| Author | Message | ||
     Kevinaye |
Hey All, I have brought the timing cover kit along with me and I think its time to retard the timing on my Uly. I am not sure exactly what pinging is, but I get a bit of a rattle under hard accelerating. I managed to find some decent gas yesterday and the problem was gone. So I assume the "premium" I have been using is not so premium. So what exactly do I when I get the cover off?? I assume its a screw adjustment. When I change the timing do I no longer use Premium or do keep using the best gas I can find? | ||
| Etennuly |
The first thing you want to do in there is scratch a mark in the cup where the timing mark is now so that if you go too far you can find your way back. | ||
| Buewulf |
You'll still need premium. | ||
| Mnrider |
If you get gas from a pump that has one hose for all grades you get the reg gas that's in the hose and not much premium. | ||
| Ratbuell |
It is not a screw adjustment. There is a cup under the cover, the size of the cover, held in place with two screw posts. Before you loosen anything, mark the current position. I trace the base of the post, on the cup, with a sharpie marker. Loosen the posts just enough to allow the cup to rotate. There should be a + and - sign scribed in it, as well as hash marks for degrees. Typically half a hash mark is enough. Get the bike hot. Loosen. Adjust. Tighten. Ride and evaluate. Do this until you get it feeling right - too far and you'll lose power, not far enough and you'll still have pinging. There is a sweet spot. And, do all this with your "normal" fuel. Might as well set it for the way you typically ride it  | ||
| Uly_man |
"I have brought the timing cover kit along with me and I think its time to retard the timing on my Uly. I am not sure exactly what pinging is, but I get a bit of a rattle under hard accelerating. I managed to find some decent gas yesterday and the problem was gone. So I assume the "premium" I have been using is not so premium." Its hard to see why you do not have decent gas in the USA but? The rattle is what we call "pinking" and caused by low grade fuel or bad timing. Your timing should be as spec and is best done with a strobe or something like ECM-SPY to be perfect. Changing the timing to suit the grade of fuel was something they used to do in the 1920s. If your fuel is low grade just use a Octane booster. And why, why, why does this bike not come with a engine crank handle or a kick start. | ||
| Fordhotline |
Kick start a 1200 sportster motor?? Ouch! lol | ||
| Hughlysses |
If you get gas from a pump that has one hose for all grades you get the reg gas that's in the hose and not much premium. There have been several threads on Badweb about this over the years and the consensus is that it's not normally a problem. Apparently these pumps have a mandated limit on how much fuel mixing can occur (something less than 1/2 gallon IIRC). The only time this becomes a problem is if you regularly top off your tank with small amounts (<1 gallon) of fuel, in which case you could eventually wind up with mostly regular gas in your tank. Back to the original poster- don't change the timing unless this turns out to be a regular problem. Your performance and fuel mileage will be reduced if you unnecessarily retard the timing. | ||
| Buewulf |
And why, why, why does this bike not come with a engine crank handle or a kick start. You are far more manly than I! Two lungs, 1200cc's, long stroke, high compression ratio... Kick start? No thanks! | ||
| Kevinaye |
Thanks for all the replies. I am in Colombia right now, gas is readily available. But getting premium can be an issue. Also, they don't state the octane level on the pumps down here. From what I understand getting decent gas gets harder the further south you go. So I may have to look into octane booster or just retard the timing. Installing a kickstart may be tricky Although the guys down here seem to be able to fix anything ! | ||
| Kevinaye |
Thanks for all the replies. I am in Colombia right now, gas is readily available. But getting premium can be an issue. Also, they don't state the octane level on the pumps down here. From what I understand getting decent gas gets harder the further south you go. So I may have to look into octane booster or just retard the timing. Installing a kickstart may be tricky Although the guys down here seem to be able to fix anything ! | ||
| Hughlysses |
I am in Colombia right now, gas is readily available. Well THERE's a critical piece of info that was omitted from the first post! If you can find octane booster, I'd add it. Some places even carry it in "ketchup pack" sized packets which makes it very convenient for motorcycle usage. If you get stuck with regular gas, you can usually avoid spark knock by being light on the throttle. Short, intermittent spark knock won't hurt anything. OTOH if you're climbing a steep grade or something where the knock gets continuous, you could wind up holing a piston or something similarly catastrophic. If you expect to get in that kind of situation, retarding the spark is the way to go. | ||
| Uly_man |
"You are far more manly than I! Two lungs, 1200cc's, long stroke, high compression ratio... Kick start? No thanks!" I was of course joking. I may be mad but I am not insane. Mind you I did try to bump start the Uly once. Fuel booster. If you get very stuck you could add a VERY small amount of aircraft gas, which is 100 Octane to the fuel. Try 2% to start with and mix it in well by shaking the tank. Its another "old gag" and ok as long as you do it right. These bikes do run better with higher grade fuels. I found 96RON fuel much better than 94RON. Also a point to note is that these bikes, like most things do not have a barometric sensor so the higher you go the worse the fueling becomes. This tends to show up as a loss of power. I think standard domestic US and EU maps are set for sea level and Colombia is well above sea level. | ||
| Mnrider |
something less than 1/2 gallon I think that makes my point. When I fill at 120-130 miles it only takes 2 1/2 gallons so your getting 20% regular. That has to reduce the octane level. | ||
| Husky |
Uly man.. 100LL aviation fuel has 0.1 gram of lead/liter Standard 100 aviation fuel has 1.0 gram of lead/liter We all know what lead does to the oxygen sensor in the fuel management system! husky | ||
| Uly_man |
Err quite right Husky. Guess I was in carb mod. Sorry Guys. |
