How original, a Cranbrook build!

diesel278 said:

the only thing i can say is check those stock petcocks. with mine in the "off" position, it still leaks fuel and at a pretty good rate as well. problably at least 2oz. in 30 seconds.

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Yup, I read that a lot, so I never even hooked my stock petcock up. I went straight for the SBP unit, while I have not seen leak yet

Speaking of petcocks, I am thinking of trying my hand at building a pork-and-beans style canister tank to mount on a rack behind my seat, along with a slightly smaller, but matching tool canister. I think it will look pretty good and I plan on covering both with either leather or leatherette and leather straps, but my wife actually likes the look of the stock peanut tank, lol.

Does anyone know offhand if the SBP petcock uses 1/8" npt threads, or 10x1mm ?

I used the site's search, but the findings were inconclusive. I have an email out to SBP as well...

Heard back from SBP, their petcock has 1/8" npt threads. So I guess it is time to go drink 46 oz of V8 juice...

I noticed yesterday when I was using the pedals to kickstart the Cranny in the garage that my clutch was slipping, so today I opened up the clutch to make sure there was no grease on the pads (they were clean) and adjusted the flower nut. Previously with the clutch in the "locked" position using the button on the lever the clutch would still be partially engaged. Now the locked position works.

I also went from the stock 70-ish jet to a 69. I ordered a 68 too, but figured I would take it one step at a time. The bike runs about the same (was running good before the swap, but suspected I was a tad rich) but started up a lot easier...

I also slightly adjusted the chain run. So tomorrow, going for a lengthy morning ride, woohoo!

Thanks Greg, looks like the 69 was pretty lean. I put in a new spark plug before running around on the 69, and pulled the plug after the motor cooled. The plug was a veeeeery light tan, a color I would consider lean for a 4 stroke, much less a 2 stroke! I know the stock jet is supposed to be 70-ish but can vary. Judging from the difference from the 69 jet that I got from SBP and my stock get, it is on the bigger side of 70.

But, since the bike seems to be running well on the stock jet with the needle in the leanest position, I will stay right there until my plug or power tells me otherwise, lol. I leaned up my mix a little from 24:1 to closer to 30:1 and she started MUCH easier, pretty much right as soon as I dumped the clutch.

I also installed a basic Schwinn bike computer from Walmart. I needed to make a custom bracket since I could not find a good way to make the sensor and magnet work on the springer fork tubes. Right now the bracket is far too rough for public viewing, but once I make a better version I will post up some pics. I really like having speed, clock, and odometer readily available.

I measured the front wheel by putting a piece of duct tape on the wheel and one on the ground and matching them up, then with me on the bike, rolling the bike until the tape on the wheel made a full revolution, then place another piece of tape on the ground to match my tire tape. Measured the distance between the leading edges of the two pieces of tape on the ground, came out to 2073mm. I looked at the chart in my bike computer instructions and the same for a 26" tire was... 2073mm! woohoo! lol

When I did the same process for my motorcycle years ago, I used a dab of nail polish on the tire. Using duct tape this time around was much easier.

Took the bike out today for the first time to run errands, as opposed to just putting around for fun. The plan was to hit the pharmacy 5 miles away to drop off a prescription for my son, ride over to his doctor about 3 miles from there and get him a note (he is sick today, staying home from school), then back to the pharmacy to pick up his meds.

On the way to the pharmacy, the bike ran GREAT! Felt awesome, no four stroking, I was pulling mid 35 up a slight grade, and when I hit a long section of flat road, I tucked down and hit 37 MPH!



Leaving the pharmacy, bike was still running great. But after parking it at the Dr's office for about 20 minutes, she would not start. The clutch was slipping!!! Ugh... Fortunately I had my tools on me and was able to adjust the flower nut tight enough there to get the clutch to catch and turn the motor over, so off I went.

But now, I noticed that I was way down on power and had a high idle. I was topping out around 32, but it was a struggle to get there. Up slight hills, 30 was the max. I was thinking the clutch was slipping under power? But that would not explain the sudden high idle. I wonder if my carb backed off the intake just enough to create a small air leak? I will have to do some more investigation tonight after work, as well as take the clutch apart again and see if maybe there is some grease on the clutch pads.

Hopefully I did not hurt something by running the motor so hard too early, lol. We shall see.

