SeaCat
Hey, my Halo is smoking
- Joined
- Sep 23, 2003
- Posts
- 15,378
The Beast that is.
Went out there early this morning and started checking things out. The first thing I checked was the plugs. They all had spark but were suspicously dry.
Moving back up the chain I checked the float bowls and just a thin sludge dribbled out of them. Oops. Out came the carbs for a good soaking and cleaning. (That took a couple of hours.) BAck in they went.
Once again I tried to start the bike, only this time I knew there was going to be a wait as the bowls filled. (It takes some 30 engine revolutions to fill the bowls.) Still nothing. Now that got me curious and I checked the bowls again. All four of them were dry.
It took me a bit to find the culprit as the fuel filter was filled.
Upstream of the fuel filter the gas line had delaminated a bit and was blocking the line. This was causing a vacuum which didn't allow the filter to empty even when I had the fuel line detached.
I replaced the fuel line and tried again.
Now I could see fuel flowing through the filter and before I was expecting it the engine was trying to ctach.
A couple of minutes later and it fired, but man did it run rough. It certainly didn't want to keep running and finally it died. By this time the battery was going dead. (The bike doesn't charge the battery below 5K RPM's.)
I pulled the battery and hooked it up to the charger while the wife and I went shopping.
When the battery was ready I put it back in and kicked the bike over, by now I was a bit irritated. When the bike started this time I eased in the choke then started twisting the throttle until I had the engine at 5K and held it there. Oh man did it sound bad, and then it cleared it's throat. It backfired repeatedly loud enough to make the guy across the street drop his beer. After each backfire the engine revved a bit higher then settled down. After the sixth, or was it seventh backfire the engine smoothed out and rumbled along like it's supposed to do.
I was grinning like mad and let it run a bit longer before shutting it down and heading inside. I grabbed my jeans and boots as well as my vest and gloves. I wasn't going far, justa couple of laps around the park to scrub the brakes and check out the tranny.
It shifted just fine but holy smokes on the brakes. After sitting the past few months the brakes were tough. There must have been some rust in the back drum and I could see the rust on the disks. I had top power the bike to roll it until some of that wore off. Then I had to ride the brakes to scrub them clean again. It took four laps or two miles of riding this way to get the brakes working correctly.
When I got back to our place after the last lap I told my wife I was going on a test run while I grabbed my helmet and glasses. She just waved and held up her phone.
It was a short ride, all of ten miles but in those ten miles I really worked the engine. I was winding it out almost to redline as often as possible. It backfired a couple of times while I did this but now is running like a top, smooth as silk and all four cylinders are firing correctly.
Tomorrow I won't be home but the next day I will so that's when I'll finish putting The Beast back together. (I still have to put the side panels and windshield back on.)
It Lives Damn It!!!!!
Cat
Went out there early this morning and started checking things out. The first thing I checked was the plugs. They all had spark but were suspicously dry.
Moving back up the chain I checked the float bowls and just a thin sludge dribbled out of them. Oops. Out came the carbs for a good soaking and cleaning. (That took a couple of hours.) BAck in they went.
Once again I tried to start the bike, only this time I knew there was going to be a wait as the bowls filled. (It takes some 30 engine revolutions to fill the bowls.) Still nothing. Now that got me curious and I checked the bowls again. All four of them were dry.
It took me a bit to find the culprit as the fuel filter was filled.
Upstream of the fuel filter the gas line had delaminated a bit and was blocking the line. This was causing a vacuum which didn't allow the filter to empty even when I had the fuel line detached.
I replaced the fuel line and tried again.
Now I could see fuel flowing through the filter and before I was expecting it the engine was trying to ctach.
A couple of minutes later and it fired, but man did it run rough. It certainly didn't want to keep running and finally it died. By this time the battery was going dead. (The bike doesn't charge the battery below 5K RPM's.)
I pulled the battery and hooked it up to the charger while the wife and I went shopping.
When the battery was ready I put it back in and kicked the bike over, by now I was a bit irritated. When the bike started this time I eased in the choke then started twisting the throttle until I had the engine at 5K and held it there. Oh man did it sound bad, and then it cleared it's throat. It backfired repeatedly loud enough to make the guy across the street drop his beer. After each backfire the engine revved a bit higher then settled down. After the sixth, or was it seventh backfire the engine smoothed out and rumbled along like it's supposed to do.
I was grinning like mad and let it run a bit longer before shutting it down and heading inside. I grabbed my jeans and boots as well as my vest and gloves. I wasn't going far, justa couple of laps around the park to scrub the brakes and check out the tranny.
It shifted just fine but holy smokes on the brakes. After sitting the past few months the brakes were tough. There must have been some rust in the back drum and I could see the rust on the disks. I had top power the bike to roll it until some of that wore off. Then I had to ride the brakes to scrub them clean again. It took four laps or two miles of riding this way to get the brakes working correctly.
When I got back to our place after the last lap I told my wife I was going on a test run while I grabbed my helmet and glasses. She just waved and held up her phone.
It was a short ride, all of ten miles but in those ten miles I really worked the engine. I was winding it out almost to redline as often as possible. It backfired a couple of times while I did this but now is running like a top, smooth as silk and all four cylinders are firing correctly.
Tomorrow I won't be home but the next day I will so that's when I'll finish putting The Beast back together. (I still have to put the side panels and windshield back on.)
It Lives Damn It!!!!!
Cat
