Author Topic: '73 CL350, project "Lola" (Read 52327 times)

gnarlycharlie4u · « **Reply #125 on:** June 10, 2010, 08:18:25 am »

Quote from: Kit on June 09, 2010, 08:52:30 pm

After all that, with finals, college stuff, work stuff and trying to get the little truck I got for winter/bad rain commuting running right, I haven't had any time to work on Lola... I just need to go to Roadhawk (or ebay...) and get another carb float bowl, re-seat the tires and balance them right, but I haven't had the time so it's waiting.

I completely feel ya on the lack of time issue. That's always been the biggest problem I've had with my bikes.
I don't mind the sleepless nights... or never having spare money that doesn't go into the bike... it's not ever having ENOUGH time to work on it to my heart's content. That had having other things that take priority; like my truck always needing something fixed.

cgancos · « **Reply #126 on:** June 10, 2010, 08:21:21 am »

Incredible build. Looks great!

BTW: I watched the Tank Girl movie for the first time a few weeks ago. I found it pretty entertaining.

Frankenkit · « **Reply #127 on:** July 23, 2010, 10:19:22 pm »

ok. so a quick catch-up.

D&S screwed up on my tires, having stuck a tube of too-small diameter and thickness in the front and way too big in the back, so I spooned on my own tubes and tires. yay.

MickeyX wanted to take it to work yesterday and I said "Sure!" so she did the 20 mile round trip just fine except the headlight left much to be desired.

TODAY I go out to change the oil, maybe take it for a spin and the bastard won't idle. Not for nothin' or no one. *sigh* I test the battery voltage- after having been abused a little (starter starts and some idling attempts) it's at 12.2. Not great, but understandable. I still stick it on the trickle charger. I still changed the oil- less than 2L were in it (maybe 1.75L) and what WAS there was very dark and very thin. I'm thinking an olive oil type viscosity, because it wanted to 'drip' more than have the long, thin little streams oil tries to make.

New oil in, closed up, pump the kick starter a few times to get the oil going 'round, put more gas in in case the lack of idling was from that. It wasn't.

It sounded pretty good at 3k+ rpms, just won't idle. Choke on or off, doesn't matter. I pull the right plug- it's oil fouled and dark. I use some carb cleaner and a strip of very very fine sandpaper (1600?) to clean the electrode and ground strap where they'd spark. Put it back in. Check the left plug. It's more sooty-fouled. Same cleaning procedure. I put it back in and start the bike. Choke on, it does okay. Idles at 1600. Takes throttle like a champ, sounds great, again, at 3k+ rpms. Choke off- puh puh puh wheeeeze.

Starts right back up again, every time I hit the button, but dies again if I don't give it some throttle.

So... I'm thinking it might still possibly be that the plugs are still pretty dirty OR something about the carbs and the idle jets... BUT it was just fine yesterday! Nothing different happened between now and then!

Any ideas?

scunny · « **Reply #128 on:** July 23, 2010, 10:29:11 pm »

get mickey to fix the damage she done to your bike

does sound carb related, any chance of water in the fuel ?

Frankenkit · « **Reply #129 on:** July 23, 2010, 10:30:20 pm »

maaayyyybe? The fuel is maybe a few months old, having sat in the garage in a container, but it was very clear and didn't smell skunky like old gas seems to.

Frankenkit · « **Reply #130 on:** July 23, 2010, 10:31:27 pm »

I am now thinking that I may be mistaken on which choke lever position is 'on' or 'off' in which case it may have only idled with the choke 'off' which would make sense, but I'm tired and possibly losing my mind.

scunny · « **Reply #131 on:** July 23, 2010, 10:34:04 pm »

never done that myself(whistles and scuffs feet while looking at the ground)

Frankenkit · « **Reply #132 on:** July 23, 2010, 10:35:41 pm »

seems to me, though, that it should at least idle with the choke on. I mean switching the lever was practically as effective as throwing the kill switch.