Quite an experience, but I loved it. It reminded me of the time that the exhaust hanger on my old motorcycle broke and I had to fashion one out of a piece of wire by the side of the road, or when I had to pull apart the carb on my old Sunbeam Minx since one of the jets got clogged with a piece of cork gasket material... lol.


*** EDIT ****
After doing some more searching on the site, looks like RoverGT had the same symptoms I am having with the clutch: Inconsistent clutch performance on HT kit So looks like a good cleaning may be in order. Tom (2door) also mentioned a possible bad crank seal as a culprit of excess lube and high idle. I noticed a black/gray oily substance that was NOT the red lube I used on the gears. I was hoping it was just a mix of heated gear lube and clutch particles, but have a sneaking suspicion is was oil from the seal behind the small gear. Ugh... I will see what I can see when I pull it tonight.

flmotorbikes said:

I don't know about you but I always had problems with the digital speddo sensor. Any solutions ? The device just won't recognize the tire spinning

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So far I only have about 50 miles with the new speedo, and no problems yet. You have to have the magnet REAL close to the sensor, they say a max gap of 2MM, and the magnet should pass right in front of the arrow on the sensor. At least, this model had an arrow on the sensor...

Began working on my Pork-n-beans style tank. I actually used a 46 oz V8 juice can since 1) it was cheaper than the beans and 2) I can say that I installed a V8... lol

It will mount on a rear bike rack, I ordered the cheapo Wald 215 chrome rack from my LBS, should be here shortly. They are about $15 on Amazon, so we will see what my LBS charges.

I was going to follow in CCC's footsteps and solder everything together, but figured since I already had JB Weld and do not have a torch yet, to try using the JB Weld instead. I hate the way it runs, but it seemed to seal ok. We shall see.

I am using garden hose adapters for the gas cap, I got the one with the 1/4" nipple. I picked up a couple feet of 1/4" copper tube from an ice maker kit (I think) for $10, so am going to use that as my vent hose, as well as coil it around the can for decoration.

So far I have it painted, rattle-canned Rustoleum gloss black. I suck at painting, so if I end up liking this tank, I will either strip it and have someone paint it nicely, or cover it with leather.

I am also using a sight fuel gauge. Thanks to CCC and the others who have made these tanks previously!

Here are some prep pictures, more to come when I get the rack in and put it all together.

BTW, I am going to put some small coils in the gas cap vent line and have it exit under the tank, so it looks like it ties in to the decorative coils. I am not crazy about the look yet, but hopefully it will look better on the bike.

Otherwise, they get scrapped and it just gets covered in leather or leatherette.

Done except for the vent line, which should be pretty quick. Time to put some fuel in it and let it sit for a while. It seems to hold air pressure just fine, so not worried.

The local law enforcement might pull me over for having a still on my bike, though... lol. Too bad the bike does not run on ethanol, that would be hilarious!



I installed the Wald 215 bike rack last night. I had to cut off the piece of the rack on the seat side that bends upwards for clearance with my layback seat post, but the install went fine and feels nice and solid. I went with the chrome rack, but thinking that maybe the black would have been a better fit with the bike, wheels, and tank being black. Easy enough to change later. My LBS charged $18 for the bike rack, which was fine with me.

I should have everything mounted up tonight, so pics to come tomorrow...

Mounted the tank, and for a V8 juice can I am definitely pleased. Having a sight fuel gauge is awesome. Word on the street has it that the ethanol in our gas can soften JB Weld, so I will keep an eye on it...

Originally I had the vent line exiting between the seat and tank, but my butt hit it, so I had to turn it to exit to the rear of the tank. Other than that, no extra adjustments were needed, woohoo.

BTW, I used 3/16" thinner fuel hose that I got from my motorcycle shop. Wow, it is TIGHT. I had to use heat to soften it enough to slip onto the petcock and fuel filter and could just barely fit it past the barbs on the fuel filter, but it is NOT coming off. 1/4" would have been easier, but then I would have probably used hose clamps too. I even tried to get the fuel line off the filter to make some adjustments and it would not budge, lol.









I also went from the stock jet to a 0.72mm jet. She runs about the same, but was a tad lean, so figured it would be a good move. Feels like a little less giddyup on top, but figure that beats not getting enough oil. Also hoping the new pipe coming next week will need it.

