| Author | Message | ||
     Jerome |
Bill : I made an unexpected experience about shimming over the last few days. I have a Mikuni 42 flat slide carb on my 00 Cyclone. I changed the needle for a leaner one. On the Mikuni, the needle is fixed to the slide with a small retainer clip. When I screwed the retainer clip on the slide, it moved slightly and went BELOW the needle instead of ABOVE, and of course I didn't realize that (the stuff is hidden in the middle of the carb and it's not easy to check that when the carb is still on the bike). Thus I inadvertently "shimmed" the needle by about 1mm. I have an air/fuel gauge on my Cyclone allowing to check the mixture at all rpm and all throttle opening. The result of this "shimming" was too fat everywhere, and very bad transition between idle and 1/8 throttle, with the bike coughing. Of course last weekend I wanted to change back to the original needle, thinking that the leaner one was maybe slightly bent, thus explaining the symptoms... Until I found out this story about the inadvertent "shimming" with the retainer clip badly fitted ! Now it is back to its normal position, the "shimming" is suppressed, and I have a nearly perfect carburetion at all rpm, all throttle opening, and carburetion is not anymore a nightmare ! | ||
| Blake |
Jerome: Where do we get and how to we install the air/fuel gauge? I want one! | ||
| Thunderbolt |
Blake, I know they sell two different models (different mounting styles) in the Dennis Kirk 'Street' (not 'Harley') catalog. You have to drill a hole in your rear (hotter) exhaust header, close to the cylinder head. You then have to weld the sensor in the hole. I am waiting until I have a free weekend until I install one on my bike. I can't resist anything with an LCD readout. They run about $250. | ||
| Jerome |
Blake : another possibility is as I did : I used the opportunity of replacing the stock header (I did it first with the 2.5" header in lieu of the european 2", and a second time when I bought the race header) to buy the reference for X1 and S3, which already has the threaded hole for the O2 sensor...! Then I bought a standard O2 sensor through an automotive part supplier and lastly I bought the air/fuel gauge (Autometer Phantom) through Summit Racing, supplier of race components for dragsters. But you'll find a lot of suppliers on the net, I went for Summit only because they were the only supplier taking international visa card payment... You'll see, you'll get addicted to this accessory. Definitely not a gadget if you have a carby Buell. | ||
| Ralph |
Blake, uh, try the archive, dude, huh huh  Jerome and others laid out a couple of places where they are availabe. On top of that there are two web sites linked that had instructions on building your own. You should try hanging out on this web site more often bighairypaininthebuttralph | ||
| Blake |
 Thanks Ralph. Blake (slinking away in total embarassment with tail between legs) | ||
| Y2k01x1 |
hey! give blake a break (or brake). i've seen stuff in the archives and when i went back to find it, it's always a real @#%*&^. | ||
| Reepicheep |
I scared up a used forcewinder from a local shop for $100, and put it on my 2000 Cyclone last night, and have some questions. 1) It included two nasty and corroded banjo bolts, one L shaped. I used neither and stuck with the stock bolts. The L shaped one does not help anything on the front (hidden by the forcewinder anyway) and it won't thread in far enough on the back (frame obstructs). Did I miss something? Or was the L shaped one for a different model with more room by the frame? 2) I did not rejet yet, though I have all the parts. My main goal for originally rejetting was to "unlean" the mixture to avoid over heating the engine... but the 2000 cyclones apparently start with a 200 main, which is way rich to begin with anyway. Would there be any significant benefit to changing the idle mixture screw and slow jet? The bike has plenty of power as it is, I am more interested in durability. 3) The used forcewinder came with an old bracket / spacer that looked a LOT like the bracket on my cyclone that gets pinned down by the breather bolts, but this one had one long leg sticking out the bottom. I am assuming it was the original airbox bracket from the bike it was pulled from, and not actually part of the forcewinder kit. I just used the one pulled from my airbox, it did not have that extra leg sticking out the bottom going nowhere and looked better. Am I missing something? I assume that bracket has to be there, so the carb does not end up supporting the weight and leverage of the forcewinder. 4) There were no tube clamps on the breather bolts tubes... so I just put on a cable tie as tight as I could. Don't know if this is overkill or not. 5) Do I have to worry about the exhaust or heads melting the breather tubing? It is marked as fuel line. It is off the exhaust, but is routed pretty close to the heads in a couple places. 6) I lightly applied loktite blue to all the bolts and torqued them down pretty tight. Was this appropriate? Also, there were no lockwashers of any kind on the breather bolts or on the three bolts holding the forcewinder to the carb. Are these things gonna shake themselfs out? 7) I now have this big honking bracket sticking out the front of the engine (that used to support the airbox). Anybody got any creative uses? Machine gun mount? Airspeed indicator? Assymetrical driving light? Or do people just cut it off? How much do you leave? I guess that's enough questions.... I finished in the wee hours of this morning, then left for work in the car (raining) in the later wee hours, so I have not even been able to fire the thing up to see if it will idle (I like my neighbors)... Bill | ||
