The matchless lives !
Posted: Mon Jul 23, 2018 11:15 am
Hi all
After a significant struggle another G2 will be on the road ! This little bike really put up a struggle as I knew there couldn't be much wrong with it and it was so frustratingly close to running .
Lots of little things added up to keep it from firing and I just had to be patient and deal with one problem at a time. Aside from the work I had to do on the gearbox also replacing the rubbers in the clutch , deburing the clutch plates and renewing the oil seal at the back of the gearbox . It's probably just easier to list the sequence I worked through to find the problem.
Had a good spark but still swapped the plug for one I knew was working .
Renewed the points
Thought that there was too much spark at points when they were opened manually so renewed the condenser.
Renewed the ancient coil even though it seemed to be producing a good spark .
None of the above made any difference at all bike still would not fire not even close but I now knew I had a sound ignition circuit to start from.
Cleaned carb to within an inch of it's life and renewed float needle as the old nylon one was sticking . Still made no difference but I now knew fuel system was working properly.
Cleaned and checked all electrical connections . Still no joy !
I turned my attention to the ignition timing and reset that as it didn't seem correct . Bike still would not run .
Kicked bike shut shed door and sulked for a week .
Fresh start and went straight in and checked the valve timing . Absolutely spot on so in theory bike should run . Observations of the valves moving with a bright torch through the aparture in the head and good compression meant they were seating correctly .
Ok so that meant it could only be something I had already done or fitted so I methodically went back and checked all the items one by one when I got to the ignition timing check I noticed that the advance weights had moved just fractionally and were in a slightly different position . At last I was on to something ! The weights were slipping on the shaft . Stripped ignition plate out set piston to 1/4 BTDC and tried to reset . It didn't seem to make any difference were I moved weights the points opened too soon and there was no more adjustment in the backplate to set it correctly so using a fine round file I had to elongate the slots to get somewhere near the correct ignition point . This time I gave the tapered shaft for the weights a good clean and a sharp tap to reseat them then reasembled everything with ignition timing as close as possible to correct ( well it was 11 o'clock at night by this time ).
With trepidation jumped on and gave it a kick can't describe it but I just knew it felt right , second kick and for the first time in 30 years it burst into life ! Settled down to tickover nicely while I quickly checked the oil return which was really strong and healthy.
Feeling that sense of achievement now which is one of the rewards of fettling old bikes .
Regarding the backplate were I had to file out and elongate the slots I suspect it was not the correct one for the bike . Is the points backplate for the 350 lightweight slightly different ?
So ok still some adjustments to make to the ignition timing as it's not absolutely spot on so a little more filing to do.
Have to reasemble the bike now as I didn't want to replace any engine covers seat etc until I knew it was running .
Still searching for center stand bits and all I need now is the thin rod that the spring hook's into . I have my stand stop's thanks to another club member. So if anyone has such a part please PM me .
Once it's back together I will try and post some pictures although my skills in this area are rubbish .
Cheers Chris
After a significant struggle another G2 will be on the road ! This little bike really put up a struggle as I knew there couldn't be much wrong with it and it was so frustratingly close to running .
Lots of little things added up to keep it from firing and I just had to be patient and deal with one problem at a time. Aside from the work I had to do on the gearbox also replacing the rubbers in the clutch , deburing the clutch plates and renewing the oil seal at the back of the gearbox . It's probably just easier to list the sequence I worked through to find the problem.
Had a good spark but still swapped the plug for one I knew was working .
Renewed the points
Thought that there was too much spark at points when they were opened manually so renewed the condenser.
Renewed the ancient coil even though it seemed to be producing a good spark .
None of the above made any difference at all bike still would not fire not even close but I now knew I had a sound ignition circuit to start from.
Cleaned carb to within an inch of it's life and renewed float needle as the old nylon one was sticking . Still made no difference but I now knew fuel system was working properly.
Cleaned and checked all electrical connections . Still no joy !
I turned my attention to the ignition timing and reset that as it didn't seem correct . Bike still would not run .
Kicked bike shut shed door and sulked for a week .
Fresh start and went straight in and checked the valve timing . Absolutely spot on so in theory bike should run . Observations of the valves moving with a bright torch through the aparture in the head and good compression meant they were seating correctly .
Ok so that meant it could only be something I had already done or fitted so I methodically went back and checked all the items one by one when I got to the ignition timing check I noticed that the advance weights had moved just fractionally and were in a slightly different position . At last I was on to something ! The weights were slipping on the shaft . Stripped ignition plate out set piston to 1/4 BTDC and tried to reset . It didn't seem to make any difference were I moved weights the points opened too soon and there was no more adjustment in the backplate to set it correctly so using a fine round file I had to elongate the slots to get somewhere near the correct ignition point . This time I gave the tapered shaft for the weights a good clean and a sharp tap to reseat them then reasembled everything with ignition timing as close as possible to correct ( well it was 11 o'clock at night by this time ).
With trepidation jumped on and gave it a kick can't describe it but I just knew it felt right , second kick and for the first time in 30 years it burst into life ! Settled down to tickover nicely while I quickly checked the oil return which was really strong and healthy.
Feeling that sense of achievement now which is one of the rewards of fettling old bikes .
Regarding the backplate were I had to file out and elongate the slots I suspect it was not the correct one for the bike . Is the points backplate for the 350 lightweight slightly different ?
So ok still some adjustments to make to the ignition timing as it's not absolutely spot on so a little more filing to do.
Have to reasemble the bike now as I didn't want to replace any engine covers seat etc until I knew it was running .
Still searching for center stand bits and all I need now is the thin rod that the spring hook's into . I have my stand stop's thanks to another club member. So if anyone has such a part please PM me .
Once it's back together I will try and post some pictures although my skills in this area are rubbish .
Cheers Chris