Tinkicker

Well. Since I hurt my hand, apart from attending to one handed stuff, I have been pretty stuffed where work on the bike goes. Saw the quack yesterday and he advises I may be good for light duties next week. Light duties in my job? Yeah ok. Anyway, I can use a screwdriver without too much discomfort now, saw I thought I would have half an hour on the bike. The lay up has meant I have had a lot of time to stare at it and ponder.... Why does it start once OK, run fine, then refuse to run more than a second the next time. One of those problems that strongly pointed to a malfunction on any of the systems. Fuel, air, spark or compression. Carb was cleaned, all passageways and jets I could get into scrubbed and it had a half hour in the ultrasound bath, then everything checked by blowing through. Ignition system is all new quality aftermarket with a fat spark. I know know it is not an issue with the plug after trying 3 or 4 with the same result. Dropping fuel into the carb or cylinder resulted in a strong start. I strongly suspected a weak condition from cold. I knew the pilot jet was not plugged because it runs ok when warmed up a few seconds. This meant the enrichment circuit. After stripping the plunger out and blowing down the plunger drilling into the float bowl, it started on second kick and picked up strongly within seconds . Yippee Time after and subsequently attempts since, it once again became difficult to start. Why! Now able to at least hold a screwdriver in one hand and steady a part in the other, I could look a bit deeper. I think God loves a tryer because by jove, I think I found the answer. Strongly suspecting the float level because I do not have reliable info , I thought it may be too low causing the weakness. I never head of it affecting the starter circuit though, but everything else checked out. I had already ensured the starter circuit drillings to the plunger was clear. I removed the carb with a bit of difficulty, very little room around the carb area to get in on the 100. Airbox has to be removed because it surrounds the carb on one side, and exhaust is very close on the other. To remove the airbox, the chainguard has to come off. A bit more work than my hand needed, but best foot forward. I pulled off the floatbowl and looked down the starter jet. Nothing. I blew down it. Nothing blocked. I poked a torch nozzle cleaner into the starter jet tube intake. It was clear. Hmm why start, then cut after a second.. Ping. If there was some loose debris or fluff in there, in between the tiny intake to the tube and the bottom of the tiny jet, it may allow fuel into the tube, and on kicking the bike over, float up to the underside of the jet, partially blocking it. The bike starts, quickly uses the fuel above the jet and cuts. To cut a long story short, I swapped the float bowl from my other carb to try. Tank back on, fuel on. Ignition on. First kick. Light off and an extremely strong start indeed. Better than it has ever done. I will retest tomorrw to see if I cured it or not, then button everything back up.

Well it starts. Not as crisply as I would have liked, but it runs. It sputtered and died on the first few kicks, gradually getting a little better each time. By maybe the 5th or 6th kick she was running. After that, she is first kick reliable. I don't suppose that is too bad considering the winter temps. We turn to the headlamp. Does a conventional 5 and 3/4" car sealed beam fit in the headlight rim? Reason I ask is because a retailer is selling 5 3/4" sealed beam direct replacements intended for classic cars and comes fitted with a 6v Halogen bulb for a 3 pin H4 type connector. I guess this means I do not have to tamper with the original connector and the light will be brighter. Alternatively I can just buy an aftermarket reflector and american prefocus 35/35 bulb holder suitable for DT175MX. I know the headlamp bucket is the same on both bikes but I will have to rewire the connector. Obviously the sealed beam replacement is the preferred option. Monetarily, there is very little difference between the two options. I have a new 300 x 16 Kenda K262 rear tyre and new tube coming from Germany. It was oddly cheaper to buy from a German retailer and pay for shipping than it was to spend more time trying to source one in the UK. Depending on the state of my hand, I may wait till the holidays to fit it. That makes the rear end complete. I have ordered the front tyre and tube also, along with new rim tapes front and rear. I made the decision to swap out the wheelbearings while I have the wheel out. Nothing wrong with the originals, but no point having one set of old bearings when every other one is new. That rear fender is still taunting me... Outstanding items are the tyres, headlamp as mentioned, exhaust outlet ( still available from yamaha), a set of indicators, the annoying fender, a pair of mirrors and she is pretty much complete. The tailamp is ready to bolt straight back on the fender.

