lean settings and corrects itself setting idle mixes richer, which in turn maximises vacuum?

[motoman]

Got back to it today. Went to change clutch cable and found new one(MP) 3/8 0f an inch short on the cable itself. Lubed the old one, cut off the one frayed wire at top and re-installed. Rally time, so it'll have to wait to take back and re-order.

As for the carbs, since I had tank, etc. off, decided to re-set things, and saw vacuum at idle down around 14-15in.. Backed out the 2 1/2 settings to highest in.vac. which ended up at 4 turns out. Smoothed out and wasn't laboring with that slight lope, and idle came up. Re-set it back down, rechecked the mix setting, then synced the four. Got an afternoon shower(reprieve finially), so soon as some of the wet dissapears, going for a test run. Report back later as to the results. Gettin' crunch time, to mess with it too much.

[motoman]

I also at the same time pulled fuse panel mount plate, unplugged ALL conenectors, spray cleaned all the previous dielectic grease out, plugged back together and just sealed the wire backsides of them. This seemed to add improvement to smoothness when holding steady at a given lower RPM under 3000. I'll have to rotate another set of soda blasted clean plugs in, and run the same route/speeds combined again and have another peak at them for any actual improvement. Who knows, maybe a pick-up coil was missin' a bit of what it needed.
Either way, until it gets sorted out and corrected, least I'll lknow rest of system is up to 'snuff' once again.

The timing lite lasted long enough to confirm what I needed to know. It slipped off bike and hit the concrete. Hooked it back up, fired bike up and hit the trigger..........no more blinky light......but, least got 2 now known to be good extra TCI's.

[motoman]

Hooked up timing lite, disconneted vacuum advace and mechanical advance function of TCI works perfectly. Kinda hopin' it wasn't, as that would point to a timing advance(or lack of) as a likely issue.
The good side of doing that was the other two 4RO TCI's are also functioning fine. Least not packin' around dead electronics.
At this point, even tho the Honda VF coils(one checks out at 3.1ohms, other 2.9ohms) improved things substantually, and the ohm readings are accepable(more is better, less not so good), like you said T.C, that's no guarentee of thier voltage output. Based on my experience, Honda coils ARE notoriously reliable compared to others, but that's still no guarentee, as I've seem them go bad on a 1500Wing and on a CRF450. Very uncommon tho.

Right now it runs better and smoother than its done in several yrs., and based on plugs should'nt have any ventilated piston issues going to the rally with it, which was my biggest concern. I've always said that if the motor ever damaged internally, I'm done with the XS, as I have no interest this late in the game to overhaul one......and I sure don't need the practice.

T.C. or any and all others suggestions are welcome, as I've obviously overlooked something that I'm sure is gonna give me a 'duh' moment when it gets decifered out.

BTW, got your e-mail T.C......I'll have to re-read and get back to ya'.

[motoman]

Hesitant on the timig lite use...........dug out what I thought I remembered being an ole' Allen timing lite, to find a lesser quality K&L equip. timing lite!

Hope hookin' that thing up doesn't give the secondary ignition carb issues.
I'll be doing those checks tomorrow or Tues..

[motoman]

The wrong pilots would certainly cause an issue like this. And, a chugging affect at cruise. BTDT

Are they genuine Mikuni?

Altitude may have an effect also, less air, more gas but the CV carbs are supposed to self adjust for that.

If all else fails, drop the float level 1mm and see if that makes a difference

All good thoughts Greg. ALL jets genuine and stock sizing
CV's do fairly well altitude compensating due to vacuum Hg's drop......least original Standard carbs always did, and my original location when new was higher at 6,500ft.
Had float levels previously set for quite some time at 24mm, just cause of the fact I had done that......WITH gaskets in place.
Late this afternoon or evening, will be checking TCI(all three) with timing lite for advance function, and re-cleaning/sealing the primary plug-in behind fuse panel, just for peace of mind if nothing else.

[BA80]

The wrong pilots would certainly cause an issue like this. And, a chugging affect at cruise. BTDT

Are they genuine Mikuni?

Altitude may have an effect also, less air, more gas but the CV carbs are supposed to self adjust for that.

If all else fails, drop the float level 1mm and see if that makes a difference

[mack]

Jets

FWIW Mack, the BS30/96 pilots are the 2-1-2-1 six holed pilots(what's in yours too, 42.5's. The XJ uses smaller size, and are VM style(no side holes),so short of givin' you a 101 on BS34 II Mikunis, that's what that is all about

Never seen those before. But then again I got set of carbs here that had plastic mains in them. I hadn't seen those before either!! I wouls gladly accept a 101 on Mikuni's. The little 650 J, I worked on last year had hitachi VM carbs but they still had the side holes.