1979 XS650 Chop won't start

Permanent Magnet ignition kit, no battery. Just a capacitor. New 34mm Pre-jetted Mikunis

Bike ran ok when I had the stock setup. Stock carbs, points ignition, etc. But it had issues and I decided that since I was chopping the bike up anyways, I'd like to eliminate the battery while I was at it.

I installed the new ignition / carbs. I rewired the entire bike (thanks to this site for the diagrams) and i got the bike to run. It would not stay idling and it would stall out on me. I ran it up and down the street and that was all I could really trust it to do. Well I just couldn't dial her in

I started taking off parts and checking to see if anything stood out. I noticed the new ignition was really REALLY wobbly when the bike was running. Like it just wasn't on the timing shaft correctly. I took it off and noticed that the drive pin wore a hole into the ignition and warped it a bit. I filed it back down and tried to refit it properly but while doing so I may have screwed up the timing. Here's how...

That ATU shaft. I pushed it into the head (you know how it has some play) and curiosity made me spin t around a bit. Well I am assuming I threw off the timing.

This is frustrating because I know that if one of you pros had this bike in your possession for a couple hours it would be running like a top.

The bike has...
Great compression
New electronic ignition
New permanent magnet stator
New Capacitor
New Coil
New 34mm Mikunis
Everything is good it just needs to be dialed in. Can anyone help me? Maybe a step by step kinda thing? I'm not sure where to start.

Thank you guys in advance

Ok, the word "new" doesn't help.
We need to know what brand of ignition, PMA, ect.
VM or CV carbs?
Carbs pre-jetted for what?
Where did you buy it all?
Stock exhaust or is it cut?
We need this info to help.

Ok yes you are right..

VM 34 Mikunis Main Jet - 042 / Needle -159. Im in FL sea level.
Cut shorty pipes
MikesXS basic standard ignition / PMA charge kit. Came with the capacitor, coil, wires.

What is a Mikes basic standard ignition? A Pamco?
Some pics would be good. Sounds like you screwed something up in assembly.

https://www.mikesxs.net/yamaha-xs650-basic-standard-ignition-kit-xscharge-pma-package.html

This is the link to what I have now.

Looks to me that things are not assembled correctly. It appears that the Pamco rotor is only being held by one or two threads of the nut, which is wrong. The ATU shaft should protrude proud of the nut by maybe 1/8", but your shaft is sunken inside the nut.
Can you post a picture of the other end, showing the fly weights? You need to disassemble and see what is wrong.

I don't see any TDC marks on your stator cover. How are you ensuring that it is set at TDC when you assembled it?

Unusual clamping method on that left intake manifold...

I used a stator coe

littlebill31 said:

I don't see any TDC marks on your stator cover. How are you ensuring that it is set at TDC when you assembled it?

Click to expand...

Hey just back from Colorado. I used a stator cover I had lying around to get to TDC. I am at a loss here. I am not nearly as advanced as you all. I just want to get this baby running and I plan to invest time into now that I am back home. It is quite frustrating as you can all imagine. I appreciate your patience.

There are 3 pins that need to be installed correctly for the timing to work. This is a link you can read, where 5twins talks about the 3 pins. I suggest you remove the ATU shaft, and the fly-weights back plate from the engine, so you can see if anything is damaged or broken:
http://www.xs650.com/threads/advance-unit-installation-am-i-missing-something.41144/#post-412399

Also for initial starting of the engine,when you have a PMA, its recommended by Pamcopete, to wire the Pamco ignition on its own separate battery. A PMA and a capacitor can produce voltages that are high and swinging around. A battery, only on the Pamco, will give a nice steady voltage for the ignition. If the bike has some successful starts, then you can put the wiring back to normal.

Nice, I will work on that tonight. I'll update. Thank you

Ok, I took out the ATU shaft and reinstalled according to some install instructions I found on this site. The timing marks on the rotor that the flyweights slide into was backwards. You can probably see that in the picture above because you cannot see the arrow or the timing mark. I aligned the mark with the backing plate and made sure that the arrow was clockwise. The ignition plate is secured and pulled all the way to the right as the instructions suggest. I adjusted the idle screw to one turn in after it moves the slide slightly from all the way out. Air screw was set to 1 1/2 turns out. I kicked it a few times and it idled for a second and then died. I kicked it a few more times and it idled for a second and then died. It will no longer start. I am going to drain the fuel and try to push fresh fuel in this thing tomorrow to see if that helps. But other than that my foot and leg are worn out from kicking this thing so many damn times. Any body have any other suggestions? I will put the fresh fuel in it tomorrow and try again.

dalelemons4 said:

... I kicked it a few times and it idled for a second and then died...

Click to expand...

That's when I'd pull the plugs and read them.
But, I'm at a loss at how to explain what I'd be looking for...

They were soaked in gas when I just pulled them

I checked for air leaks but I'll check again

dalelemons4 said:

They were soaked in gas when I just pulled them

Click to expand...

Okay, then. Use fresh/clean plugs, leave petcock(s) off, crack throttle open a bit, kickstart again...

Brand new plugs, it starts for a fraction of a second then won't start. I took the carbs off and pulled the two jets and they look clean. I set them to the recommended settings I found on this site. No air leaks. I want to check to make sure I have spark but I hear that you should turn the bike over with the plugs out with this ignition setup.