A long time since I did some study of the legalities involving the motor trade as part of a management course. However as I posted previously. Joe only has to wait until the end of the year and if the bike is still there, everything else is moot. You can scrap an abandoned vehicle on your property if certain tests are met. Of course this is of interest to garage owners and covered on the course. This is covered under the Tort (interference of goods) act and local authority tests. The tests. The vehicle is to be considered abandoned if. ( Pick any three) It has not moved in a period of time. Usually one month. Its condition clearly shows it has not been attended to. It is unserviceable and unroadworthy. It may have flat tyres. It may not start. It may or may not have an MOT ot tax. It may be damaged. Accident or uncorrected long term vandalism The owner has clearly meant to abandon it ( i think going back to his own country for years, leaving the bike will cover that in any judges book). The land owner must make reasonable efforts to contact the owner and give him formal notice of a reasonable amount of time to remove it. .... He has. If the owner does not reclaim the vehicle in the specified time frame, the land owner (or responsible person enjoying the land, or his agent) - company rents the land, the agent would be a senior manager of that company. The agent can then consider his duties discharged and dispose of the vehicle as he sees fit. One caviat. He must dispose of it in a reasonable manner of his choice and any monies forthcoming from that disposal made available to the original owner- less expenses incurred by the landowner during the disposal if the original owner makes a claim for it. Another caviat. If the company does not own the land, but rents, it cannot remove the vehicle by itself, it must use a registered recovery company and that recovery documented. Where that recovery company takes the bike is up to the agent or landowner. What would the metal scrap value of a motorcycle be? £100? Find the value of mixed scrap of the same weight as the motorcycle. What would the cost of recovery be? £120? The bike is yours. He owes you £20. I think thats how it goes...

Hand a bit better this morning. Kept brace off last night and probaby rolled around on it during the night. Must have been rolled back into the correct position. Hurty but moves. I can use it lightly. Don't think it is broken after all. Time to see if the bike would start. Choke on, ignition on. Kick. Nothing but a feeble fart then nothing. I resolved to brace myself today for a little more stringent outing in the freezing conservatory than my usual of late, run in, kick, swap the plug, get it running and retreat asap until the next test tactic. Found the original carb and traced through the enrichment circuit inlet tube in the float bowl right to the plunger housing. I got out my trusty welding torch cleaners and ascertained I could not clean out the drillings in their entirity. Too many dog legs blocked off by ballbearings. It had several 90 degree bends. Removed the choke plunger and got a length of windscreen washer tubing to blow down the plunger orifice to see if I could feel air coming out the inlet tube. I could. All righty. So if i did the same on the bike carb I should hear bubbles and the bowl vents venting air. Removed plunger and blew down the plunger orifice. No restriction evident. Same as the other carb and air was coming out the vent tube. No bubbles though, does this mean the float height is too low? Another thing to worry about and add to the mix. My head is akin to a bingo machine full of floats, carbs, jets, sparkplugs, points and coils all whirling around and intermixing like a madmans kaleidoscope. Which is going to pop out next? Before I refitted the plunger I gave it a good polish with some grey scotchbrite and a good squirt of GT85. Pull out plunger, fuel on, ignition on. Kick. Away she went first kick. To coin a phrase from Dereck at VGG. " Well I'll be dipped". I have absolutely no idea what I did, but whatever it was, it seems to have worked. I will try again tomorrow to see if it is cured, or is still toying with me. No point in hiring the mariachi band until then. I guess I can take those poor, maligned NGK plugs out of my conservatory bin bag now. They are probably still good.

Has he not even been to see you? He sounds a right pillock. You just have to hold out another 3 weeks. Then you can buy the bike as scrap off your company. A nominal fiver for the xmas party fund and an undertaking to remove from site at your own expense should cover it and you then have a receipt for the undertaking. You have title as he has failed to comply with terms of storage and effectively abandoned it in place.

Yep. Using all the time is key. Laying up for awhile becomes a problem, esp with the crap we call petrol nowdays. I make sure mine is started once a month. That is not good for a 4 stroke, it needs to be used. But in the Viffers case, better than the alternative. Once laid it up without attention for 3 months. Took a complete carb removal and clean to get it runnng again. This is despite the fuel being laced with stabiliser. Springtime temps arrive and starting is never a problem. First time with 4 cylinders running off the button every time. December to April layup is the pits. That is where the histrionics start. Both the new one back in 97 and the one I have now exhibited the same tendency. Perhaps it may be a little worse now than then, due to the poorer fuel we have now. The direct result of this cold weather start trouble is that VFR750s are renowned for wearing out starter clutches.

