Author Topic: Rip Van Winkle; Waking up a K4 (Read 9467 times)

Beergineer · « **Reply #50 on:** January 23, 2017, 06:50:49 PM »

I got around to mounting the front brake caliper and got the the master cylinder pumping fluid again. In the process I discovered that both the project bike and the parts bike had the same aftermarket handlebars, which means that my shiny new Slingshot Cycles brake lines won't reach the cylinder. So the hunt is on for stock handlebars and control cables. I might run with the tall bars for a while just to get the bike on the road.

Beergineer · « **Reply #51 on:** January 27, 2017, 04:59:12 PM »

Member QSide hooked me up with some stock K3 handlbars, so they're on the bike now to test fit the brake line lengths (spoiler alert: they fit). Which brings up 2 questions:
1. Does the upper brake line route through the hole in the gauge mounting plate, or somewhere else?
2. Does the metal brake line from the caliper route inside or outside of the forks?

I'm thinking about replacing the steel line with some nickel-copper brake line I have left over from rebuilding my Ranger, or if I can get a poly coated steel line with the right fittings on it I'll use that.

Over the week I installed the chain, chain guard (tighter fit than I expected), and the rear inner fender.

Stev-o · « **Reply #52 on:** January 27, 2017, 06:22:54 PM »

Hey....

1. No. Mine routes around gauge and then down
2. Inside

Beergineer · « **Reply #53 on:** January 27, 2017, 07:07:20 PM »

Thanks Steve-O. I'll be sure to fix that when I pull the bars off to run the switch wires.

Beergineer · « **Reply #54 on:** January 29, 2017, 05:41:35 PM »

Swapped the controls and wires from the old bars to the new ones. Found out the PO was a gifted electrician:

Let's just say I'm glad I bought a new main wiring harness, just in case.

Beergineer · « **Reply #55 on:** February 07, 2017, 09:51:52 AM »

I've been trucking along and here she sits:

I found that the left hand mirror mounting location was all stripped out, which explains why my rack of parts only contained 3 mirrors. Luckily I was able to swap out the lower half of the control without pulling the wires out of the handle bar. I'm kind of glad I did because I found and re-soldered one of the wires to the Hi-Beam switch.

I realized that I did have the right length tach and speedo cables, so I only needed to buy new clutch and throttle cables (which I did). I've been sorting out and cleaning up the various chassis bits and installing them as I go. This weekend should see most of the wiring come together, and I might clean out the tank and be ready to try a start up in the next two weeks.

grcamna2 · « **Reply #56 on:** February 07, 2017, 09:59:02 AM »

Quote from: Beergineer on February 07, 2017, 09:51:52 AM

I've been trucking along and here she sits:

I found that the left hand mirror mounting location was all stripped out, which explains why my rack of parts only contained 3 mirrors. Luckily I was able to swap out the lower half of the control without pulling the wires out of the handle bar. I'm kind of glad I did because I found and re-soldered one of the wires to the Hi-Beam switch.

I realized that I did have the right length tach and speedo cables, so I only needed to buy new clutch and throttle cables (which I did). I've been sorting out and cleaning up the various chassis bits and installing them as I go. This weekend should see most of the wiring come together, and I might clean out the tank and be ready to try a start up in the next two weeks.

Spring onto the road soon

Beergineer · « **Reply #57 on:** February 25, 2017, 09:13:05 AM »

So I've been trucking along getting all the chassis bits together, cleaned up, and installed. Finally got around to doing the electrical systems too. Which brings me to my current conundrum: spare wires.

For starters this is a NEW harness purchased from VintageCB750.com for the '73-'75 model years. All other components are a mix of K3 and K4 parts (as far as I know, the POs may have done some switchery).

First up is hopefully the easy one. What does the red wire with the male spade connector attached to the starter solenoid mate up to? Also what does green wire w/ red dots and a female spade connector connect to? Certainly they don't connect to each other?

Next is possibly a little more difficult. I've got 2 extra bullet sockets from the main harness who don't have partners. However these seem to be duplicates?? Both of these have identical leads which are already plugged into the same color/pattern bullets.

Any help is greatly appreciated!

