belteshazzar wrote: ... but wheels look like they're going to be the challenge. Mine are ruuuusty.
A sandblasting and powder coating does wonders.
belteshazzar wrote: ... but wheels look like they're going to be the challenge. Mine are ruuuusty.
A sandblasting and powder coating does wonders.
if it comes to that. i'd really rather just find some ready to go.
took the carb to a guy and let him clean it (ultrasonically? is that a thing?). When I put it back together the sediment bowl screw stripped. tapped it bigger/deeper, and used some ultra-grey sealant during assembly.
no more fuel leaking. it also starts on the first or second kick. engine sounds great.
on the downside, it's super hard to shift gears. Provided you can even get it out of neutral, the moment you give it any throttle it rattles like hell and you're compelled to let off. where do i start with that?
THIS. NEVER. HAPPENS. TO. ME.
here's a picture of it running. it's hard to tell, because it doesn't smoke
But it does leak! You would think it was British.
Awesome little bike.
My dad bought a later model CT-90 that sat for many, many years but was extremely low miles and ran great. It was a ton of fun! I wish I had bought it from him.
got some wheels!
used, but waaaaaaaaay less crusty.
the transmission is really funky. often won't go into gear, or come out.
sometimes when it does go into gear you get a banging sound the moment you apply throttle.
last night i was jacking around with it and managed to find a gear just right, and no banging noise as i revved it, so i decided to go for my first ride(in 20 years anyway).
i was giggling for like half an hour.
Congratulations on getting it going! The shifter thing is probably the drum sticking because it hasn't been ridden in so long. It probably has some rust on it. Ride it and giggle some more, it should free up.
okay, so, 1st gear is the problem. if i can get it into second everything is fine. 3rd and 4th are good too. what do you fellas think, can i skip taking it apart for now and just use 2,3, & 4?
when i first started toying with it a few months back, it would start pretty easily. the last few weeks it's been harder to start. it's the same feeling as when there's no compression. though i doubt that's the case. i came to find that i could sit at the top of my steep driveway and as i roll about halfway down i could throw it into gear and away i go. this morning that method got me to work, but now i'm stuck there and can't get home:(.
the battery is new and the lights are bright. i checked the plug and it looks very good, but there's no spark. i pulled the cover off the points, and the look okay, but nothing is moving there when i kick or roll the bike. does that point to some kind of clutch problem? i wonder if maybe the engine itself isn't turning over at all.
It should easy to check if the engine is turning over - pull the spark plug, put a finger over the hole and slowly move the kickstart. You should feel air movement.
Cam gear teeth are all worn off? I assume thats what runs the distributor.
4cylndrfury wrote: Cam gear teeth are all worn off? I assume thats what runs the distributor.
i don't think that causes a gradually worsening problem like this.
sure, theyre gradually grinding off...or maybe a cam chain tensioner needs adjusted? Not sure if the dist runs off a gear to gear connection, or a chain driven gear connection.
Itd be hard to believe that it ran well enough to get you to work, and now some catastrophic failure renders the rotating assembly kaput. My guess would be distributor isnt spinning because its drive mechanism has a failure/misadjustment.
once it's running, it's flawless.
i wonder if i smoked the clutch driving around without first gear, so now it doesn't turn the engine when i kick it or roll it.
Those don't have dizzys, the points are behind the magneto rotor on the left side of the engine. EDIT: That one might have the points behind the small cover on the left side of the cylinder head.
It should have primary kickstart, meaning the clutch has no connection to starting the engine. You can test this by pulling in the clutch, or if it's an automatic holding the shift lever all the way down and see if the engine spins over when you kick it. If it does, you have primary kickstart. If it doesn't, you don't have primary kickstart.
Check the valve adjustment first thing! Those engines have the same habit later Hondas do, as the valves wear into the seats they 'grow' upward, closing off the valve lash. If it has no valve lash the compression will be nil and it will be hard to start.
the points are under a small cover on the left side. nothing is moving there when i kick/roll the bike. i'll pull the plug again and check for compression over my lunch break.
Actually, I bet the shaft there in the center is rotating, but the points aren't moving because the contact block is now worn away. A tiny bit of lubrication is needed on that cam so the block doesn't wear away so fast. Yours probably dried out many years ago from sitting.
Clean it, lube it, adjust it and the bike will be back to starting up easily and running just fine.
i marked the shaft that the contact block rides on and it was definitely not moving... most of the time. if i kick it like mad sometimes i'd get half a turn. just for fun i checked the gap on the points, it was spot on. i removed a cover and rotated the engine manually. ignition timing was perfect and everything moved nicely(cam, valves, piston, etc).
i pulled the tappet covers off and set the valve lash. it was a little tight on the exhaust side, but not much.
still won't kick or roll start.
Got some new tires
So you got it running again OK, I assume?
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