The last of the 750s. My recollection of my first impressions in the days of yore.. Yore being 1997. Oft described by motorcycle hacks as " the best all rounder motorcycle ever made". That I can agree with, but then I am biased. First impressions I had when I first sat on my brand new green one outside the dealers in 1997 was it was like climbing into an expensive motor car ( yes it was one of the most expensive bikes Honda offered. Fireblades were significantly cheaper). Edit. Found a calculator, the winter discounted purchase price of £9500 in 1997 is £21,322 in todays money. It was very expensive for a 750, even though discounted. I think the list price was closer to £11,000 (£24,688 in 2023) The build quality was outstanding and the cockpit was very well equipped and laid out. The feeling was akin to the motorcycle equivalent of sitting in the driving seat of a new merc or bmw. The controls fell easily to hand, the hydraulic clutch was smooth and light, and the dashboard and gauges clear and well laid out. I felt immediately at home. Lovely homey cockpit exuded quality. So far so good. It certainly had me nodding in approval. Time to ride it home. First I needed to move it from its parking space and get it pointed towards the exit. I was well used to moving around my now written off Honda CB900FA, so was no stranger to manhandling large heavy bikes around. No problem. What immediately got my attention was how much more top heavy the VFR felt, even though it was a much lighter bike overall. I found it quite nerve wracking moving it around. In fairness it was a brand new bike with little more than one mile on the clock and was surrounded by easily damaged plastic and expensive paint. Something I never had before. The heaviness was due to the fairly high slung V4 engine, which is a very much more top heavy unit than an inline four cylinder due to the crankshaft being half the size, compounded by the narrow and low handlebars. knowing it and feeling it are two very different things though. I never got used to manouvering the bike around and it fact still havent. I still find moving it around the backyard a very tense experience. Starting it and riding it. The dealer had briefed me on the peculiarities of starting a VFR during the sale. Apparently, due to US regulations, Honda had made the choke circuit quite lean. Fine for Phoenix Arizona and the UK summer, not so good on a cold early December morning in Castleford. The deal was to put the choke on and hit the starter button until it fired. Release it to see if it continued running. If it stalled, hit it again and continue this until it would run on its own. Once two cylinders were hitting, it would run by itself without starter assistance, and the other cylinders would soon decide to chime in. I was briefed that it may seem like it was faulty, but this was normal winter weather behaviour. Never, ever fiddle with the choke lever or throttle. Just keep hitting the button till it ran on its own and then let it sort itself out. The dealer had the bike started before I arrived, and she had been in a warm showroom, so there were no problems starting her. Choke on, ignition on and she popped right off and settled to a smooth high idle. 30 seconds on choke and switch it off as briefed. The bike was idling nicely. I thought the dealer was having me on. However, I soon found out that he wasn't. A cold soaked VFR gen 4 that has been laid up in a cold garage for a couple of weeks in minus temps is no joke to start. It can spit, vibrate and shudder on its stand for a full two or three minutes till it is happy. Touch the throttle at your peril while this is going on. With modern crap fuel, starting them up and getting them really hot once a month during the winter lay up is essential if you have not drained down the fuel system. One hint of slightly stale fuel or water separating out in the float bowls means a major headache. How I do miss my fuel injected bikes. They are so easy.. So we have the bike ready to ride. Clutch is light and progressive and we set off for the motorway to ride the 20 or so miles home. Steering is quite positive and once over 10 mph, she is quite stable. On the open road, the narrowness of that V4 engine comes into its own. The bike is physically small and narrow and is akin to riding a far smaller bike, it is more moped than mile muncher in feeling. It can be flung around with ease. Riding position is very much perched on top, rather than sat in. The riding position means it is easy to keep ones head moving for observations and lifesavers. Not so with the Blackbird that came after, a fantastic bike on the open road but a horror bike around town. We get on the motorway and give it a bit of throttle. The engine sounded odd. It was misfiring. What the heck? A bit more throttle to try clear it. A look at the speedo showing instaban speeds and cars apparently reversing backwards towards me, soon made me realise that it was not in fact missing, it was the V4 engine beat which has a very unhurried quality compared to an inline 4 that I was so used to hearing. Again, the blackbird which followed always sounded very "busy" in comparison. Handling around some of my favourite local bends, bearing in mind the new tyres and cold tarmac was reassuring. It is a very stable and sure footed bike. I never had it shake its head or give me reason for concern in the three years I had it. I had absolutely no problem staying with my sportsbike riding mates. General road conditions never allowed them to exploit the handling advantage they had over the VFR enough. Sure at times, Mr Fireblade and Mr Hoover pipes might start to pull away on the twisties, but they were not able to push the advantage long enough, and they would be staring at my headlamp in their rear mirrors a few seconds later. Brakes. Some poo poo VFR brakes saying they are weak. I say poppycock. To the naysayers, You need to exercise your hands more, you must be a bit limp wristed or enjoy doing two finger stoppies. Certainly VFR brakes are not two finger affairs, but they are progressive and well capable of performing stoppies with ease, or locking up the wheels. What more do you need? No fancy ABS here. Pulling away from traffic lights with enthusiasm. One delightful trait the VFR has, is on being given a handful from the lights, it will loft the front wheel about 6" above the tarmac and happily keep it there. No fuss, no thinking it will flip. Full blown wheelies need to be very deliberate actions. Select second at 7000rpm and you can clutch the front wheel back up easily. Again 6" above the road. No fuss, no drama. Keep it in second towards the redline and it will gradually lower back to the road again. No bumps, thumps or shaking bars. Very satisfying. Of course, I am too old and sensible for such antics these days. The downside. The Mrs and I used to tour quite a bitvand the VFR is a bit too small physically for comfortable, long distance trips 2 up. I always found my nuts getting pressed into the tank after a few dozen miles when the Mrs started shuffling around in the back. I traded it in for a new CBR1100XX Super Blackbird, thinking it would be a bigger VFR. I knew I had made a grave mistake before I got it home. The ultimate test. Would I have another VFR750 gen 4? Yup. The red one above is mine. I waited years for one to appear with undamaged plastics and original unmarked1997 paint. I wish it was green like my old one, but beggars cannot be choosers. It arrived home and before the day was over, it was in pieces. Every bush, bearing, cable, oil seal, hose and o ring has been replaced. Although the bike was in excellent condition, my goal was to make a showroom fresh one again. Every system and part has been overhauled and refurbished apart from the core engine. VFR750s are absolutely bulletproof and ripping into a 30,000 mile engine that is barely run in would do more harm than good. I threw away the goodridge hoses and scoured the world for NOS original brake pipework. I wanted originality. The forks were pitted above the seal line. They have been hard chromed and fully rebuilt to as new. Of course the brakes and every other system has been stripped, inspected and rebuilt. Rear end completely stripped and rebuilt. Brand new Hagon rear shock fitted. Disappointingly, I could not source a NOS genuine rear brake hose, so had to settle for a black goodridge. Every part of every system has been gone through. If some hard to find or very expensive part that was found to be in less than perfect condition was come across, entire sub assemblies were scrapped and better quality replacements sourced, overhauled and fitted in their place. The swingarm had a small alloy graze on it, probably garage rash at some point. Verdict: The VFR does everything excedingly well. However there is nothing it excells at. Other bikes are faster, better handling, better stopping, offer more comfort, offer better touring capability and even pull better wheelies. However it is few bikes that are able to offer almost as good in every department and in a single package. I retire in 6 years and have the perfect bike to retire with. I do not ride it much now, but it is there waiting for when I have more time.