This weekend, looking to do something with the frame where the stock gas tank was mounted. Thinking about covering the "hole" there with black leather-looking vinyl. Poor man's faux tank? We shall see.

Covered the "hole" in the frame last night, it was a lot easier than I anticipated. I used some black vinyl I picked up from Hobby Lobby, $4.50 for 24"x55", which was way more than I needed.

It is way too thin, though. I like the faux tank look, but the fabric does not lay right. Since I have a template now, I will probably just take it to an upholstery shop and have them cut some real leather.

I attached it with zipties since I knew I was going to want to replace it with leather. On the final one, I will probably use something like leather cord to tie it together. I figure I should be able to hide a small 12V battery or two 6Vs in there for LED headlight and taillight.

Meh, the more I look at the vinyl, the less I like it. I have a sheet of acrylic in the rafters that I was going to use a loooooooong time ago on a project and never did, so I am going to attack that with a heat gun and see if I can make a reasonable faux gas tank.

Yeah, I know, why not go ahead and bite the bullet and make a real in-frame tank? Eventually, just playing around and having fun with different stuff right now

Update time for the Cranny, picked up some new goodies for my birthday. Installed a Jaguar CDI, Puch 70cc hi hi head, made a plexiglass cover for the CDI, Skipu spring loaded chain tensioner, and have a Sturmey-Archer 90mm XL-FD front drum brake on the way.

Here is a pic of the Jaguar CDI installed:



Definitely need to cover that up... lol. I used some plexiglass sheet and a heat gun to make a cover. I am not completely happy with the way the cover turned out, but good enough for now





Unfortunately I need a half link to take up the extra slack to use the spring chain tensioner, so for now still running the old one too, lol.

Looking at the pictures, I REALLY need to shorten that throttle cable!

I went with the 70cc Puch head and two head gaskets instead of the 50 since I wanted a little more power and cooling, but did not want to make the bike too difficult to start. It feels like the 70cc head does just that. Starting feels about the same as stock and the clutch does not slip, and the increase in torque is very noticeable.

The Jaguar CDI added some more grunt, so the bike gets up to 30 MUCH quicker than before. I still need to play with the timing jumpers, but so far I am really enjoying the head/CDI combo. The little China Girl does not feel nearly as anemic as she did stock.

Now the bad news, the pinging noise that I was hoping was related to heat or the stock CDI looks like it might actually be my wrist pin bearing. I hit 38 MPH today, but there was a LOT more of the spoon-in-a-garbage-disposal sound. What I am hearing sounds exactly like the sound from post #1 in this thread: Weird clanking noise during rides From the feel of the motor, I think she could hit 40+ if I can fix the issue causing the noise, since it is accompanied by a loss of power.

So, looks like I will have to finally pull the cylinder off and replace the needle bearing. Hopefully I will not need to replace the piston too, but the guy who made that post cured the problem by replacing both since it seemed like it was piston slap in his case. I will also trim the piston skirt while I have the jug off too, so it opens up the intake port. Wheeee!

Success! While trying to dial in the timing on the Jaguar CDI, I go to thinking that maybe what I was hearing was really just four stroking at high RPM. Previously I watched that "this is what 4 stroking is" video on Youtube, and I knew what it sounded like at lower RPM when I set my needle clip too rich, so just assumed that the spoon-in-the-garbage-disposal sound was NOT 4 stroking.

BUT... going from the 72 jet that I was running, down to stock (supposedly 70-ish), then down to a 68, I was able to get the pinging sound at RPM to go away by using no "A" jumper and the "B2" setting on the CDI.

With those settings I was able to hit 38 on my usual speed test run stretch of road, woohoo! My goal is to be able to cruise at 35 to keep up with local traffic (speed limit is 30, so everyone aims for 35-40, lol). So once I drop my winter weight, I think I will have the bike right where I want to be! And the extra torque now makes for much less pedaling and better take off speeds.

Of course, on the way back home I noticed my clutch lever gradually taking on more slack... more slack... more slack until it got to the point where while I was in my driveway idling, the clutch lever pulled all the way in was not enough engagement to not have the engine stall. So.... yeah. I wonder if the clutch is unhappy with the new torque? We shall see.