The beast is alive!!! :)
With all your help and guidance. The bike runs. Many Thanks to All who have provided guidance. I appreciate it.
I re-timed the bike at 39 degrees before TDC and slack wire (ie. full advance). And it started - half way between advance and retard with full choke. Once it started, I moved to full advance and backed off on the choke. Still trying to get the kick start procedure down.
Other than some oil leaks at the rocker spindle shafts the bike runs. The rear tire spins in neutral pretty fast. The speedo say 5 mph. I can stop it with my foot, But it starts turning again. Unfortunately, I don't have any clutch cable adjustment down at the gear box. The adjustment screw is turned in completely where the cable enters the gearbox.
NEXT CHALLENGE
The bike is running lean and back fires through the carburettor. It seems to gets better when I engage the choke. The backfire through the carb gets much better. But it does not go away. Also, the idle wont settle down.
- The air screw is 2.5 turns out
- The needle position is the second slot down from the top (4 - slot needle).
Should I re-time the bike? Say 35 degrees.
Lower the needle to the top slot?
Try a different main jet?
Concerning the clutch, should I remove the primary cover and reduce the spring pressure? Or screw the clutch cable adjustment out and readjust the worm / arm in the gearbox?
Any and all recommendations would be welcome and appreciated.
Thanks,
Josh Fribley
Columbus, OH USA
Air screw unusually far out…
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Back wheel spining
Hi Josh
Don't worry too much about the rear wheel spinning when you are in neutral, Most bikes do that, I assume it is just a slight amount of drag between the main shaft, (with the clutch on) and the small shaft with the rear chain sprocket on. My M50, when the bike is on the center stand the rear wheel is on the ground, and the front wheel about 1" off, you don't notice any movement of the rear wheel. My Velocette the reverse is true, i.e. the rear wheel is off the ground when on the stand, and revolves when in neutral.
I am not sure at this stage you would need to do anything with the clutch adjustment until you have been for a test drive, just try and make sure you have a small amount af free play in the cable.
Regards John O
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Hello John, Thanks for the…
Hello John,
Thanks for the information. I did notice I do not have any free play in the clutch cable. Thanks for reading my update.
Josh
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Don't bother retiming the magneto
Josh,
don't bother retiming the magneto yet.
Go for a ride and if the engine pinks, give it a bit of retard on the advance / Retard lever until it stops pinking. You can ride it around for ever like this. I make a mark on the lever where it feels best and move it to that position after it is running. If you want to re time it, your Vernier sprocket will make this a breeze!
My ES2 has a oval shaped cover on the right hand side of the gearbox, yours may not? But you can adjust the clutch free play under the oval cover. I found it quicker to remove the whole cover including the kickstart and foot peg!
It should be possible to have the clutch cable adjuster about half way and a small amount of free play at the lever on the handlebars. It just takes a bit of mucking about with the adjustment behind the gearbox cover.
Good luck
Don Anson
Melbourne
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Air screw unusually far out. Unless it's a TT carb, winding the screw out lets more air in so that's probably why it's lean. The pilot screw regulates air, not fuel.
In 1948 the mag direction changed. So as you have found, with advance cable close to barrel, it is slack wire advance. Before that, with cable close to barrel (as on WD 16H), it was tight wire advance.