Well. Here I am. The one armed paper hanger... To cut a long story short. Smacking the gear carrier pins out of the reduction hub of a kessler axle on monday. They are TIGHT and flush to the outside of the hub so you need a short drift to get them moving. I found an old two inch diameter drain plug. Perfect. Proceded to swing the 16lb hammer and on the third pin, the drift proceded to fly out at great speed, hit my right hand before flying across the workshop. Hospital says poss hairline fracture but because of the swelling they could not be sure as xray was not clear enough. Minutes before it happened i was moaning and groaning because I have man flu and was feeling sorry for myself. So now right paw in a brace, two fingers taped together... And man flu.. . Have I ever mentioned my luck? Anyway I took the opportunity to do a little lefty, one handed work on the 100. Checked spark with new denso plug. Fat spark. Checked it with the old NGK. Fatter spark. Presumably because the denso has the U electrode that lets the spark grow inside. Kicked bike over. Ran briefly but stopped. Plug wet. Crankcases flooded? Dried plug, kicked bike over with fuel off and plug out, but no real sign of flooding. Plug in. Ran for a second but stopped. Plug still dry. Could it be the starter circuit? Removed airfilter and dribbed a little brake cleaner down the carb throat. Kicked and she popped off second kick. Set a fast idle. Ran it for five minutes and turned off the fuel to scour the crankcases and combustion chamber clean of any excess fuel. Yup, rpms rose as she went lean and carb emptied. Fuel on and tried again. Second kick and she was away, sounding crisp off the throttle. I ran the carb dry again to preclude any flooding issues and will resume tomorrow when she is cold. Also checked fuel tap to make sure it shut off and opened correctly. It did. I did not want it allowing the crankcases to slowly flood overnight if faulty. So we have always had a fat spark at the right time. We have always had air. We have always had fuel. We have had no running from cold with heat cycled plug.... But it should. once running it sounds crisp off the throttle and has a nice smooth idle. I am thinking either cold start plunger or fuel lost just enough zing for a reliable winter cold start, but it came from a sealed container. Around 50% of the fuel content in the tank was premix at 32:1 and the oil pump is conected. It does white smoke quite heavily, but I recall RT100s being similar heavy smokers until the exhaust got hot. Any other ideas? It is plain weird. I know for a fact the reeds are in very good condition and the crank seals are new genuine. The problem is not mechanical. Bad hand is a bloody nuisance.

