Need help getting it started

remove the air cleaner, the nut is under the filter.

Greg58 said:

remove the air cleaner, the nut is under the filter.

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I suggested that yesterday.... Since the lever is on the air cleaner cover the nut must be there... I think maybe his is riveted in place instead of having a nut. (just a guess) In that case he should follow the suggestion to tap it a little bit to tighten up the fit.... or just use the rubber band....

ex42k9j said:

Well bad news guys, she no longer works.

it was riding perfectly. in fact i did a 10 mile trip down to the store on it with no problems at all. then i let my brother in law ride it and it rode good for him. he didn't turn the fuel on and ran it all the way through out of gas. i turned the gas on for him and off he went again.

i try to start it today and it ran funny. i tried to idle and it immediately died on me. i figure ok maybe i should tighten the clutch a little more. i ride it down like normal and nothing.

it doesnt "put put put" like it does after you pop the handle bar clutch lever in.

compression issue or my clutch is slipping right?

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put put put sounds like it is turning over, so it should start, so it's probably not a clutch issue....
I would make sure everything is still tight, head bolts, intake/exhaust manifold, carb mounting etc. The motor vibrates a lot and stuff comes loose, specially in the first couple hundred miles you want to keep an eye for stuff coming loose. Check the spark plug cap (if it is the stock one they can fail easily).
Also, you want to make sure you are getting fuel delivery. Tanks are usually pretty dirty inside, hard to clean completely even when you try, so that filter in the top of the fuel petcock might have clogged up on you. Or a particle might have lodged in your jet...
I wouldnt suspect a compression or motor problem unless you heard strange sounds or see something to indicate a problem somewhere.....

If I understand what you are saying, doesn't go put put put. Does that mean the engine does not turn over with the clutch out or does it mean with the lever pulled in after trying to start it it dies?

Greg58 said:

If I understand what you are saying, doesn't go put put put. Does that mean the engine does not turn over with the clutch out or does it mean with the lever pulled in after trying to start it it dies?

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damn, one word "doesn't" makes a lot of difference, sorry, I missed that. Was on the phone and trying to answer you quickly after your bump....
Probably clutch issue if its not turning over....

Greg58 said:

If I understand what you are saying, doesn't go put put put. Does that mean the engine does not turn over with the clutch out or does it mean with the lever pulled in after trying to start it it dies?

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It's a funny thing I seem to run up against in the forum a lot, people not sure if their motor is turning over or not. I'm not sure if this is the case here, or if it's just dying when he pulls the clutch in as you asked??????
Reading "Doesn't put put put" make me think its not turning over, so look at clutch. Then again, if it IS turning over and just not firing, and that's what he means by "Doesnt put put put" then we should move past the clutch... So hard to help through the internet sometimes.....
Please post back again and let us know better what is happening and we'll try to help you out. Which scenario do you have:
1) motor doesnt turn over when you release the clutch (clutch issue)
or
2) motor wont idle when you pull in the clutch (probably carb or ignition issue)

ex42k9j said:

motor does not turn over when i release the clutch. it pedals like normal for a little bit then the rear wheel locks up and right before it locks it sounds like its trying to turn over.

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Ok, there's some concrete info!
just to be clear, how fast are you going when you release the clutch and the wheel locks up?

You may be able to adjust the clutch enough at the handle end. Be warned if you keep having to adjust or tighten the clutch your cable may be fraying. Mine did, then it broke. I bought a brake cable kit from w/mart and used just the cable, I covered it with grease and slid it in the factory cable housing. I have a spare I carry with me in my tool kit in case I or one of my friends need it.
I would wait to do anything else until the clutch is right, too many changes at one time can be confusing.

ex42k9j said:

a normal speed i guess about 2-5mph. i ride my bike down my drive way and pop the clutch once i get down and face the direction i want to go.

its always worked before but now nothing. right when the wheel locks up i can hear the put put put sound. i don't go another 2 feet after a pop the clutch unless i want to burn some rubber

