Lack of power and speed can anyone help?

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KoolBreeze420

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Jan 2, 2014
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Update: I sanded the head a little and made the spark plug hole a tad larger I loosened the clutch a little and I replaced the head gasket. It was faster then yesterday but it takes more time to get to speed. How can I get it to speed a little faster?
 

Greg58

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May 1, 2011
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This is a tuff one, 20 mph is very slow. Let's back up to the very basics, with the air filter removed look at the barrel of the carburetor while turning the throttle wide open. Does the carb barrel open fully? I'm not trying to insult your intelligence or anything but sometimes I overlook the easy things thinking a problem is more than it really is.
 

crassius

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Sep 30, 2012
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float level is controlled by two very thin pieces of brass at the top of the bowl

when you worked on the tickler, you may have bent these a bit

with bowl off, turn carb upside down and check that the main jet just peeks a bit above the float - that's about where it needs to be
 

KoolBreeze420

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Jan 2, 2014
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This is a tuff one, 20 mph is very slow. Let's back up to the very basics, with the air filter removed look at the barrel of the carburetor while turning the throttle wide open. Does the carb barrel open fully? I'm not trying to insult your intelligence or anything but sometimes I overlook the easy things thinking a problem is more than it really is.
I did check that the barrel was going up and down becasue I had that problem once before. The only issue right now is that it seems slow to get up to speed other then that we fixed the top speed issue and I was able to pull my trailer but was unable to hill climb I had to help it up the hill, maybe it just needs to break in a bit?
 
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Greg58

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It sounds like the head surface was not true, you will find that sometimes on these engines. I have learned to simply disassemble a new engine and check everything and do a few mods before ever installing it. I like most was worried about warranty issues at first, but after building a few and hearing of all the bad thing that happen to some of the engines it give me piece of mind. If you are OK with pedaling a little more I would ride it a while and seat the rings again, I know they came with the cylinder you are now using but since you ran them in the new cylinder the wear in to the original cylinder has been lost.
 

KoolBreeze420

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"and made the spark plug hole a tad larger".

This has me concerned. What exactly did you do here?

Tom
The other head had more space at the end of the plug and the new one was much smaller so all I did was lightly sand it taking off some of the flaky edge so it made the hole a tad larger and I do mean tad it wouldn't register on a regular measurement.When looking at the old head compared to the new head that was one of the things that stood out the spark plug hole was wider on the old I mentioned this before and since the spark plug threads don't reach that far I knew it was original it's still much smaller then the old one.
 

KoolBreeze420

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Jan 2, 2014
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Update #2 I contacted the company I bought the head from and they said they only have one type of head so it wasn't a low compression head.
I have asked this before but never really got an answer, If I had overtightened the clutch would it have produced the issue I was having?
I just went for a ride to get some groceries and at full throttle she runs ok at low speed there is a bit of jerking and she wants to stall and hill climbing just plain sucks.
Should the top of the piston have carbon buildup on it?
 
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crassius

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after all this, I'm beginning to think that putting a helicoil into the old head & taking everything back to where it was is the only way to find if the new stuff is the problem or if something else happened unrelated to the new stuff
 

Greg58

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If the clutch was too tight it would slip under load causing the engine to rev without acceleration. If it doesn't have that symptom the clutch was not the problem. I have a hunch that the head gasket or the head surface was the problem. Sanding or lapping the head helped, also the new gasket helped it seal. I would ride it as much as I could the next week or so and see if after the rings reseat the power and low speed torque returns.
 

KoolBreeze420

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after all this, I'm beginning to think that putting a helicoil into the old head & taking everything back to where it was is the only way to find if the new stuff is the problem or if something else happened unrelated to the new stuff
I am pretty sure it's unrelated I think something else happened the day the head popped the spark plug unless the spark plug hole needs to be more open that is the biggest difference between the two heads the old head has a much wider more open hole where it reaches the divot at the top inside of the head. I rode it again last night and it's starting to feel like it's correcting it self it's still jerking at low speed but It got to 40 km and held it and I could feel more throttle left which was gone after all this.
If I could get answers to some of the questions then I could figure out what's going on but I just don't know enough about the internal workings and how they effect each other.
Like could the clutch have been a problem, could the head gasket have been the issue, could over torquing the head bolts
cause the issues or could the spark plug hole be to narrow???
I need answers to these questions so I Can determine what area to tweak and therefore help determine the cause I don't want to start tinkering in these areas unless I know what effect they could cause if the clutch couldn't cause the issue then I can cross it off the list etc.
I have heard of this heliocoil but haven't a clue what it is I will try googling it and see if I Can do it or not.
I'm also considering just changing the piston and the body with the new ones to see what happens but I Am afraid of changing the piston, I haven't been able to find any decent videos or guides showing how to change out the piston.
 