Edit:
It won't run at all with the choke CLOSED. It runs with the choke totally open, though. So... it's probably just rich. Now I just need to figure out how to lean it out correctly.

KB02 · « **Reply #133 on:** July 24, 2010, 04:08:32 am »

Clean your plugs again and run it a bit with the choke in the proper position. Might not be too bad. Trying to run with the choke closed like you did will soot up the plugs in a hurry. Still, if it starts up and idles fine with no choke at all from a cold start, your right that it might be rich.

Frankenkit · « **Reply #134 on:** July 24, 2010, 09:22:59 am »

Yeah, I was thinking about it last night, and dreaming about it on and off, and the rainbow unicorns had a good point. If MickeyX was smelling gas here and there while riding, even with the choke in proper position AND (like you said) it starts and idles better with no choke at all from cold, then it's probably rich.

I'll give the pilot screws a quarter turn out and see how that affects it.

rchrdms · « **Reply #135 on:** July 24, 2010, 10:24:02 am »

A nice model. I like the red tank. I have a 72 that was green/gold originally. I'm trying to get it running now. Let me know what parts you need.

Good luck.

Frankenkit · « **Reply #136 on:** July 24, 2010, 10:53:19 am »

I actually have some extras, the fella who sold her to me had a bunch he bought when he first got her. He was from the UK and because the CL wasn't shipped to Europe, he thought they were fantastically rare, so bought it and all the parts he could find and afford, before realizing they're actually pretty common in the states.

Once I get her running solid, I'll be going through my parts for 'extras' too.

MickeyX · « **Reply #137 on:** July 24, 2010, 11:17:28 am »

Yeah, we both like that red too. We kept that tank and the original seat to switch out the look every now and again.

MickeyX · « **Reply #138 on:** July 24, 2010, 03:43:09 pm »

here is Lola today...

after a very short ride just to find out that we are running VERY rich in idle (I kept smelling gas on my ride to work the other day) and fouled the heck out of the plugs, we backed off the idle jets on both sides and adjusted the idle screws. Put in some new plugs. It seems to be better, so of course now we see we have a leak at the new tach cable where it goes into the engine. WTF? we also have a bit of white smoke from the exhaust on that side. Hmmmmm. $:-\$

It's too hot to be out there right now so we came inside for some popsicles and air conditioning.

Hush · « **Reply #139 on:** July 24, 2010, 10:59:27 pm »

I'm liking Lola, I was just wondering if non bike people will appreciate the many differences the bike has from stock.

Frankenkit · « **Reply #140 on:** July 24, 2010, 11:13:04 pm »

Glad to hear it, Hush.

I'm actually planning on adding a little red pinstriping to her to set her off a little.

So, she's got an oil leak and we were trying to figure out where it was. The answer came as MX watched- oil was just bubbling up out of the tach cable area. D'oh!

So we're looking at part #19.

Anyone have any experience in putting that in, and/or removing the old one?

Through some trial and error we got her so she'd idle after being flogged (ok, not flogged, just spanked a little bit) I'd ride a loop around 5-8k rpms, come back and the idle would go from 1800, 1700...16....15...14......1000...buh puh puh *wheeeeze* so we leaned her out a little bit, no longer smell gas, new plugs, and it idles at 13-1400. I'm good with that for now. We'll see how that translates when it's not 90 degrees out.

Hush · « **Reply #141 on:** July 25, 2010, 02:00:43 am »

Is #19 an "O" ring?
Looks an easy fix if it is, my little CL175 leaked from the rear gasket so had to renew that.

Stev-o · « **Reply #142 on:** July 25, 2010, 08:47:12 am »

Lola is looking sweet - may be ready to go for a BOTM run!

Frankenkit · « **Reply #143 on:** July 25, 2010, 09:52:14 am »

19 is a big, thick seal like the shift-shaft seal... and I have no idea how to go about removing/replacing it if it's not as easy as going in there with a probe, hooking out the old one, lubing the new one and pressing it in.

