attempt #3

[lambofgod121980]

Oh yeah almost forgot about that part. Has a semi auto choke. You push choke lever on the carb down till it clicks and locks. Then when you want it off you twist the trottle all the way open and it releases the choke all by itself. \m/

 

[dodge dude94]

That's convenient. lol
Are we gonna get pictures?

 

[lambofgod121980]

Well.... I have taken thousands of pictures along the way but unfortunately my lack of internet ( using my blackberry to surf atm) and a real computer is preventig me from resizing so I can post them here - super lame . But if ya send me an email I'd be happy to send ya any pictures you'd like to see \m/

 

[nightcruiser]

Cool.
I have the CNS carb, it annoys me, but mostly because i need to re-jet it. Runs way too lean. Where'd you get your jets from? Dax?

I know SickBikeParts.com has jets for the CNS carb. You can also adjust the jet size by drilling it out larger with machinist drill bits to go larger, or solder the jet shut and drill a new smaller hole to make it smaller/leaner. Also, with the CNS carb the float adjustment has a fair amount of effect on how rich or lean the carb runs. If you are too lean you might try adjust the float to allow a little more fuel in the bowl, if you are rich you might try adjust the float so there is a little less fuel held in the bowl....

 

[lambofgod121980]

Well .... Good news and bad news and then good news again lol.
First - motor is as solid as I could ever hope for. Went for a few long rides ( bout 20 miles) and had exactly 0 issues. Tweaking the fuel/oil mix 1/4 oz at a time to get it 100% smooth throughout rpm range. Was not winding out smooth as I'd like at first but since tweaking has been improving. So nice to just get on my bike and ride \m/

Now some bad news - last night I went on a short trip, to go play on some trails and whatnot. I abused the dog doo out of my deathmachine through mud, sand, hills and anything I thought I could make it through. Everything was great - stoopid fun \m/. Was leaving to go home and decided to cut through old dried up rentension pond. While comming out bearing in the back rim exploded out the sides and caused all kinda problems. Coaster brake locked up and I bent the sh!t out of the rim. Left me pushing a brick 6 miles back to the house. Stoopid hot outside and I don't think I have ever sweat so much in my life.

Now more good news. When I got back home I jumped in the car and hauled butt to walmart and bout a fresh new cranbrook \m/. Spent the night tearing down the deathmachine and swapping the parts to the cranbrook. Overall was an easy build and I am still able to run with no tensioner ( had to add a link to bike chain and was perfect). I wish I could have kept the chain guard from the cranbrook. Also swapped out factory super wide white walls with slightly skinner mountain bike tires with slime tubes. And last ditched the rear fender for the moment - I'd like to remount it but imma chop it first so it ends at the top of the wheel instead of the back of the wheel

So long story short.out of the ashes of the death machine comes another cranny cruiser \m/ I like the frame better but I'm missing my front suspension. Didn't really gain any top speed (feels cuz speedo is demolished aswell) with bigger rear wheel - overall I probably should have just started with this bike. Went together pretty easy and engine fit frame like it was made for this bike. I also have a ridiculous amount of space to swap the slant head for strait plug head and I can also swap intake for short factory style as carb has bout an inch way it sts now before it would touch seatpost. I'm scared to take intake off cuz its running so well now.

Any input on a good speedometer that works well with the cranbrook? I have a bell digital with the magnet and its wireles. Works great if motor isn't running. Soon as motor fires up it goes wonky and reads different numbers randomly. And the analog one I broke was because it was too big to fit inbetween the rim and fork. So when I tightend the front wheel on, I sized the wheel on the inside of the plastic box and when the rim turned it ripped off the tab that spins the inner wheel causing the needle to move on the guage.

 

[nightcruiser]

IMHO a MB should be built on a more solid than average bicycle... Does Walmart even sell anything in that caliber? Cheap bikes, cheap rims, cheap bearings, cheap brakes, add motor and 30MPH speeds the bicycle wasn't designed to handle and I think you are heading for a failure of some sort sooner than later....

