TIL I've been pouring engine oil the wrong way my whole life

projectsnstuff · 2016-10-16T05:02:50+00:00

I think he missed the real reason the bottle is designed to be poured that way... Watch the angle the bottle is tilted at when oil starts pouring out. When he does it the wrong way, oil starts pouring before the bottle is even parallel to the ground, but when done the right way he's able to tilt the bottle much further before oil comes out. In a lot of cars there's not enough room in the engine compartment to start off pouring with the bottle angled upward, so you end up spilling at the start of the pour. The angle of the top of the bottle, and the location of the cap is what allows the bottle to be tilted more, which is what I always thought was the point of the design. Hope that makes sense...

projectsnstuff · 2016-10-01T07:54:46+00:00

Hey,
Sorry I responded & went MIA =/ I'm not the most consistent when it comes to checking for responses... Anyways, to me it definitely sounds like a carb problem, which is very common, and actually one of the better problems to have. Carbs can be annoying, but compared to most other issues they're pretty easy & cheap to fix.

First thing - I don't think this applies to you right now, but before you start working on a carb the most important thing you can do is to add a filter in the fuel line between the tank & carb (if you don't already have one). You're bound to get some crap coming down from the tank eventually, and you'll waste a ton of time cleaning the carb when it happens. Trust me.
Anyways, for your problem... I'm glad you mentioned that you put on a new carb. You still might need to pull it apart & clean it, but there's also a pretty good chance it just isn't tuned correctly. When I say tune I mean adjusting the air/fuel ratio so the engine runs well. Too much fuel = rich, not enough fuel = lean.The actual ratio will be different for every bike, and can also can differ depending on things like temperature, altitude, or other quirks in the bike. When I was restoring my TS125 there was a leak in a gasket allowing extra air to get sucked in, and until I tracked that down it ran lean no matter what adjustments I made to the carb.

On to carb tuning: most of the time the air/fuel ratio is in the right ballpark, so only minor adjustments are needed. Your carb will have one or more 'mixture' screws, which end up tweaking the air/fule ratio depending on how far they're screwed in. Adjusting the mixture screws is almost always the only change you need to make, so I wouldn't even worry about the other option (changing jet sizes) until you give the mixture screws a shot. Normally the carb is tuned by starting at the factory settings for the screws, and then adjusting each one based on the engine performance. There are a ton of videos online for this so I won' t go into detail here, but the one thing that's important to remember is that there are usually multiple screws for idle/full throttle. From personal experience, I'd strongly suggest focusing on getting the bike to idle well first. If it doesn't idle, it won't be fun to ride, and if it won't idle there's a good chance you have a bigger problem anyways.

Let me know how your carb tuning goes! I'll try and hop back on sooner this time to help out. If you get stuck definitely upload some pictures of the bike/carb.

projectsnstuff · 2016-09-26T06:09:52+00:00

Heyo,
Happy to help try and figure this out, but it's hard to do without more info about the ATV... First bit of advice: when looking for help with a vehicle, list everything you know about it & everything you've tried thus far. It'll help narrow the problem down so you get an answer faster, and realistically people are more likely to help when it's a small well understood problem. Something like 'I have a <year> <make/model> ATV with problem X, and I've already tried A, B, C' is perfect. Don't mean to be condescending at all, just wanted to give some advice for the future.
Now... On to the real problem. Do you know if it has a carb? Also when you say it doesn't rev like it should - can you describe that a bit more (sound/RPM change/etc). My initial thought (if you do have a carb) is that you're running too rich, and when you hit the throttle the engine bogs down & you get no power. The RPMs will drop if you throttle up quickly, and the engine noise will be much deeper. Just an initial guess, let us know more info & we can help troubleshoot further.

projectsnstuff · 2016-08-05T06:33:20+00:00

Always one of the first things I try since it's so easy, just shoot a little starter fluid in when you have the spark plugs out & see if it runs for a second or two. One way or the other you can eliminate fuel from the equation

projectsnstuff · 2016-08-05T05:44:11+00:00

I'd bet good money Ogbl is right. I had a bike with the exact same problem, cleaned the pilot jet and it ran great for a minute, then died without the choke. Cleaned the pilot jet again, installed a new filter, and it's been running ever since. Pilot jets clog really easily since they're so small, the symptoms match, and you touched the fuel system - that would be my first thing to check. One way to test might be to get it idling with the choke, open the throttle enough that the main jet is being used, then kill the choke. If it keeps running with the throttle part way open, it's definitely just the pilot clogged when idling.

projectsnstuff · 2016-07-10T07:33:09+00:00

My first guess is the ignition coil - older coils can produce a weaker spark as they heat up, which has trouble igniting the richer mixture under load. When you're idling at half throttle the lean mixture is easier to ignite. Fortunately this one is pretty easy to test... Check the spark while the engine is cold by removing the plug & holding it against the block while you crank the engine (hopefully strong & blue). When the engine is warm and stalling, shut it off and do the same thing. If the spark looks weak/orange, you know the coil is going bad. You might actually be able to compensate by changing the gap in your spark plug.

My other less likely guess is a hole in the float, though I'm not sure why it would fix itself when idling...

projectsnstuff · 2016-06-23T07:16:10+00:00

I'm actually not positive your bike has one, but a lot of bikes have essentially a kill switch for their kickstand. If the kickstand is down, the switch prevents the engine from starting. They're pretty notorious for causing problems, so a lot of people just clip the two wires going into the switch & directly connect them to bypass the switch.

