checking your timing

[crassius]

Please break this in 2 parts if needed and place where they'll do most good.

Here are a couple useful things for folks that do a lot of work on these.

first, I have a portable timing mark - not needed much here yet as I have a tester, but with internal CDIs becoming more common, I thought I ought to make one

pics are bad, but so is my camera

first pic is the marked plate which was just a piece of metal with a hole on which I made a mark 7/8 inch from the bottom of the hole (close is good enough to tell if it will run here)

next pic is the mark attached to a motor

with the motor at TDC, make a mark (or I used a piece of tape) right in the middle of the right hand lobe of the rotor - when you crank the bike by hand or with the plug out & a drill turning it, your timing light should catch the marks aligned like this

Until I see some of the internal CDI machines here, I continue to use my CDI tester.

start with half a motor & half a crank as in this pic from the inside & next pic from the outside (note the old head bolted to the case to hold the plug)

this is the outside view (using a small screwdriver to hold the crank so the marks are aligned just for this pic) - marks on the tester were painted in white on a black background

stupid board says too many pics - I'll do a part 2 : (

 

[crassius]

checking your timing part 2

in the next pic I have a CDI plugged into the mag & the cap on the spark plug & the timing light on the cable near the plug (note the clothespin to keep the probe from slipping down the wire)

on this unit, I can plug everything in and spin it quite fast with the drill so I can check timing and quality of spark

I've found many dead CDIs, many that were way off timing, and some that sparked well only at high speed - I have not yet found one that fatigues, but a good mechanic friend of mine that works on these claims that some CDIs can run for 10 or 15 minutes, then stop sparking, then later, work for another 10 or 15 minutes - if I have a bike like that, I'll spin the CDI for a 1/2 hour or so to see

 

[2door]

Thanks, crassius. I merged the two threads to keep the continuity.

Tom

 

[maniac57]

I can vouch for the intermittent coils doing what your mechanic buddy said.
They will drive you INSANE until someone clues you in on this. I've seen several coils like you describe, and keep one just for demonstration purposes when the owner argues with my telling him he needs a coil.
Most I have seen were damaged by water, but one was never wet when it did this. I'm thinking it's due to the crappy insulation lacquer used on the chinese coil wrap wire.

 

[crassius]

sorry 'bout the pics - camera extends the lens when you turn it on, but the batt is going bad & it sometimes starts closing the lens just when you click it

 

[allen standley]

Very useful info, I love a good test rig.