 

[lambofgod121980]

Most deffinatly agree... But - lol - I went to the bike shop to look over a couple of possible options. I saw a lot of sweet bikes and I could have motorized any one of those with some modifications just like any bike. My problem was the ginormous price tags. 350 for a bike about as cheaply built as a cranbrook. Granted I will have to replace the hubs and whatnot but for 88 bucks I couldn't pass it up - can't even get a new crusier frame for so cheap. And the cranbrook is steel (bonus cuz I might be stretching this one). I couldn't see replacing the wheelset on my 93 sledge hammer. Simply because it was a 93 and beat to scrit. I knew every second I rode it it might fail. Which is why I didn't baby it. It gave me a wealth of knowlage putting it through the abuse I did. Learned what I need to keep an eye on, what tools besides the standard bike tools I should probably carry on longer rides ( never know what you might need, but I got down to a minimalist set of tools that will travel nice in my backpack \m/). Was a great learning experience. On my new bike I will not be abusing it. Imma ride the crap out of it but not beat on it like I did the old one.
I have been eyeing the cranbrook for a while now, even before the price drop to 88 bucks. The hubs look decently beefy and I packed the bearings before I ever pedaled it one time. I fully understand imma have to replace the hubs at some point but my budget isn't gonna let me do that right yet. This bike will not remain stock. I have a few upgrades planned for the near future. #1 is a front hand brake. The coaster is fine for tooling around the neighborhood, but I liked being able to stop w/o locking up the back wheel.
Question- the end cap blew off my muffler. Its now running fine just loud, which I have no problem with. Will this hurt my motor. I don't care bout preformance wize - already plan for expansion chamber later but don't know if I should make a cap or leave it for the time being.

 

[nightcruiser]

....On my new bike I will not be abusing it. Imma ride the crap out of it but not beat on it like I did the old one...

I guess my point was that simply putting a motor on a bicycle and going 30mph IS abusing it, bikes weren't designed to hold up to this....
As for the cost of the bike, a new bike, I feel yah... I paid $545 for the mountain bike I'm using, in 1988! (my first ever credit card purchase! LOL) It's built like a tank, good vintage stuff. With that in mind I would suggest you keep an eye out for rummage sales, want ads, maybe local search on ebay, even on garbage day.... for a vintage mountain bike you could get for next to nothing and put a few bucks and little elbow grease into so the cost is lower and the quality higher. Often times people toss great bikes because the gears dont work right, he!!, you dont even need the gears with a mb! (even though you could probably fix them). Just something to keep in mind...

 

[bigbutterbean]

BGF engine, over a year old, no problems except for an intake manifold air leak that was solved long ago. 68.5cc with the wider front engine mount fits my large down tube with no modification.

 

[lambofgod121980]

I guess my point was that simply putting a motor on a bicycle and going 30mph IS abusing it, bikes weren't designed to hold up to this....
As for the cost of the bike, a new bike, I feel yah... I paid $545 for the mountain bike I'm using, in 1988! (my first ever credit card purchase! LOL) It's built like a tank, good vintage stuff. With that in mind I would suggest you keep an eye out for rummage sales, want ads, maybe local search on ebay, even on garbage day.... for a vintage mountain bike you could get for next to nothing and put a few bucks and little elbow grease into so the cost is lower and the quality higher. Often times people toss great bikes because the gears dont work right, he!!, you dont even need the gears with a mb! (even though you could probably fix them). Just something to keep in mind...

Then to answer the original question - no walmart has nothing that would work lol and belive me I have been scouring craigslist, pawn shops and such trying to find the ultimate. But just as these cheap 2 strokes are throw aways so is the cranbrook. Cranbrook - 88 bucks / new wheelset for sledgehamer (24") - 100 bucks plus

 

[lambofgod121980]

Ordered new rplacement exhaust from ebay - super cheap and even though its not the one I want, it will get me through till I can fork out skrilla for expansion chamber. Original kit came with the black muffler, but I wanted to see what the chrome would look like. May have an effect on the exhaust I ultimatly purchase in the future. I don't expect huge performance gains with new pipe but I will be gutting it. The exhaust I have now came gutted (suprised when I cut end cap off) but when I cut the cap to remove screen and rewelded the end cap back on I must not have welded it back good enough. Blew it out while riding and cap is nowhere to be found. \m/ I sooooo dig home made high performance lmao.