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A new never run motor generally has less compression, so it will turn over more easily, at slower speeds. As the rings set the compression goes up and it gets harder to turn over, so you will probably need more speed to get her started.... That's kinda what I thought was going on...

ex42k9j said:

Well i managed to get her running again but my clutch clicks when i pull it in and it doesnt idle unless i hold the handlebar clutch in all the way (when i pull it and and push the pin down to keep it locked it has enough power to disengage the rear wheel but the bike won't idle unless i completely hold it in).

maybe i need to tighten the clutch cable to a sweet spot or play with the idle screw? maybe i should move the e-clip down a notch (i did put it on the very top)

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Definitely need to adjust your clutch cable...
There are a couple things you can do.
1) Turn out the adjustment screw on the clutch handlebar lever
2) Turn out the screw where the clutch cable housing terminates at the motor
3) relocate the stopper on the end of the clutch cable

Any combination of these that get the job done will work fine.

Not sure if you noticed, but the clutch arm on the motor has a slot in it, you can pull the cable and slide it right out. Then it is easy to move the end down the cable a bit, now press in the clutch lever and slide the cable back through the slot into the lever. I generally start out with all of the cable adjustments set all the way in, then I have room to roll them out and take some slack out of the cable. You want to put a bunch of light weight oil down your cable to help make it easier to pull as well.

As for idle, if your clutch is gripping a bit it will drag the motor down and kill out your idle. Once you get your clutch set properly so it is full disengaged when it is locked in you should have an easier time getting idle....

Couple more things....
Greg mentioned if you have to keep adjusting your clutch cable it may be fraying and so you might want to be ready to replace the cable. I would also like to add that if you have to keep adjusting your clutch cable you should also check the nut that holds the drive sprocket on the motor. If that nut works loose the whole clutch assembly will move inward a bit and thus require more movement of the bucking bar to release the clutch (more cable pull). You definitely don't want to ride with this nut loose, not even limp home.
I think you probably have yet to get it adjusted properly, rather than having to keep adjusting it, so the above may or may not apply, just things to keep in mind and check.
In general the factory routing of the clutch cable is horrible. The angle at which the cable leaves the mount on the motor heading toward the clutch arm is too sharp and causes LOTS of drag. That long spring on the cable isn't really there to return the lever to home position, the internal spring on the clutch will do that fine on its own, the only function I can see of this spring on the cable is that it kinda rounds out the cable route as it is compressed. I could feel the cable rubbing over the spring when I pulled the clutch, drove me nuts. I, like many others, have added a small pulley wheel on my clutch cable to make the route to the clutch arm smoother. I built mine myself, it sits under the carb in the same area of the factory cable routing, the wheel replaces the spring to give me perfect cable angle with no friction anywhere. Most others have routed the cable more outside away from the standard cable routing by screwing a plate with a roller in with one of the gear cover screws. Either way is fine, took me a while to get mine perfect, the other kind can be purchased as a kit I think....
Just wanted to pass that on, so you know the clutch cable setup is horse-shiest from the factory, and its not you. If you use the factory setup you need to lube the **** out of the cable and make the smoothest possible route for the cable, otherwise you will end up with a bigger left arm than right! LOL

Al.Fisherman said:

First thing I noticed is the junk spark plug and wire...change them.
Looks like the white wire is connected to something. Black mag to black CDI, blue mag to blue CDI. Disconnect the kill switch wires and give it a try. What did you do with the white mag wire (cut it off)? When peddling it is the piston cycling?

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Engine is tilted, carb bowl isnt level
Is the floar bowl not being level have a fuel feed consequence?

The carb does not have to be level, if you look around on the forum most arn't. As long as the float is adjusted correctly it will run o/k. If fuel is not running into the intake the needle is sealing in the seat, when the engine is at a lot of angle you will have to lower the float or raise the tang to make the needle seal off.