Pulled the baffles out and burned off the excess oil and carbon. Came out pretty clean. Normally the baffles are wrapped in fibreglass at the small end but this bike never had this so I left it alone. New SS retention hardware.
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New addition to the garage…
- Thread starter bosco659
- Start date
New project. The coils on the bike have what looks like OEM spark plug wires. They are hard as a rock (literally) and the insulation is cracked. I need to replace these. The po (must have been a “butcher” by trade), must have removed the old wires and stuck them back in with a blob of silicone. I’ve ordered new wire and getting the old ones out shouldn’t be a problem. Any suggestions what adhesive I should be using to anchor the wires to the coil bodies? Looks like the originals used an epoxy like material. Not so worried about being able to remove the wires again I’m my lifetime so a permanent adhesive would be ok.
If it were me, I'd go ahead and replace the coils. Closin' in on 50yrs old.... their best days are behind 'em.
I would also be surprised if that surging ever goes away, it’s the nature of the beast, part of the charm. The cure for that is to always be on the gas! 
Some bikes. Used to run a Suzuki Bandit 1200 - the hooligan thing with a hair-trigger throttle response and inadvertent wheelies away from the lights. Only happy accelerating. It was bloody nigh impossible to ride along at steady speed, especially in towns. With that fast action throttle and very light crankshaft, the thing seemed to surge and hold back. In the end, decided there was nuffin' wrong wi'it - as Bob says, just the nature of the Beast.I would also be surprised if that surging ever goes away, it’s the nature of the beast, part of the charm. The cure for that is to always be on the gas!
Yes, check the coil specs, but I would assume with it running points that the coil would just be a standard points type with 4 to 5 ohms resistance. But I'm also assuming you'd need three? I'm sure someone like Dyna or Accel makes replacements but it's gonna cost, lol.
Yes 5T I need 3 of them. Running points now but intend to swap over to an electronic ignition if that will make a difference in the coil specs. I’ll try to research replacement options.
Photo op on a ride today.
Bike looks real fine.
Wonder what the price of gas was last time they sold it there?
Wonder what the price of gas was last time they sold it there?
We were talking about the price of fad back when we were kids. Was less that $.50/imp gallon, so probably closer to $.10/L ! Right now prices are hovering around $2.05/L CAD.
New rear sprocket installed. Po had a 47T rear, with a final ratio of 3.13:1 and revved way too high at 100kph. Installed a 43T, bringing the ratio down to 2.87:1. Dropped revs approx 600 rpm @ 100kph (now 4500, right in the power band). 1st gear is a bit long so I don’t want to drop another tooth at this time. Good news is this ratio allows me so select a gear at low speed that makes the surging / bucking tolerable. Carb rebuild coming up soon and keeping fingers crossed this will smooth out the engine performance even more.
Lots of work done on the bike since purchased and it’s running not so bad now. Random excessive smoking from different cylinders but I can live with that for a while.
Lots of work done on the bike since purchased and it’s running not so bad now. Random excessive smoking from different cylinders but I can live with that for a while.
If memory serves me right, gas was well under $1.00 per gallon U.S. in the mid 70's.
Sparkyduc
XS650 Addict
In 1972 it was $.35 in Oklahoma for Ethyl ( premium)
Uhm, that was a rhetorical question . . . nice atmospheric location for the photo though.
That RD350 I had back in the 70’s used to absolutely fog the neighborhood with blue smoke when I rode it. What kind of injector oil are you buying, I’ve been out of the two stroke game for a long time, I was thinking there are some brands / types of injector oil that don’t smoke as much?
On a somewhat related note, I remember this old fishing boat my dad used to have with an old Evinrude outboard , an early design it ran a very rich 12 -1 oil mix and it just about smoked you out of the boat! Years later his new Mercury outboard was running a 50-1 ratio and it was nearly as clean as a four stroke.
What I’m wondering is if maybe early two stroke motorcycles didn’t run a super rich oil mix, and smoking is unavoidable.
Gas was well under a buck in the 90s!
I specifically remember walking my mini bike to the gas station, giving the guy 75 cents to fill it up. It had a 1 gallon tank. Filled it and got change.
$6.12 for the cheap stuff yesterday.
I think I’ve tried em all haha.
Motul 800 for premix and 710 for injector systems are my go too.
Is the 710 Motul coloured? How is it for smoke?