We jump forward a page. It may be odd reading at times because there are a lot of contributors comments that I am not including because I do not have permission to do so. The other thread is currently running at over 18 pages. If I include any material from this site on other forums I do the same. Only copy and paste my own contributions. To do anything different would not be fair to the other contributors. May be a little out of context.... >>>>Just ordered a couple of Denso W24es-u plugs to try. I have no faith in those NGKs anymore. Happily, same plug in both DTs. Went to try the 100 again. Seems the new plug has gone the same way as the previous one. One easy start and warm up to operating temp run, allow to go cold, then the same 1 second run shennanigans. We have air. We have fuel. We have spark and fire with brand shiny new plug. We have intermittent or no spark with a heat cycled plug....

We appear to have gotten a page or two behind the original thread again. Not missed much though. It is all about the thing not wanting to start...... Well. The bike continues to make a Chimpanzee out of me. Got the kickstart blasted, painted and refitted during the week, put the oil pump cover back on and gave it a kick over. Conservatory temp around minus 1c. It fired and ran for a second, then cut. Kick, kick, it fired for a second, then cut. Rinse and repeat for five minutes before abandoning the bike to its freezing cold fate. Time for a ponder. It ran fine for over half an hour last time it ran.... All I have done is fit a cover and a kickstart. The kickstart was fitted previously and has no bearing on the issue. The oil pump cover is not an issue... What has gone wrong....? Ponder 1. It is getting fuel but losing spark. But new plug, points and condenser fitted. Timed up. Running just fine with no hint of a problem before. Ponder 2. It has spark but is not getting fuel. A check of the plug showed wet with fuel. So number 1. I fitted the rotor and tightened it with the tools I had available at the time. My home tools are a motley collection of old cast offs and bargain basket buys. I have tools valued in the tens of thousands of pounds at work and this makes for little enthusiasm for buying good tools for home use. They are completely inadequate for anything but the simplest tasks which is why many of the tasks are done at work during lunchtime. So has the rotor come loose and sheared the crank key? It would account for the symptoms. I finally remembered to bring home my sheave holder and removed the rotor. Nut was tight and key intact. At least with the correct tools, now I KNOW the rotor is fitted correctly. Points were opening and closing as they should. I dried off the plug with a blowtorch and refitted it, managing to leave a shiny smooth spot on my fingertips as I removed my fingerprints on the getting ever hotter ceramic as I did so. Great. Kick. Start, run for a second, die. Buggerynation. Carb? With no reliable source of float height info, I just made sure the float arms were straight. Was the starter circuit not dipping into the fuel? Just as I was contemplating pulling the carb, I spied a brand new plug, loosely screwed into the head of the 175 to keep moisture out until.I replace the piston. It can't be the plug because it is brand new. However, it is only a couple of seconds to try. Fitted the new plug loosely and off she popped on the second kick. Feck it, faulty plug. It is not the first of the batch I bought. I reckon three out of five used failed. That is in around 200 miles. I buy my plugs from reputable places like amazon, but there are a lot of chinese knockoffs out there. I am viewing this packet of plugs I have with considerable suspicion now. If they are knockoffs, could they have contributed to my 175 demise? I will refrain from commenting on what I would like to do to chinese knockoff artists with no regard to the end user. It would not be pleasant reading.

Not surprised. Local councilers are like lemmings. They seem hell bent on jumping off a cliff and taking everyone else with them. The world is currently full of examples of the Dunning, Kruger effect in action. Take heart, the emporers new clothes effect is coming to its conclusion.

