2ManyHobbies
XS650 Member
First of all, I'm semi-new to motorcycle mechanics. I'm not a stupid person. I can usually figure both things out but I believe I have been My own worst enemy on this latest part of the project. I know there are a lot of people that don't agree with the mods that I'm doing and that's fine. I respect your opinion on keeping things classic but I'm a man who likes to Tinker with things and learn new stuff. Also, I have another one identical to this coming to me that will remain in the classic look. With that said, please be kind and give me any helpful advice that you may have. Thank you in advance
Here's the story
: 77 xs 650D. I first installed an xs charge pma kit. Bike ran great. Then I installed the Boyer bransden ignition (blue box). Had to learn about timing but I finally got it and it ran like a champ. THEN.... I got the idea to start redesigning the bike. I stripped anything electronic of to simplify, go batteryless using a Boyer 3 phase power box and even all that was working fine at first. I like three look of the striped down brat style or tracker. Anyway, it would still fire, run good and all electronics worked. Next thing I did after that was replace the carbs with mikuni vm34 round slides, and here's where I messed up maybe.. At the same time, I replaced the exhaust with short straight pipes. It fired a few times but was running irratic. The idle was up and down, I'd rev it and it would just stay up for a while unless I engaged the clutch. Then most of the time it would die. I spoke with the people at TC Brothers and they assured me that the carburetors were sent with jetting that would work for my bike even after telling them I had straight pipes and Boyer ignition. I set the fuel and air screw as recommended and even tried 150 combinations, remember I'm a little new to this. I was gonna to replace the spark plugs with new ones and they didn't have the ones the manual calls for but they gave me what they said was comparable. I did redo the timing (static) and was going to fine tune but it never would stay steady enough to do so. After a 3 week break I went back at it. I discovered I was not getting voltage from one of the 3 phase wires from the alternator. I believe this could have been a problem from the very start because when I rewired everything, I missed a ground wire grounding the frame to the motor and I remember at one point grabbing the key to turn the engine off when it revved super high and I got a pretty good shock. I traced it back and found the wires were brittle, corroded and one was broken completely. In hindsight, i probably got shocked because the wires that were breaking from the alternator probably were touching ground and putting voltage on the frame. So I bought a new pma kit and replaced the alternator. I now get voltage on all 3 legs but still won't start. I went through the fault finding guide for the Boyer ignition and everything seemed to check out except the magnets seem pretty weak. They didn't hold their own weight for sure but I do get a spark. It's a weak spark but I get one when rested against the motor casing. But when they're installed, I get no fire (gapped at .30). Every once in a while it goes once or twice but not enough to start it. Am I right by thinking it could be the spark plugs or weak magnets in the ignition stator plate? Or have I done too many mods at once and tuning this thing is way above my pay grade at this point? I'm not a stupid person. I can usually figure most things out, but I am stumped here and I may have gotten myself in over my head. I still want to learn and fix it myself. I know this was a lot and if there was something I didn't cover please ask. I would love to hear any thoughts.
Here's the story
: 77 xs 650D. I first installed an xs charge pma kit. Bike ran great. Then I installed the Boyer bransden ignition (blue box). Had to learn about timing but I finally got it and it ran like a champ. THEN.... I got the idea to start redesigning the bike. I stripped anything electronic of to simplify, go batteryless using a Boyer 3 phase power box and even all that was working fine at first. I like three look of the striped down brat style or tracker. Anyway, it would still fire, run good and all electronics worked. Next thing I did after that was replace the carbs with mikuni vm34 round slides, and here's where I messed up maybe.. At the same time, I replaced the exhaust with short straight pipes. It fired a few times but was running irratic. The idle was up and down, I'd rev it and it would just stay up for a while unless I engaged the clutch. Then most of the time it would die. I spoke with the people at TC Brothers and they assured me that the carburetors were sent with jetting that would work for my bike even after telling them I had straight pipes and Boyer ignition. I set the fuel and air screw as recommended and even tried 150 combinations, remember I'm a little new to this. I was gonna to replace the spark plugs with new ones and they didn't have the ones the manual calls for but they gave me what they said was comparable. I did redo the timing (static) and was going to fine tune but it never would stay steady enough to do so. After a 3 week break I went back at it. I discovered I was not getting voltage from one of the 3 phase wires from the alternator. I believe this could have been a problem from the very start because when I rewired everything, I missed a ground wire grounding the frame to the motor and I remember at one point grabbing the key to turn the engine off when it revved super high and I got a pretty good shock. I traced it back and found the wires were brittle, corroded and one was broken completely. In hindsight, i probably got shocked because the wires that were breaking from the alternator probably were touching ground and putting voltage on the frame. So I bought a new pma kit and replaced the alternator. I now get voltage on all 3 legs but still won't start. I went through the fault finding guide for the Boyer ignition and everything seemed to check out except the magnets seem pretty weak. They didn't hold their own weight for sure but I do get a spark. It's a weak spark but I get one when rested against the motor casing. But when they're installed, I get no fire (gapped at .30). Every once in a while it goes once or twice but not enough to start it. Am I right by thinking it could be the spark plugs or weak magnets in the ignition stator plate? Or have I done too many mods at once and tuning this thing is way above my pay grade at this point? I'm not a stupid person. I can usually figure most things out, but I am stumped here and I may have gotten myself in over my head. I still want to learn and fix it myself. I know this was a lot and if there was something I didn't cover please ask. I would love to hear any thoughts.