 

[lambofgod121980]

Yay - nother problem - I'm now having to jbweld pin hole leaks in my tank. Sure wish I could get rid of it. I bought fuel bottles and water bottle cages that fit them but don't really know how imma mount them yet.
Its a beautiful day, the first I've been off with no rain, and now I'm stuck sitting inside waiting on jbweld to dry bwahahahahahaha. Hopefully I can ride today.
I've learned something interesting here about my exhaust. AS LONG AS IM NOT RUNNING LEAN MY OPEN EXHAUST IS FINE. Whew - I was sik about running it this way and possibly burning up nother motor. For those who skipped previous posts - this is motor #4 and bike #2. I'm quickly becomming somewhat of an expert at these things with all my trial and error situations. This is one seriously fun hobby and I am loving almost every minute of it \m/

 

[lambofgod121980]

Man - you would think after a while stuff would stop breaking. Got tank all jbwelded up. Looking like gonna need nother coat. But I wanted to get some ride time in so I went and took it out. Went for bout 30 mile round trip into slendora stopping at jack in the box bout half way for a tasty beverage. Lots of looks and waves as I cruised through our tiny town. (Seems like its always when I get almost home) bout 2 blocks from my house my uber sweet iron cross mirror suffered vibratin fatigue and bit the big one. Snaped the shaft where it bolts to handlebars and fell off demolishing the mirror part as it hit the concrete. So now I'm looking to replace mirrors too.

Any input on where to get quality mirrors for my street cruiser?

 

[lambofgod121980]

For pictures of my cranbrook you'll hav e to look in my album on my profile. Aparently since I am unable to get them resized trying to upload through the thread. No problems uploading to my albums though.

 

[lambofgod121980]

Here's a link to my video with the open exhaust

http://m.youtube.com/watch?gl=US&hl=en&client=mv-google&v=WYBnNMulaZY

Let me know what you think

 

[lambofgod121980]

Aight so new shorty chrome exhaust came in the mail yesterday but got off work stoopid late and didn't have time to mess with it. Got off early today and decided to bolt it up the second I got home. I have to say while it looks great and is whisper quiet - I freakin hate it. went from least hitting high 20s (by feel) with wide open exhaust to maybe 20 going down hill after bolting new exhaust up. I'm sick at the amount of power loss. Ill deffinatly be gutting this one too and just putting cap back on - at least this one the cap is out of sight and has a screw holding it for insurance. This shorty pipe is sooooooooo restrictive. I'm curious to how much louder the expansion chamber is. I'm seriously considering ordering it this next friday. (Gonna have to get the wifes permission on this one as she already pissed at what in a short period I have skrilla wise in my bike). My mind is blown after installing the new pipe and seeing the dramatic loss

Soooooooo sick

 

[nightcruiser]

Aight so new shorty chrome exhaust came in the mail yesterday but got off work stoopid late and didn't have time to mess with it. Got off early today and decided to bolt it up the second I got home. I have to say while it looks great and is whisper quiet - I freakin hate it. went from least hitting high 20s (by feel) with wide open exhaust to maybe 20 going down hill after bolting new exhaust up. I'm sick at the amount of power loss. Ill deffinatly be gutting this one too and just putting cap back on - at least this one the cap is out of sight and has a screw holding it for insurance. This shorty pipe is sooooooooo restrictive. I'm curious to how much louder the expansion chamber is. I'm seriously considering ordering it this next friday. (Gonna have to get the wifes permission on this one as she already pissed at what in a short period I have skrilla wise in my bike). My mind is blown after installing the new pipe and seeing the dramatic loss

Soooooooo sick

Different exhaust pipe = need to re-tune carb. Did you take that into account?