| Fastback69 |
My '00 M2 has a 195 from the factory. I put a 90o breather bolt into the rear head and had to cut some of it off and round the corners for it to screw all the way in. I've heard of people cutting the airbox mounting arm off near the head bolt. The mount (if memory serves correctly) is made of a very porrous aluminum. | ||
| Ralph |
Y2K dude, I will always give Blake a break (even a brake if he needs one). I just like to see him post that little face turning red Personally, when ever I go to look something up in the archives it is with a good deal of trepidation and lots of free time. Bill, (C.S. Lewis?) I don't have a force so can't help out totally, but; 1. No clue 2. The problem with these bikes is not the main jet, but the slow and idle screw. That is where they are leaned out. It behooves you to re-jet, re-needle and adjust the screw. 3. Could be. 4. There's no pressure so a clamp isn't called for, but, hey, now you know it's secure. 5. It'll be fine as long as it's not touching the exhaust. 6. You'll find out, wont'cha? Blue is a fine choice. If they do come loose, be sure to put a washer between the head and lock washer the heads don't get torn up. You should be fine as is. 7. Some cut it off, be prepared for a bubble or casting flaw in the area you cut off. If you feel more adventerous you can replace it with an X1 engine mount. I love messing with things that say "Do Not Remove". 8. Buy a torque wrench. Then you'll never have to say, "pretty tight". Sounds like you used your god-given commen sense. I'm sure you'll be fine and dandy. bighairyralph | ||
| Blake |
Ralph, yeah, I would really like to find an expert to cull the fluff from all the vault archives. Pare it down to just the facts. | ||
| Blake |
Any volunteers? | ||
| Ralph |
No freakin' way! AAAAIIIIIIGHGHGHGHGHG But I speak for myself. I'm sure Mikej would jump at the chance bighairyralph | ||
| Tonyinvabeach |
I've read all the posts on detonation that I could find and, as a new guy, I'm still confused. I don't have detonation except at or near full throttle. Is this acceptable? Should I avoid full throttle until I can get the mixture right? The bike is a box-stock 2000 M2. Also, I used to live at full throttle, and I've heard on this board to avoid full throttle especially at low RPM...why is that? I've got a little over 8000 miles on my bike in the last 8 months and I love it...just want the motor around for a long time. If this question is too stupid for the board, please ping (or flame) off line. Thanks guys!! Tony | ||
| Mikej |
Nah, I don't have the computer power. I volunteer someone with ready dyno access who likes to verify data and ensure it be good. I may start to download some stuff though and play around with it a bit. But I'm not about to state what is fact and what is not. A fact is nothing but a state of mind, subject to variable interpretation by moment and situation. Hmmm, sort of like my job. Uh, what was the question again? | ||
| Chuck |
Tony, check your plugs to be sure they don't have excessive carbon build-up...then, check your timing. Its very easy with a "dial-type" timing light because you can adjust the light to "find" the TDC mark instead of having to move your ignition plate around...Anyway, "indicated" timing should be at 20 degrees at 1000 rpm (mine has new cams and is actually retarded to 15 degrees to smooth things out "down low") If you've run the bike with excessive amounts of choke and you've "blackened" a set of plugs, its possible, that your heads and piston tops have carbon build up, which could cause "hot spots" which can contribute to detonation...I wail on my bike whenever the "coast is clear" and I've had no problems with detonation...PS...buy good gas! | ||
| S2no1 |
A question for the board. A local mechanic commented that the Buells when ran at sustained high rpms, with the stock air cleaner configurations, could build carbon in the pistions. Somone else also posted this on their bike during some recent repairs. Any other empirical evidence? Arvel | ||
| Court |
More like..... When run at sustained speeds they lack sufficient mass in the piston crown (rear)to carry heat to the cooling fins and away from the engine. The resulting hole is about the size of a quarter. A significant number of the early S-3 that went to Europe supported when I learned on a VERY cold winters day on Highway 4 near Herrington, KS. NOTE: You can never run at these speeds for the required period of time in the US and I know of no concern that would effect a US owner. Court | ||
| Pammy |