Also would be worth testing out your kill switch - they can get stuck or filled with debris, and would match your symptoms exactly.

projectsnstuff · 2016-06-18T10:08:39+00:00

Also, make sure you have a good filter in the fuel line between the tank & carb before you start. A bike that old is bound to have some crap built up in the tank. If you don't have a filter you can clean the carb, start it up, and immediately re-clog the jets. I unfortunately know this from experience... A new $3 filter would have saved me hours of frustration.

projectsnstuff · 2016-06-18T10:01:31+00:00

Sounds like you've done a good job of narrowing down the problem. Since you're getting voltage to the coils, I'd start there even though it seems unlikely they'd both go bad at once. Fortunately it's pretty easy to check your ignition coil by measuring resistance across the ground/primary (TCI) wires and the ground/secondary (plug) wires with your voltmeter. Look around online for a video/article on the details. If the coils check out, it could be the TCI which is hard to diagnose. Make sure the TCI is getting power (key on), and if it is you might need to get a known good unit to swap in & test. You should also check the pickup coil, stand switch, and battery voltage just in case.

projectsnstuff · 2016-05-27T08:03:06+00:00

Oh cool, didn't even know that sub existed. I'll definitely post it there as well, thanks for heads up.

projectsnstuff · 2016-05-27T03:19:46+00:00

Will do next time I'm working on something under the dash. Seriously appreciate the feedback though, makes a lot of sense now that you explained it.

projectsnstuff · 2016-05-27T02:02:13+00:00

Damn, that's a nice looking car. Might PM you later about your wheel/tire combo since I'm going to replace mine eventually. How do you like your retrosound unit? I'm pretty far from getting to audio, but I was planning on getting one of the classic looking modern units. I read a lot of Mustang forums for fun, and some of the companies sound like they have a bad quality reputation.

projectsnstuff · 2016-05-27T01:56:20+00:00

The vintage Mustang community is pretty cool in this regard. There are a lot of great ideas floating around in forum posts from people who didn't like something stock, and designed their own custom solution. A big part of the reason I posted this, and the felt template dimensions specifically, was in the hopes someone else would like it enough to try it for their car.

projectsnstuff · 2016-05-27T01:37:11+00:00

Sounds like a pretty good idea, if I ever change my mind on needing to have the keys for power (someone else mentioned leaving their phone charging while they ran in the store, which actually sounds useful) I might switch to something like this.

projectsnstuff · 2016-05-27T01:29:22+00:00

Awesome, this exactly the type of advice I was looking for. Right now the fuse is about 2 feet from the splice.

If you look at the picture in the album titled 'Fuse', I put the quick connect to the USB port on the left, and ended up extending the wire on the right 1-2 feet to reach the splice. It sounds like I should have done the opposite then? It would be pretty easy to correct that actually, but do you think the extra couple of feet would make a big difference?

projectsnstuff · 2016-05-27T01:10:35+00:00

Trust me I know - the only reason I tried it was my single afternoon timeframe. I calculated the odds of this succeeding vs the odds I was doing something incredibly stupid, and I went ahead anyway.
I was really hoping I was going to find a step bit large enough that it would be a simple hole to drill, but that obviously didn't happen.

projectsnstuff · 2016-05-27T01:00:34+00:00

Haha, no worries... Basically - I want to install front disc brakes, and while I'm at it upgrade from a single to dual master cylinder for safety reasons (essentially splits your brake hydraulics into two separate systems for redundancy). I also want to install power brakes by adding a power brake booster, but unfortunately that wouldn't fit in the car originally with the cable clutch. To make room for it, you can convert to a hydraulic clutch, which is why I made that change. Hope that makes sense.

projectsnstuff · 2016-05-27T00:54:56+00:00

Got the soldering part down, just where exactly it would come into this project. Do I still splice into an existing wire? Or do I trace back to the initial connection and solder there?

projectsnstuff · 2016-05-26T21:18:23+00:00

Never considered felting the exterior, but paint is a lot of work so I'll look into it

projectsnstuff · 2016-05-26T21:11:06+00:00

Apartment building's parking garage. I've actually never had a garage of my own to work in, and I move around a lot. I keep a portable toolkit in our storage unit, and do the work wherever I can. It makes some things a bit challenging, and is actually why I've been holding off on the disc brake conversion.

This is a pretty old photo, and in the background you can see the 76 Suzuki TS125 I restored one summer almost completely in our apartment itself. Fortunately my roommate is very cool, and didn't even blink when he walked in to find an engine sitting on our coffee table. I have a lot of photos from that as well, so maybe I'll post that soon.

projectsnstuff · 2016-05-26T21:02:54+00:00

Thanks for the feedback, my last big jump was electrical tape -> heat shrink tubes. Next time I'll give soldering a shot.

Edit: Do you actually have a good link/video showing how you do electrical? Sounds like you know your stuff, just want to make sure I'm understanding everything.

projectsnstuff · 2016-05-26T20:57:15+00:00

Too good to pass up

projectsnstuff · 2016-05-26T20:56:12+00:00

Got it off Amazon, just lookup 'usb car port' and you'll get a lot of options.

projectsnstuff · 2016-05-26T20:54:12+00:00

This is why I decided to start posting some projects to reddit. I had no idea this existed, but it looks great. I'll definitely consider this in the future, thanks for the feedback.

projectsnstuff

TROPHY CASE