At the motorcycle activity center I used to work at, it was company policy for a new employee who had to ride a company bike on a public road as part of his job to have an assessment ride and a weeks training under the Senior On Road Instructor who was a retired class one police motorcyclist. It was not a full blown ROSPA or IAM course, it was just training. All I can say is that I was known as a "handy" rider before. I found out that being handy relied far too much on pure luck. The training was a revelation. The road became an open book, situations developing ahead were noticed, assessed and being acted on far before they became a concern. Escape routes were planned and readied for execution. By the end of the training " near do's" were a thing if the past and brakes were only used for stopping, not adjusting speed. Questions were asked constantly over the radio. One I remember was a belter. We were barreling down an unlit country road at dusk. Radio came to life. " there is a lampost on the right hand side of the road up ahead, what are you expecting to see and be planning for"? I Did not know. It was a minor road coming in from the left and a car was waiting to pull out.... You think you are a good rider without needing training. Advanced training will disabuse you of that opinion. I guarantee it will be a revelation. It is not about boring saddoes in sam browne belts and dayglo helmets, it is about enjoying a fast ride in comparative safety.

Wiring routed and clipped. Airbox refitted, chainguard refitted, chain tensioned, gear lever fitted, generator and sprocket covers back on. Tank back on. Disappointngly, there is no room between fuel tap and carb to fit an inline filter. I ordered the smallest paper centered one I could find, but sadly no room even for that. Set carb airscrew to.2 turns out as per spec, but it would not run. It would fire and run for a second or so before cutting out. Turned it in by a half turn and it runs like a champ. Checked clutch action. Just fine and even neutral is easy to find once the engine warmed up. A bit recalcitrant until then. I suspect when the frictions bed in, it will be fine. Had it idling for around half an hour had did a few more tests. Horn does not work. Not looked into it yet. I have AC voltage up to the headlamp terminals and the instrument lights work. Thats about it for now. Another requires my attention. Need to fire up the VFR and get her thoroughly warmed up. They are famously warm blooded and hate cold weather. The need to keep fresh fuel in the carbs is critical. Once the fuel starts losing freshness, you are in a world of pain. The cold starting circuit is extremely lean and is barely adequate even if run daily in cold weather. She will fire on one, number two will chime in and allow it to run without starter assistance. It can be a couple of minutes until three and four decide to put in an appearance. Touch the throttle or choke at all until then at your peril. Instrument illumination lights up, we have main beam lit and the low oil light goes out when in gear as it should.

Stopped sulking and went to have another look at the spark. Kicked it over, nothing. Put a cloth over the plug to shade it and wiggled the plug to ensure a good ground against a head bolt. Kick. We have spark after all! Plug must have jiggled a bit and the ground was lost. It is very temperamental getting a good ground with all the fresh paint. Plug must be HARD up against a head bolt. I put a couple of drops of premix down the plug hole and screwed down the plug. Ignition on and kick. She popped off immediately for a half a second. Yippee. Encouraged I loosely plonked on the fuel tank, cut a fuel hose and put the tap on reserve, watching the float chamber overflow tube closely. No drips. Nah, never happens. I suspiciously pull off the fuel hose to see if it is getting fuel. It was. Well I never. I finally had a bit of luck. So, as a tribute to Derek from vice grip garage, a few drops of premix straight down the carb throat for good measure, waaaaay too much. Perfect. Choke on, ignition on and kick... Second kick and away she goes! Yippee. Making smoke and generator rotor doing rotary things. First check, set throttle stop screw to allow a fast tickover. Second. Does the clutch work and do we have five in the box? It does and we do. Third, pull off the oil line, pull back the pulley to get max pump stroke, get it bled, get the measuring cylinder under the end of the oil injection pipe and count 200 pump strokes. Do we have the required 5ml? We do have the 5ml. Pump is good. Still no sign of oil leaks or bad check valve. I can fill her up with normal fuel now.

I had a final check behind the stator to ensure that none of the wires would be rubbing against the rotor or trapped. Spent a very frustrating half hour on my knees timing the ignition and fighting with screwdriver against magnet. Got the points opening at 1.85mm btdc, close enough for me, and nipped the rotor nut up. Final check to make sure the points were opening and closing. Plugged the stator harness back in and final check for spark. Spark has vanished and I have no idea why. I wil look tomorrow, my knees hurt and I am out of patience. The other task I set for today was to fit the chain. Ordered the chain specifically for the DT100. 102 links. Idiot aftermarket supplier thought it was ok to send one with 110 links... says 110L right there on the box. Luckily I still have my professional Whale chain cutters sets from my motorcycle techie days, so it was a two minute job to cut it to size, took longer to dig them out of storage; but many customers will not have access to chaincutters. The aftermarket vendor has no excuse. Those Whales have seen a LOT of chain cutting and rivetting action. And chain fitted. It says 110 links right there on the box....