Arvel, I think his(the broke Buell) problem was blow by....the center of the piston was sooty(carbon) but the surrounding surface was shiny. I could picture the Buell, running hard, without sufficient air-flow thru the combustion chamber, having 'dirty' air in the combustion chamber at the time of the next implosion, subsequently causing carbon build up with each pop...and of course the longer you run, the more carbon. It just seems rational...I could be wrong... Pammy | ||
| Thunderbolt |
Arvel, I just put a new top end on my S2 (t-storm conversion), and the pistons that came out had A LOT of carbon build up on them. I estimate it was as thick as .100" in some spots. My theory on the cause is blow by. I'll post a picture if I get a chance. FYI the bike has 12k miles, and although it has the stock air cleaner, it was rarely, if ever, run at sustained high rpms. | ||
| Blake |
Implosion BAYBEE!!!!!! ? HI PAMMY! You and Wes oughta come up North for Laconia! So I can ride your X1 again! Now,,, get back in the kitchen woman! Blake (ducking and hiding) | ||
| Pilk |
Anybody, I need advice, want to put a hypercharger on my X-1, I think. Any suggestions, or comments. Thanks in advance. pilk | ||
| Pammy |
Blake, I didn't see your post right away, cause I was scrubbin' floors, quilting and making bread.......yeah, right! I would love to come to Laconia...but my mean ol'boss has work up the kazoo for me to do...(I don't mean that literally) Guess you will have to come back down here for a ride. Pammy | ||
| Marks3tbillet |
I bought a Buell race air cleaner off a used M2 and am putting it on my S3T. So, I need to drill a hole in the backplate for the IAT, intake air temp. sensor. How does the IAT get held into the air cleaner? I was going to drill the same size hole that is in the breadbox and just let it hang inside. Is that okay? Mark '00 S3T | ||
| Ccryder |
Mark: Do you have anyroom to do this?  I picked up a nylon clamp at Lowes and majic. Neil S. | ||
| Dark_Ninja |
Was the writer of my owners manual smoking crack? The owners manual for my '98 S3T says that fuel capacity is 5.5 gallons total including reserve. Reserve itself is listed as .6 gallons. So total main should be 4.9 gallons. This seemed odd to me so I ran the primary out of gas and then proceeded to put 20 miles on the reserve. This should have put me DAMN near completely out. So why, after all that did the bike only take roughly 4 gallons of gas? Am I doing something wrong, is the book wrong, or is there something funny with my bike? Ideas? | ||
| Ralph |
Dark Ninja, is that you? Step into the light, can't see ya. The tanks are spun formed and have a hefty variance in actual capacity. On top of that the petcock feeder straws (?) tend to be on the long side. That puts a larger amount on the reserve side. It is not unheard of for a guy to snip the feeder shorter, diminishing the reserve. bighairyralph | ||
| Ralph |
Now, on to the part I wanted to talk about. Intake length. Neil, you are absolutly right (as usual) about the short length of the race air cleaner and many of the aftermarket air cleaner systems. However, in this case you are only half right. Take a look at the air cleaner snorkel. See those two huge holes on the top? What does that do to the length of the intake system? The air is going to follow the path of least resistance so it's going to effectivly shorten it, at least to some degree. I don't think all the air the motor needs can be supplied by those two holes, but a certain amount of air is being sucked (and blown out) right there at the carb mouth. So much for a good long intake. There is no aftermarket filter that filled the want I had (typical) so I made my own (typical). Heck of a way to spend part of the weekend. Here's a photo;  I call it the bighairyforceyoheim. Believe it or not the length is still short for what is needed to see the intake working in the motors range efficiently. But, I have a longer intake than any other I've seen and I don't have to worry about dirty air leaking into the box. I know there was by the dirt inside. The filter area has been expanded by nearly a hundred percent and is a K&N so it passes some real air. Before any one has to get on my back, yes I know the Force is very similar. Now take a real look, the Force is nothing but a rip on the original snorkel, but to damn short. To bad I don't have Aarons dyno in the yard. Then I could actually see the real results. The butt dyno says there is an improvement. That could just as easily be the filter itself as the length of the intake. What ever. It was fun. I've got monster planned for the S3. Half inch larger in diameter so I can have a serious venturi in front of the carb. (For the incredibly picky, I do not have the breathers hooked up in the photo so leave me alone) Now, on to the exhaust. I've got four weeks before the body building begins. Wait until you see what happens to the oil tank (maybe) bighairyralph | ||
| Blake |
From where would the two holes in the stock airbox's snorkel be drawing air? | ||
| Loki |
Oh hairy one, Whats reserve? I thought that was the main.... Just got to love knowing how many miles one can squeeze out of a full tank. The trip meter is better than a fuel guage. loki |
