boxbodybangin
XS650 Member
Hello everybody,
I’m gonna try to keep this brief as I tend to ramble, but I recently picked up this 1980 hack-job of a chopper off FB MP to fix up and it’s proving to be more work than anticipated. I’m able to get the bike to kick over with some starter fluid, but it does not start. It back fires and wants to start but eventually dies after 3-5 seconds.
After consulting with everybody I could possibly think of that works with Japanese bikes, I’ve had multiple people assuming it’s a timing issue. The only problem is, the only help I can find for trying to adjust timing with this PMA system is for DYNAMIC timing. I’m a novice when it comes to bike mechanics, but i’ve been doing all the research I can and been buying all the necessary tools. The bike has a Pamco PMA ignition and Mikuni VM34 dual carb kit from TC. Bros. So far I’ve adjusted the cam chain, but again, there’s no real guides on how to adjust the timing of this ignition system that doesn’t involve a timing light, a running engine and measuring RPMs.
Engine has good compression, carbs absolutely need to be adjusted (though I can’t adjust them without the bike running), and both valves show movement. I just need a ton of help and I don’t even know where to begin to try and get this thing running. I should mention, I haven’t tried hooking up a battery and the owner before me deleted all electronic controls. I’m going to try hooking a battery up and seeing if maybe that gets it to start, but I am not extremely hopeful it’s an issue that small.
I’m gonna try to keep this brief as I tend to ramble, but I recently picked up this 1980 hack-job of a chopper off FB MP to fix up and it’s proving to be more work than anticipated. I’m able to get the bike to kick over with some starter fluid, but it does not start. It back fires and wants to start but eventually dies after 3-5 seconds.
After consulting with everybody I could possibly think of that works with Japanese bikes, I’ve had multiple people assuming it’s a timing issue. The only problem is, the only help I can find for trying to adjust timing with this PMA system is for DYNAMIC timing. I’m a novice when it comes to bike mechanics, but i’ve been doing all the research I can and been buying all the necessary tools. The bike has a Pamco PMA ignition and Mikuni VM34 dual carb kit from TC. Bros. So far I’ve adjusted the cam chain, but again, there’s no real guides on how to adjust the timing of this ignition system that doesn’t involve a timing light, a running engine and measuring RPMs.
Engine has good compression, carbs absolutely need to be adjusted (though I can’t adjust them without the bike running), and both valves show movement. I just need a ton of help and I don’t even know where to begin to try and get this thing running. I should mention, I haven’t tried hooking up a battery and the owner before me deleted all electronic controls. I’m going to try hooking a battery up and seeing if maybe that gets it to start, but I am not extremely hopeful it’s an issue that small.