MOPED ARMY

whats the compression after it warms up?

definitely check your timing dude, it can go out of adjustment real easy. i used to go by the "its never been touched so its fine" persuasion until i realized in many cases that just aint true.

You have to take off the magneto. Kind of a bummer.

this is _exactly_ what I was looking for. Thanks to creature Bret back in 04'.

"The timing system is actually very simple and easy to set, once you understand it. There are two holes on your timing cam. They are designed both to hold the rotor in sync with the cam, and to indicate timing. Do this, take a small allen tool and stick the long end in your spark plug hole(allen tool is preferable because it cannot fall into your engine). Then put a tape measure up to it. Rotate the piston to TDC. Note the relation of allen tool and metric tape measure demarcations. Rotate the rotor counter clockwise until the allen tool has dropped 2mm. The two holes on the cam should be exactly up and down, and the points chould not be open, but they should be about to. This is the break point. now rotate the cam clockwise until the two holes are pointing through the axis of the engine(through the spark plug hole). Your points should at maximum gap, .12mm to .15mm. Keep rotating clockwise and when the smaller third hole is throught the axis of the engine, your points should be closed or nearly closed."

oh, of course finny. It was going to happen eventually. Either i'd need to change it for performance or to replace the condenser/coil when they finally go out. There's always a little learning curve.

Surprisingly, the points look fucking great, considering the condition of this thing when I got it.

Having a little trouble getting the cam off, afraid of torquing it super hard.. it's probably never been removed.

I mean... if I adjust the points so they start to open at 2mm btdc, by the time the piston finally reaches TDC, the point gap will be HUGE. That can't be right either.

add a gasket or two. this lowers the compression a tad. Radio control car trick.

No gasket if possible, I want the compression so I get more low end out of my ported cylinder.

Jerry, the confusing part is the gap is only supposed to be .12mm, and it's supposed to be at maximum gap when the piston is at TDC. If I adjust the point screw so the points begin to open at 2mm BTDC, by the time the piston reaches TDC, the point gap will be well over .12-.15mm

well, actually the gap is supposed to be .35mm-.40mm, not .12mm, so I'll have to try again.

I doubt it's worn, that thing is solid, there's only like 3k miles at the most on this thing.

when you set the timing, are you _just_ lining up the holes with the axis of the cylinder? thats a nice rule of thumb but youre basically eyeballing the whole process.

get an analog meter and you can test for continuity between the points and the ht coil (or something like that). you set it up so that as you rotate the cam, just as the points open you will see it on your meter. if you have a meter with a buzzer its even better... less to keep your eyes on and you can _really_ hear when they break. this allows you to determine the _exact_ moment at which your points break. much more accurate then lining the dots up or whatever.

also, you might want to consider dropping the engine, removing the head, and physically measuring TDC and mm BTDC. this is how i do it every time i set my timing, which is rarely because i do it meticulously. this, as opposed to the allen wrench in the spark plug hole method.

the only reason i mention these techniques is that every sloppy method you use to set the timing adds error to the final product... so its worth it to make sure every step along the way is as accurate as possible. some will argue whether or not the allen wrench technique, line up the dots technique, etc are "sloppy", and i do know they are widely used, but it just doesnt sit right with me. if you wanna eliminate variables, you gotta eliminate variables.

on an entirely seperate note, one thing you may want to consider is your wiring and grounds. i wish i could hear this knocking/pinging youre talking about to really say for sure, but i suffered from symptoms like this when i first got my moby. at high rpms, everything would vibrate so much that my spark would cut out and make a pop/knocking sound. imagine the sound made when you run over a dime-sized-diameter rock head on. i use that analogy because thats what i thought it was at first, when it happened about once a week.

i tried to fix this by swapping out novi coils. every time id swap out a novi coil, itd make it better for a while and then itd happen again. turns out it wasnt the changing of the novi coil that made a difference at all, it was the fact that every time i put on new coil, i made sure all the connections were good and the problem went away until they vibrated loose.

i eventually took care of the problem by simpling taking apart the wiring harness, making sure all the connections were squeaky clean, all the grounds were solid, etc. Double ground shit if you have to. sand down areas where rust or dirt or grime has accumulated. whatever you can do to make sure your wiring is tip top.

might not have anything to do with the problems your having at all, just throwin ideas out there.

well i cant keep myself from being wordy no matter how hard i try, so you get words whether you like them or not.

there you go, back to basics... plug wires can be an issue on mobies cause the variation of the engine. although, you will probably get shocked if you put your finger too close to any ht coil.

ill give you a little more in depth timing setting help (or at least how i do it, whether its helpful or not) once i get done playing super smash 64

try setting your timing and points and then check the timing again after everything's all together.

unplug the two light leads from the stator and hook up a multimeter to the grey ignition wire and the other multimeter wire to the ground (the motor or plate, whatever). That way you can make sure shit's right after it's all together.

your'e running a b9hs plug?

damn girl...

I think Steve is just right on setting the timing..except for pulling the head.

I think a worn cam follower (maybe it's the original one!) makes it impossible to set both gap and timing to spec simultaneously. I played with this for a long time with two sets of points I got from BJ 3 years ago--he warned me that these Indian points had followers which were too long and needed shaved down.

I think I've spent more time messing with timing than anything else on my gurls.

I think I've never seen any difference between 1.5mm and 2mm settings.

I think I'll get another beer.

i dunno how much you decked your head, but i really doubt you decked it enough necessitate the running of higher octane gas. worth a shot, i suppose, but i really dont think this is the issue.

yea pulling the head is kind of laborious on a moby cause you have the drop the engine, but it is the most accurate way to measure mm btdc, as far as im concerned. well, unless you have a thread-in depth gauge, which is quite possible, but i do not. ive seen quite a few clever diy tools but i havent got around to making one.

sticking an allen wrench in the spark plug hole and measuring it with a ruler just doesnt cut it. too many variables, too many ways to be inaccurate. especially when the precision of your ruler is probably +/- .5 mm anyways.