BOTM would be fun, but this isn't an SOHC4.

Frankenkit · « **Reply #144 on:** July 26, 2010, 04:28:44 pm »

The reflective pinstriping came in today! I did that in the nice, shady garage. Good times.

Due to the imprecise nature of my masking the original honda striping, some little white bits remain here and there, to be touched up one way or another. Right now it's 10', 10mph ready, but I'm picky.

I'll get another, better pic when I have the real camera charged.

paulages · « **Reply #145 on:** July 26, 2010, 06:09:23 pm »

kit- like i told you in that PM, the tach seal is really easy to change... i use a drywall screw through the face, and yank it out. lube up the new a one and press it in with an appropriate-sized long socket... a 1/4" drive 6 or 7 mm works if i remember right.

about the mixture... there are other factors that could affect your mixture at idle, the filter being the first that comes to mind. the tuning procedure involves setting each cylinder to the point at which the mixture screw creates the highest idle when running by itself (opposite plug wire removed). in theory, this should be the ballpark of the ideal idle mixture, and in my experience moving far from this point at all will create poor idling. also, turning the screws the same amount on both sides will not always produce the same results for each cylinder, so if the idle changes differently for each clyinder it will be necessary to re-balance the idle and sync the cables. no big deal once you get used to doing it, but poorly synced carbs- cables in particular- will make your bike run like a dog.

Frankenkit · « **Reply #146 on:** July 26, 2010, 06:13:03 pm »

Ok. So... the procedure for this would be to start the bike up, get it warm, pull the plug wire on one side, turn the mixture screw until it gets to the highest idle (because it'll bog and do weird stuff once you go 'too far') then pop on the other plug wire, run a bit, then pop off the plug cap for the one you just adjusted and repeat the drill with the other cylinder?

paulages · « **Reply #147 on:** July 26, 2010, 06:33:17 pm »

Quote from: Kit on July 26, 2010, 06:13:03 pm

Ok. So... the procedure for this would be to start the bike up, get it warm, pull the plug wire on one side, turn the mixture screw until it gets to the highest idle (because it'll bog and do weird stuff once you go 'too far') then pop on the other plug wire, run a bit, then pop off the plug cap for the one you just adjusted and repeat the drill with the other cylinder?

yeah, sorta. you have to turn the idle up on each side to get them to run alone, at about 1000 RPM. then, play with the mixture screw to achieve the highest idle, then repeat on the other side. THEN, with both sides on, adjust the idle screws until they feel even at the tailpipe ends, and the engine idle is about 1000 RPM. THEN, adjust the cables so that they pick up at the same time.

Frankenkit · « **Reply #148 on:** July 26, 2010, 06:38:19 pm »

...what if the cables are already set to pick up at the same time? I thought the carbs were set before, until it started seeming like they were fouling the plugs.

so does it come down to starting at square one every time, or can you get to a known sweet spot and tweak from there?

paulages · « **Reply #149 on:** July 26, 2010, 06:43:05 pm »

Quote from: Kit on July 26, 2010, 06:38:19 pm

...what if the cables are already set to pick up at the same time? I thought the carbs were set before, until it started seeming like they were fouling the plugs. so does it come down to starting at square one every time, or can you get to a known sweet spot and tweak from there?

they were set before, but like i said, once you start fiddling with stuff other things get out of whack. it's easy to check and see if the pressure feels the same at the pipes though. the thing about the cables is: if you adjust the idle screws unequally, then they no longer pick up together. if you change the mixture screws so that the idles are uneven... you get the picture. the thing is, once you get the hang of it, it only takes 5 minutes to adjust everything. it helps if your cable has a tension adjuster up top, and you can add some slack before doing all of this, so you don't go adjusting an idle screw with no slack in it's cable.

all of these old carbureted twins share this procedure... honda, triumph, BMW, BSA, yamaha..

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Author Topic: '73 CL350, project "Lola" (Read 52327 times)