Thread is about a week behind so I will attempt to bring it up to date. Soldered the condenser leads to the stator wire and to the flag terminal that goes to the points. Refitted the stator and put on the rotor finger tight. Set the points gap by mk1 mod 1 eyeball and checked they were opening and fully closing. Kicked the motor over.... Nothing. Had a quick look around. Put the killswitch to run ( it is a rotary with two outer stop positions and run in the middle) Slapped myself around the head a little for being a dick and kicked it over. Beautiful big fat blue white spark. Yey! Because the conservatory is cold, cramped and with very little room to work in, that was enough of a result to call it a day. I can only stand it an hour at a time in there, kneeling on cold floor tiles with typical heavy equipment engineer issued knees. They need a good greasing, but unfortunately did not come equipped with grease fittings. Sealed units and the grease within old, dry and contaminated with debris. No choice but to creakily stand up, slowly get them moving again and get the hell out of there. I will set the timing and button everything back up tomorrow.

Had the VFR running. She was a bit recalcitrant as all carbed VFRs that have been parked up in cold weather for a good while are. The cold start circuit is very lean and barely adequate in very cold weather. Add slightly stale fuel in the float bowls into the equation... Once left it for 4 months between starts. Never again. Ended up having to take the carbs off and remove every last drop of stale fuel from the fuel system. Maybe if I had left it till the weather got warmer, it might have started. Who knows. I find 4 weeks to be the sweetspot. Longer than that is pushing it. Typical VFR cold start during layup. Ignition on, choke on press starter button. Starters whirrs for a few seconds while fuel pressure builds. One cylinder fires. Take thumb off starter button and engine dies. Try again. Cylinder fires with a bit more gusto. Take thumb off starter button. Engine dies. Try again. Cylinder fires and a second cylinder starts to show a little interest. Take thumb off starter and engine dies. Try again. Two cylinders firing and you can finish with the starter. It will continue to idle on two. Touch the throttle or choke at this point at your peril. You just have to leave it to sort itself out. Twenty seconds later number three will start popping and banging and the revs will rise a little. A few seconds later, but can be up to a minute, number four will start popping and banging. That is when I up the idle to 2000 rpm and get it hot. By hot, fan kicking in and out for 30 mins and even the subframe under the seat feels very warm. Had a brand new VFR gen 4 back in 97 and that did exactly the same thing. Leaving them tucked under a blanket all winter is not an option if you want her to start in springtime. I can go out to her next weekend and she will fire and run on four almost straight away because the fuel sat in the carbs is still fresh. Note that all this is with fuel pre dosed with stabiliser.

You do not state what bike you have which has a distinct bearing on the matter. If you have a two stroke, you can spray liberally with something like silicone spray, put it under an old bed sheet and ( essential) start it every couple of months to keep the cylinder and rings from starting to rust. Two strokes have very little oil on the bores and if the piston stopped on a open exhaust port... Alternatively you can spray fogging oil down the plug hole, or up the intake, drain the carb, remove the battery and leave it. Fogging oil is designed for laying engines up long term. It is called inhibiting oil. You will need to top up the tank to the brim to prevent condensation and rust inside the tank. If you have a watercoolled four stroke on carbs. Ditto with the sheet and spray. Start it up once a month and get it good and hot. The carbs can get full of water from the phase separation of the fuel in the carbs. It pulls it in through the float chamber vents and through the intake. Most important bit is HOT. The poor headers glow a dull red in the dark sometimes. I adjust my idle to 2000 rpm and leave it running for about half an hour. 2000 rpm will ensure the generator is charging and the engine gets hot enough to warm the crankcases thoroughly. You do not want a high moisture content in the oil. Hot oil evaporates out the moisture. Also with 2000 rpm, the cooling fan keeps kicking in and out, exercising the fan motor bearings and the hot air from the rad drying out any moisture laying under the bodywork. The exhaust also gets good and hot throughout. You do not want to promote rot by leaving condensation in the exhaust. Modern bike on fuel injection? Closed fuel system. No fuel worries, the fuel will not go bad in the system. Just fill the tank to the brim to prevent condensation forming in the airspace and add a bit of Stabil. Remove the battery and check its charge level once a month. As with the rest, spray and cover if you want a showroom fresh bike.

Did a bit to the DT100 today. Thread is about a week out of date. Spoiler alert. It lives! Tomorrow I will crank up the VFR and get it good and hot. Nothing like a cooling fan going like the clappers to dry all the moisture collecting under the tank area. I think it clocks up more miles on the stand, running in gear for the transmission to evenly distribute the hot oil into every crankcase recess than it does on the road.