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KoolBreeze420

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"Greg58;565180]If you read the post above I tried.
Below is a helicoil that is not that expensive. But you have to buy the tap, it was way cheaper to replace it."


Ok so the clutch couldn't have been the issue that's one down head gasket could attribute to the issue as well two down, What about over torquing the head bolts or the spark plug hole being to narrow?

Something changed the day the spark plug blew out. I believe that torquing the head to it's proper torque caused that, or I just had a weak or bad head.
Also when I took the old head off I noticed the head gasket had a piece of metal that had been cut and was sticking up, this may have caused a leak or an opening and in relation lower compression and I think that caused to much compression, or I just got a bad head but the plug popped off the very day I bought my torque wrench and I had a mechanic show me how to use it and he helped me torque it on then it happened on the way home from Canadian Tire.
Maybe you can answer a couple more questions, It seems that if you take the muffler cap off the bike it's obviously louder but it also seems to have more power and speed is this normal?
I have also wondered why I have never been able to get the speed that some report they get on their bikes with the same setup one guy wrote " a finely tuned, bone stock kit and sprocket will easily do 35 mph" that's 56 kmh and that is 10 kmh faster then I have ever gotten, does this help point to any previous issue or is it just due to break-in?
I think I got unlucky and got a bit of a lemon, I have had issues from day 1 but my uncles kit had no issues. I think I am close to getting the problems ironed out. My biggest problem is as I have said, I don't quite understand how each part relates to one another like what can cause what. In a computer I know what each chip and part do and what will happen if you change any one of those parts with the motor I didn't know what the clutch would cause if it was to tight etc.
I believe once I understand what each part does in relation to the overall performance and running, then I can figure out what happened or what is happening. If that makes any sense.
 

Greg58

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May 1, 2011
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Some stock mufflers are very restrictive, a lot of performance can be gained with a better exhaust system. I have modified some that run a lot better than stock, like removing some or all the baffles then putting the end cap back on. On another I add a second stinger or tail pipe to help it flow freer. If your bike runs better without the end cap it is too rich with the cap on, all 2 stroke piston port engines like ours will run the best if the carb is tuned the best it can be. I would like to suggest that you wait till its broken in well before doing a lot to it because doing to many thing at once can be confusing. Two to three full tanks of fuel should do it.
 

KoolBreeze420

Member
Jan 2, 2014
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Some stock mufflers are very restrictive, a lot of performance can be gained with a better exhaust system. I have modified some that run a lot better than stock, like removing some or all the baffles then putting the end cap back on. On another I add a second stinger or tail pipe to help it flow freer. If your bike runs better without the end cap it is too rich with the cap on, all 2 stroke piston port engines like ours will run the best if the carb is tuned the best it can be. I would like to suggest that you wait till its broken in well before doing a lot to it because doing to many thing at once can be confusing. Two to three full tanks of fuel should do it.
This brings me to the following question's does the head need to be broken in?
If I change the cylinder body,piston or piston rings do I need to go back to break in procedures?
Like more oil I am nearly through my 3rd tank but I have replaced the muffler and the head and am considering changing the piston,rings and body.
If I can find a good enough tutorial on changing the piston I may change it or may just keep it for later on another thing is the top of the current piston is covered in black carbon is this normal?
I appreciate the links, the help and will start reading that handbook right away.

My 1st muffler lost the cap this is how I discovered that it seems to have more power without the cap and so it has maybe 40 km on it.
 

crassius

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Sep 30, 2012
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run in is to smooth any rough spots on bearing surfaces and cylinder walls and rings

head makes no difference