Beergineer · « **Reply #58 on:** February 27, 2017, 06:02:45 PM »

I got the battery charged up, installed and tested out the electrical systems. Everything worked except the headlight. Troubleshooting will ensue.

I also decided to pull the oil pan for the first time, just in case. Everything was quite clean, but when I removed the strainer I bent it out of round; ordered a new one from ebay.

So, it looks like the only items remaining are:
Clean the gas tank
Find the tank mounting rubbers
Re-install oil pan
Fill oil
Troubleshoot headlight
Install Exhaust

calj737 · « **Reply #59 on:** February 27, 2017, 06:50:00 PM »

Check the fuse for the headlight. Take a meter reading in both sides of the fusewth the key in ON position. Also, toggle HI/LO. If all that's good, probably the sealed beam is in need of replacement.

Beergineer · « **Reply #60 on:** February 28, 2017, 06:24:02 AM »

Thanks for the response, Cal. I checked the fuse, toggled Hi/Lo, still got nothing. Put the meter to the headlight plug and there is no voltage coming to either the Hi or Lo terminals. I also noticed that the speedo and tach lights weren't lighting up. A quick glance through the schematic points to a bad headlight switch. That'll get the scrutiny tonight.

grcamna2 · « **Reply #61 on:** February 28, 2017, 07:56:04 AM »

I read in post #57 about your brown wires(not sure about where they go myself)that nobody has answered so far.I wonder if they could be a problem ?

Beergineer · « **Reply #62 on:** March 13, 2017, 01:24:54 PM »

It's been a while since the last update, but I have been working on the bike. Sorted out issues are:

1. Extra Wires: One of them is the head light switch to power wire, not stock colors. There is a stock color wire that is not used. There is also an unused black 12V wire. This comes in handy.
2. Exhaust: I installed a 4-2 exhaust. That was a major pain in the ass. I will do everything in my power to keep it on until I replace it with a 4-1.
3. Fuel tank: cleaned (electrolysis), Petcock is a little leaky.
4. Oil: New screen was awesome. Installed oil pan. Filled tank with oil. Found about 1 qt of oil on the floor the next day. Appears to have been a (shamefully) loose oil hose.
5. Tank mounting rubbers: found.

So I had all the things to start it up. So I tried. Nada. Some poking around leads me to believe that the kill switch is faulty. No voltage at the coils. I jumped 12V (remember that handy spare power wire?) to the coils, and she'll start. It wasn't exactly picturesque, but she did fire...on two cylinders.

I had only checked for spark on cylinders 1 & 2, forgetting that those are the same coil. I pulled the #4 plug and sure enough, no spark. I'll bench check my other set of coils and recheck the wiring on these to find out what's going on. Good news is that I'm so close to having a running bike that my fiancée comes home and complains about fuel/exhaust smells instead of brake cleaner and solvents.

seanbarney41 · « **Reply #63 on:** March 13, 2017, 01:59:57 PM »

Quote from: Beergineer on March 13, 2017, 01:24:54 PM

I had only checked for spark on cylinders 1 & 2, forgetting that those are the same coil. I pulled the #4 plug and sure enough, no spark. I'll bench check my other set of coils and recheck the wiring on these to find out what's going on. Good news is that I'm so close to having a running bike that my fiancée comes home and complains about fuel/exhaust smells instead of brake cleaner and solvents.

Thats wrong. left side coil fires 1 and 4, right side coil fires 2 and 3.

Beergineer · « **Reply #64 on:** March 13, 2017, 02:03:21 PM »

Quote from: seanbarney41 on March 13, 2017, 01:59:57 PM

Quote from: Beergineer on March 13, 2017, 01:24:54 PM

I had only checked for spark on cylinders 1 & 2, forgetting that those are the same coil. I pulled the #4 plug and sure enough, no spark. I'll bench check my other set of coils and recheck the wiring on these to find out what's going on. Good news is that I'm so close to having a running bike that my fiancée comes home and complains about fuel/exhaust smells instead of brake cleaner and solvents.

Thats wrong. left side coil fires 1 and 4, right side coil fires 2 and 3.

Yup, you're right. Thanks for saving me the time on that. I'll focus on plug wires and plugs tonight. I know its not a fuel issue.