Rattling around the house with three dogs. It is home alone weekend. The missus has gone to London for the weekend with her coven of witches to see Mama Mia in the west end. I pity London... A full coach of cackling women descending on it. Anyhows, I digress. It seems like a two step forward and two step back kind of day. A new Daiichi cap has been ordered and the ignition is on hold. Meanwhile, the genuine Yam RT100 clutch cable has arrived. It fitted like a glove, unlike the chinese garbage the aftermarket boys tried to sell me. Confirmed. RT100 clutch cable. Part Number 3M1-26335-10 is a direct replacement for the marked as no longer available DT100D, 1T9 cable that fits DT100 1977 - 1983.

Doubt it. Very different bikes, different frames, different locations and distances from part to part needing different length wiring.

And the useless bunch of aftermarket "Richards" have struck again. Ordered a chain to specifically fit my DT100. 102 links. I came to fit it and of course it was too long. They had sent 110 link. Said 110 link right there on the box. No excuse. No problem for me, I still have both my sets of professional whale chain cutters from back in the days when I was a motorcycle techie. Literally a two minute job. But 90% of their customers will not have access to chain cutters... The aftermarket boys should be ashamed of themselves. Customer disservice is the name of their game. Out of maybe 10 aftermarket parts ordered, I can only think of the ignition switch that actually fitted as it should. Luckily I come equipped for any chain cutting / rivetting requirement. Most others do not.

New points checked against old. A bit of research gleaned a bit of info that despite having different part numbers, the points were interchangeable between the DT100 and the FS1. A bit more gleaned the info that the FS1 part number fitted everything from the TY80 to the TY175. We have the same points between many models, often with different part numbers. Armed with a few part numbers, I went ferreting about on ebay. I had a hit on a set of Daiichi points listed for a Honda C70 step through but with a Yam part number on the box. Likely because a step thru is far less "sexy" than a two stroke enduro, and not being a likely candidate for a restoration, they had not had the NOS " premium " added on to the price. So there you have it, more leads to go on. £5.39 delivered to my door vs £12 for a set of unspecified make from aftermarket. Just because the pic showed points with a Daiichi trademark, the description did not specify the make they would send. Probably chinese tat like the ones I removed. Honda C70 and DT100 points are the same. It pays to do ones homework. I love ferreting around. It is part of the fun. cheap on top, Daiichi on bottom. I appear to have clipped the bottom of the pic. The heel was identical in size and angle. Cleaned the preservative off the point faces, tested them for good contact, fitted them and did my due diligence testing before setting everything up. Hmm. Black wire was grounded whether points were open or closed. Disconnect condenser wire and put probe in its place. Points breaking contact. The condenser has an internal short. I snipped the wires to test. It does not hold a charge. So there we have it. Bad cap. It explains the odd readings I was getting.

Fitted the 175 coil to the bike and flicked it with current from battery positive. We have spark and a nice tick noise when the plug fires. Happy with that. Reordered the exact same coil again for the 175. Happy with its performance on the 175. Plugged in the black and white to the coil, ignition on and kicked it over. No spark. Unplugged main multiplug and ran a wire directly from the black stator wire to the coil. Kicked it over. Nothing. Almost certainly the problem is down in the stator. Double checked the ignition and kill switches by checking connectivity across the black and white wire and ground. Engine multiplug disconnected, ignition on, killswitch to run. No connectivity between black/ white and ground. Ignition off or ignition on and killswitch to stop and we have connectivity. It is not the switches. Ignition on, killswitch to run, multiplug reconnected. Connectivity to ground. I think the cheapo points are shorting to ground. I guess they did not enjoy their little bath in the sink. Before I start to fit the new Daiichi points and time the spark, I need a good tidy up. It is like a hoarders junk pile in there. I hate it when you have to concentrate more on stuff going on around you than the job you are trying to do.

Crack duly filled with several coats of superglue till it stopped wicking in to the crack, excess wire brushed off outside of pump and about a 2mm layer of 2 part epoxy resin applied over crack to stabilise it and protect the cyo from moisture. Pump refitted and bled. 48 hours later and we have no sign of leaks. I will not be comfortable with it though until it has survived several hours of running. Next is replacing the cheap points with the Daiichi set and trying the 175 coil to see if we get a spark. Then I will fit the tank and open the fuel tap waiting for the gusher out of the carb overflow. The most distressing part at the moment is the fact that the blob of body snot on the rear fender keeps waving and shouting"Yoohoo, I am still here, I am still waiting to be sanded down and reshaped. I am not going anywhere. You cannot ignore me forever".