gremlins

filestyle1 · #1 (**permalink**) 10-10-2008, 11:12 PM

does anyone here besides me have any gremlins floating around their garage or hanging out at your work just waiting for the chance to get a hold of your bike. last weekend I went on my 160 mile round trip , no problems or troubles. I parked the bike after returning on sunday. I didnt ride until the following thurs. I rode to work in the morning and after work it just wasnt running right. " the GREMLINS" I thought to myself. so I checked out my plug and it is a nice tan/white color not ash color or too oily but looked nice. replaced wire, and took carb off for good cleaning. the problem I have is after warm-up the motor is having a hard time on the bottom end , so if I nurse it a little and start picking up speed it eventually catches up with itself and then I can hold it wide open and it runs good on the top end. but when I slow down to make a turn I have to nurse it again to get my speed back. now since I had this motor, one other time it acted like this and all i did was replace the plug wire and it was fine. would anyone have a suggestion for me on this one? also while cleaning up the carb I noticed a small hairline crack in the intake manifold! How much in your opinion does the crack have to be before it starts affecting the motor? Damn Those Gremlins , any thoughts would be appreciated.

FileStyleCustoms

Saddletramp1200 · #2 (**permalink**) 10-10-2008, 11:57 PM

Metal expands as it gets hot. Next question.

hill climber · #3 (**permalink**) 10-11-2008, 12:44 AM

replace the intake manifold if it is cracked. if your plug is whitish at all your probably lean. could be caused by the cracked manifold. HEY!! DO A WHEELIE! hill climber

2door · #4 (**permalink**) 10-11-2008, 12:59 AM

File,
The cracked manifold certainly sounds suspicious. Is yours cast aluminum or welded steel? Whichever, try smearing some type of goo over the crack, thick grease will do, run the engine slow and see if your problem changes. Then check to see if any the goo got sucked in. If yes, and you have a steel manifold then the crack can be welded or brazed or soldered closed. If it's cast aluminum you can try Devcon liquid aluminum or steel. They have liquid titanium but I don't think you'll need it on the intake side; not enough heat.
My theory is at low engine speed you're sucking excess air into the intake making your mixture lean but at higher speed the crack isn't big enough to allow enough air to cause the same condition. Maybe I'm full of it too but cracks in intake manifolds will cause problems with any engine, Chinese or small block Chevys. Good luck and let us know what you find. Oh, yeah, about grimlins. I have one that lives in my garage. I call him "Stupid S.O.B" Everytime he steals one of my tools or moves something so I can't find it, I say, "Now what did you do with that you stupid S.O.B"
Tom
Easy Ridin'

VENICE BOY · #5 (**permalink**) 10-11-2008, 01:45 AM

There is a old biker superstition, that you should hang a tiny brass bell on your bike as low to the ground as possible to keep the gremlins off of your bike!
If you look around at a lot of old Harley Davidsons, you'll notice bells hanging from them. (that's what they're for!)

If you look close at the pics of my "Bomber Bike" & my 1959 Schwinn "Rat Rod", they both have brass bells hanging from the kickstand mounts!

Thats that "old skool biker s*** baby!

Here's a pic of the Rat Rod bell...