After I replaced the battery and coil I was able to get a weak spark, but I still couldn't get the motor to start up. I tested the compression, which was ample, kicked it over until my leg felt like it was going to fall off, and even tried bump starting it on the hill in front of our house. Nothing worked. Finally, I realized that the fuel line (which I had not checked, for some reason) was attached to a vent port that the previous owner had JB Welded a fuel nipple into. I decided to take apart the carb and see what else was wrong, so I disassembled it and bathed everything in carb cleaner.
Since the fuel nipple had been welded into the wrong hole, I had to make a new one out of a brass vacuum hose fitting (see pic above, the old nipple on the left and the new one on the right, in the correct port.) It worked, and finally I was able to get gas into the float bowl. I shot a little starter fluid into the spark plug hole for good measure, and she fired up on the 20th kick-- for about 2 seconds. I repeated this process a few times and gave up for the night, satisfied that I could at least get some combustion. The next day I bought and installed a hotter plug, smashed around the wires a little bit more, and she fired up. I was able to keep the motor running for a few minutes this time, until I accidentally touched one of the wires and immediately lost spark. Also, the timing seemed pretty off. So I cleaned the points, adjusted the gap, which helped the spark issue a little bit. Still, the bike still wouldn't run for more than a couple of minutes and it died every time I rolled the throttle. Finally, I called my good buddy known locally as The Scoutmaster, a mechanical engineer with an addiction to restoring vintage scooters and Volvos; I figured if he couldn't get this thing running right no one could.
(The Scoutmaster (left) and me all dressed up)
The Scoutmaster took one look at the wiring on my bike, cracked a beer, swigged, and burped. Then he rewired the whole thing. With a brand new harness, an oil change and a little work on the timing, the bike fired on the first kick and ran strong! Unfortunately, I learned the hard way that if you tighten the nuts that attach the carb to the manifold even a bit too snug, the throttle slide tube will bend slightly out of round and cause you to spend an hour sanding the slide into an oval. All in all, though, the day was a success, ending with a fat spark, a running bike, and clean wiring with tight connections.
(New low-profile, conduit wrapped wiring harness and new battery)
Next, I get busy with a sawzall, build a new seat, and make this baby street legal (sort of.)
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