 

[lambofgod121980]

Different exhaust pipe = need to re-tune carb. Did you take that into account?

Not really - already gutted pipe. Not that it was a big deal, only thing holding cap on is a scew with a nut on it. Once that screw is removed endcap baffle and all pops right out. Noticed pinch in the middle of the baffle tube. When looking inside you can see through to the other side but its about a nickles thickness wide x the diameter of the tube. Super restrictive. So I cut it off. Lol no more restriction issue and pipe remains fairly quiet with endcap back in place. Now only if endcap would stay in its place lol. Gonna have to go to my buddys shop to weld it. I just don't trust the one screw. So for now I'm running the shorter pipe open once again till I can get to his shop this weekend sometime. \m/

Ps - not a whole lot of adjustment to do to carb. I have a 65, 70, 80 jet I can pick from. The 65 made it slow. The 70 I can top out at feels like bout 30. Haven't tried the 80 as I've had pretty good luck with 70 and my plug read has been great. Chocolate brown, with no hint of oil on the plug. I don't know enough about soldering and redrillin and isn't anyone but me with one of these here to help me. Everything I have done and tried has been my own trial and error method aside frome the wealth of advice I get from here. I'm deff open to suggestion. Side not I get a lot of conficting advice too so sometimes I "just see what happens"

 

[lambofgod121980]

So first official day of vacation \m/ nother day of putting in work on my bike. Was planning on torching a seatpost for the layback effect but decided to wait on that till after I order forks and see how much it drops my bike as this will directly affect the angle I go with on the post. So in lew of that I have decided to work on the tank once again.

So far I have tried to just patch it on the bike and have had less than spectacular results. I have now removed the tank and emptied it. I think fuel in the tank was keeping jb weld from curing fully under the surface and was still leaking like crazy. Seemed to be getting worse. Now that tank is off I also noticed the fuel leak causing the paint to peel pretty significantly on the under side of the tank. So I decided to repaint it while I had it off. Going back with black but changing from gloss to flat. Sanded it all the way around with some 220 grit and dremeled off rust spots. No need to break out the da sander as tank is pretty tiny and 220 hand sand really comming out great. Got first couple of coats on the top side while I'm waiting on the jbweld on the bottom to cure. Looking like gonna turn out super nice. Shame since I really want to ditch the tank and go with fuel bottle set up I saw on biknuts super sweet atomic bb.

I can't wait till bent springer forks get here - should be about 2 weeks before I get em and mount em. I'm looking forward to how it will change the look of my cruiser \m/ will post pics in the cranbrook album soon as paint is dry on tank and post nother pic after forks are here and installed

 

[maniac57]

I was under the impression that there weren't any usa made engines either. At the very least duane swaps out the hardware. When his motor and the one I got from bgf from ebay, are set side by side, there is no comparison. The dax motor is all around better. Casting is different and trimmed up, the head is thicker, more sturdy looking on the dax motor and not a cheap bolt or stud on the whole thing. The bgf motor looks like it was just poured and slapped together, most of the screws and studs stripped the second a screwdriver or socket touched them. Not to mention the fact that it dropped bearings under the clutch in a matter of 2 miles. And the extra cash I paid for the black paintjob was a joke, as if the motor is looked at from eye level there is paint missing everywhere - looked great if you looking strait down on the head from the top. And was also missing head gasket when it arrived ( I made one from a monster can).
And thus has been my experience with these ht engines so far, and why I went back with the dax engine. I was just curious as to what else was out there when I originally posted this thread but ultimately went back with duane and gradys motor. - and also their customer service is better than exellent, they are always willing to talk to me on the phone and answer any questions I might have and even called me to make sure I recived my package on time. And they seem to dig the feedback I give them \m/

I think they all come from the same factory in China, but I wonder if the engines are sold priced according to quality, like Ni-Cad batteries.(IE: like Makita and Dewalt get the best ones)