I took the bike out for the first time since I rebuilt the top end and clutch this last Saturday. All was going well until fouled a plug at the bottom of a downhill and couldn't walk the bike back to the truck. I then proceeded to walk back to the truck and return to the track repair. Nice way to kill 30-40 minutes of valuable riding time . Anyway, I promise this story is relevant to my question and I'm done complaining now.
After I got the bike started again, I rode for another 20-30 min before I had to load up and head back home. When I got back, I decided to pull the plug and take a look at it; it looks about the same as the one that went out on me I haven't chopped this one yet because it's still starting and my new plugs are in the mail with some new jets (and I must have dropped the fouled one, so I don't have that one).
Here are some quick pictures of what it looks like:
Maybe I really need to chop it before I can tell much, but I don't see even the faintest bit of white.
A quick rundown of temps, elevation, and my jetting for the day: day started around 50 degrees and then went up to about 65 degrees. I ride between 500-800 ft above sea level. At the time, the jetting was #170 main, #50 pilot, needle (N3VF) was on the 2nd clip, and pilot screw about 2 turns out. Generally speaking, I am thinking my main was probably a bit lean, but everything else about this seems sane to me (though I'm certainly no expert). I didn't have any hard starting issues that day though I did have a bit of hanging idle problem.
I pulled the carb and did a thorough cleaning (24 hour dip followed by a manual spray) and readjusted my float (which seemed to be a little bit high-- I was probably running rich there). Note that I had already repacked my silencer before this ride and had cleaned the air filter. Just to be safe, I have since replaced the air filter with a new one.
Now, on to my question: to me, it seems as though I have competing issues. I think the plug looks like I'm running too rich not to mention I fouled a plug while riding. Likewise, my float was set pretty high so that suggest to me that I was probably running rich from there. However, I thought hanging idle issues were related to running too lean. I was on the throttle coming off of a downhill when the plug died on me. Is it possible that one circuit was too lean while the other was rich? I'm not exactly sure what to make of this here
I was out working on it on Monday, but the temperature had changed rather drastically (70-75), so I couldn't exactly reproduce the issues (read: this has been the weirdest Illinois winter... Temperature swings from 20-70 in the matter of a week). The only issue that seemed to stick around was the hanging idle (but I had also dropped the jet to a #48 as part of my testing and never put it back to #50).
I had other odd issues this day too like leaking coolant though I couldn't find the leak (engine cases looked dry, so maybe overflow?) but I checked and the propeller seems to be fine and after adjusting air screw and riding around some more that issue seemed to stop... But anyway, that's mostly off-topic unless someone has additional thoughts (maybe running too hot, etc.?)
Well, there is my somewhat haphazard description. Anyone have thoughts on this situation? Should I try to go back to stock jetting and work my way out from there?
After I got the bike started again, I rode for another 20-30 min before I had to load up and head back home. When I got back, I decided to pull the plug and take a look at it; it looks about the same as the one that went out on me I haven't chopped this one yet because it's still starting and my new plugs are in the mail with some new jets (and I must have dropped the fouled one, so I don't have that one).
Here are some quick pictures of what it looks like:
Maybe I really need to chop it before I can tell much, but I don't see even the faintest bit of white.
A quick rundown of temps, elevation, and my jetting for the day: day started around 50 degrees and then went up to about 65 degrees. I ride between 500-800 ft above sea level. At the time, the jetting was #170 main, #50 pilot, needle (N3VF) was on the 2nd clip, and pilot screw about 2 turns out. Generally speaking, I am thinking my main was probably a bit lean, but everything else about this seems sane to me (though I'm certainly no expert). I didn't have any hard starting issues that day though I did have a bit of hanging idle problem.
I pulled the carb and did a thorough cleaning (24 hour dip followed by a manual spray) and readjusted my float (which seemed to be a little bit high-- I was probably running rich there). Note that I had already repacked my silencer before this ride and had cleaned the air filter. Just to be safe, I have since replaced the air filter with a new one.
Now, on to my question: to me, it seems as though I have competing issues. I think the plug looks like I'm running too rich not to mention I fouled a plug while riding. Likewise, my float was set pretty high so that suggest to me that I was probably running rich from there. However, I thought hanging idle issues were related to running too lean. I was on the throttle coming off of a downhill when the plug died on me. Is it possible that one circuit was too lean while the other was rich? I'm not exactly sure what to make of this here
I was out working on it on Monday, but the temperature had changed rather drastically (70-75), so I couldn't exactly reproduce the issues (read: this has been the weirdest Illinois winter... Temperature swings from 20-70 in the matter of a week). The only issue that seemed to stick around was the hanging idle (but I had also dropped the jet to a #48 as part of my testing and never put it back to #50).
I had other odd issues this day too like leaking coolant though I couldn't find the leak (engine cases looked dry, so maybe overflow?) but I checked and the propeller seems to be fine and after adjusting air screw and riding around some more that issue seemed to stop... But anyway, that's mostly off-topic unless someone has additional thoughts (maybe running too hot, etc.?)
Well, there is my somewhat haphazard description. Anyone have thoughts on this situation? Should I try to go back to stock jetting and work my way out from there?