Beergineer · « **Reply #65 on:** March 14, 2017, 11:47:01 AM »

Swapped some plugs around and checked for spark. Sure enough I had 2 plugs that wouldn't fire no matter where I put them. A quick $10 later and BOOM. She fires up on all 4. Unfortunately it doesn't want to idle. I'm not sure if that's because its so damn cold in the garage (~40F right now), or because I'm running velocity stacks (only because I have them and the airbox is a pain in d$&k) and its so damn cold in the garage.

I will let that situation go for a while and focus on the killswitch issue. I know I have voltage running to the switch, but coming out of the switch (on all 3 poles) I have 0.5V out. 0.5V is not enough to fire the coils. My suspicion is that there may be corrosion bridging the poles creating the same voltage on all 3. But we'll find that out later.

Fezzler · « **Reply #66 on:** March 14, 2017, 12:03:12 PM »

Quote from: Beergineer on March 13, 2017, 01:24:54 PM

Good news is that I'm so close to having a running bike that my fiancée comes home and complains about fuel/exhaust smells instead of brake cleaner and solvents.

Ha! Must be common. Carb/parts cleaner smell was one thing that soured Mrs. on project for a few days. Next project, that phase will be in the shed.

Beergineer · « **Reply #67 on:** March 14, 2017, 12:08:31 PM »

Yeah, the ladies aren't keen on those smells being in the house. Such are the woes of having the garage attached to the basement. Hopefully the next house will have a detached 2(+) car garage...

Beergineer · « **Reply #68 on:** March 21, 2017, 02:34:15 PM »

So instead of fixing the killswitch, I decided to focus on getting the bike to idle properly. I tried a bunch of stuff: velocity stacks on, off, stock airbox on, idle screws all the way in and adjusting out in 1/8th turn increments and eventually I got the bike to idle well with the choke off. The catch was that as soon as you cracked the throttle the engine would cut out. Whether it was a quick blip or a super slow 'squeezing' of the throttle, it quit. So I reluctantly pulled the carbs off the bike and did some exploratory surgery. I didn't find anything other than some floats that were off by ~1mm on one side only. I seized the opportunity to unfreeze my drain screws just in case I had to clear tube test down the line.

I put everything back together, slapped the carbs onto the bike with some help from my $8 HF heat gun, socked down the clamps, hooked up my new auxiliary tank (those things are helpful, I wish I had bought one a while ago), and started it up. I don't know what I did, but it now runs without the choke. I have only three issues:

1. Bike idles high. I think this is due to my hurried bench sync (shame on me). With the idle screw backed completely off the engine is idling around 1600 rpm. I'll inspect the throttle slide positions and try to adjust them down to reduce the idle speed.

2. When I give it throttle, it quits at around 5k rpm. I have to give it quick blip as the rpms are falling to keep it from shutting down. I'm not sure if this is related to the first issue, but I'm hoping it does.

3. There is smoke. It is either an exhaust leak at the head, or it is powdercoat burning off the lower frame rails. The 4-2 I have on it is super close/rubbing on the frame.

Here is a link to a video of the high idle/smoke:

Before anybody freaks out I have the oil and neutral lights switched in the bezel. The neutral lamp is on, the oil lamp is off.

Beergineer · « **Reply #69 on:** April 27, 2017, 05:48:49 AM »

Long time, no update. I still haven't fixed the killswitch, but I have made some progress on troubleshooting the carburetors.

I finally clear tube checked the float bowls. As I suspected, the fuel level was low. I have since adjusted them up to a more adequate level. I see the purchase of new floats in this bikes future as the tabs have been messed with pretty badly (probably by me).

I did that the bike out for a shakedown run. Good things I learned: Brakes work, Transmission shifts, tires hold air, speedo works, no major oil leaks or smoking (at low rpms). Bad things I learned: It doesn't want to accelerate under load (This is a problem as I live on a pretty steep hill), it also won't rev smoothly past 3k under load (on flat land). For information on those troubleshooting efforts you can check out this thread: http://forums.sohc4.net/index.php/topic,165261.0.html

So now I'm waiting on a carb sync tool to arrive so I can hopefully get this bike on the road for real. Then fix the killswitch and paint the spare tank. So close:

News:

Author Topic: Rip Van Winkle; Waking up a K4 (Read 9467 times)