Tech Tips

Why does my buddy’s bike have this jetting and mine doesn’t like that jetting?

For conversation sake, lets assume (Never assume.) that both bikes are in the same condition, same electrics, tuned up, altitude, etc…. (Mileage unknown.)

We had a customer’s motorcycle that began to run rich. All the normal tune-up stuff was ok. He is the original owner and no changes were made. (Exhaust, fancy air filters, etc.)

Question: So why does the bike run richer? Failing ignition? Dirty air filter? Float malfunctioning? Bad fuel?

Just like pistons, carburetors are working hard. Slides are moving up & down, being pulled & pushed with intake pulses constantly wearing the inside of the needle jet.

The needle jets and needles are very precise and wear is immeasurable. The detection of this problem is sometimes difficult. (Unless you spend a $100.00 per hour on a Dyno.)

When you drive a bike at normal speeds, you are generally in the pilot circuit, slide cutaway, needle jet and in the needle a bit. These circuits work together delivering fuel to your motor. A little wear in the needle jet and needles is why some bikes with open exhaust, open air filters SOMETIMES run better with almost stock jetting. We wrote a tech article on exhaust systems and tuning and basically said: Select an exhaust system you like and jet accordingly with an open mind. Same with this needle jet, needle topic: Do not go into jetting a bike with a preconceived idea about jetting. Keep an open mind.

We do not know if needle jets & needles are still available or if you really need them.

A lot of literature and chat room posts are helpful in diagnosing ill running motorcycles.

We wrote a tech article on ageing and worn needles and needle jets recently and talked about how aging components can mess up the diagnostic process. We prefer to write about running issues that are not in print or rarely talked about. Generally, these things have baffled us in our service department and are experienced real life fixes.

When it comes to carburetors and jetting, the diagnostic problem must be cut in half.

Is it rich or lean? At Ľ,˝, ľ, full throttle is it rich or lean? Many publications and discussions can help with this.

Here is a real life story and an experience that has worked for us from time to time.

When cruising down the road your bike is normally running about 2 ˝ to 3 ˝ thousand rpms. Most of the jetting conversations talk about pilots and needle positions. We feel that is a wide range. Why? There is a sweet spot that is overlooked when transitioning from pilots to needle position. ”The slide cutaway.” Sometimes with pod filters, drag pipes and other custom products you must have a determination to get the job done. Rather than, “I’ll live with its attitude.”

First, pilots, cutaways, needle jets, needles and main jets work together. They cross over, overlap, and need to be delivering fuel and air as needed.

Here is what we do in many high performance or aggressive situations. We will disassemble the carb bank and remove the carburetor slides. Then we will remove 10 thousands at a time from the bottom of the slide (On a lathe.) this will richen up the sweet spot (Between the pilot and needle position.), which is normally overlooked. Of coarse the carbs will need to be synchronized again for absolute determination of progress. Sometimes after doing this modification, we have gone back to stock pilot jetting. Here is the problem. This tip takes a lot of work and hours, but no money.

Some of these tips have cost us many hours in our service department and we would like to support people having annoying carburetor issues. Hope this helps someday.

** Note: Dynos are used with a 25% braking load to simulate heavier bikes that might ride with a passenger now and then. So, if you weigh 130lbs and you tune your bike perfectly then pick up a chick that weighs 250lbs your bike will need more fuel. So, if your bike runs great in neutral. But runs like shit on the road, give it more fuel.

We talk a lot about Dynos and fuel to air ratios. The proper fuel to air ratio will mean you have reached your motors potential horsepower. Dynos are a luxury and not available to everyone so we try to explain what we have discovered on the Dyno for you. I was driving to work this morning and remembered something we did before Dynos were available to us.

Reading spark plugs is common knowledge in many publications. They will show you pictures of spark plugs and expect you to duplicate the color as shown. (Thats cool.) Ever notice your plugs never really look the same as the pictures? Here is what we did years ago!!!!! During the tuning process, NGK spark plugs never seemed to show the coco brown color we were after. We would switch to Champion spark plugs for the tuning process. (Oh no, Champions?) Yes, Champion spark plugs show color better and are easier to read. Then of course we switch back to NGKs

Note:
Once again, there are many variables in tuning the internal combustion motor. Even Dynos are not exact at times. This is just a little tip we did years ago and hope this helps you someday!!!!!

How did motorcycles in the 70’s survive in the southwestern part of the United States in over 100 degree temps?

Was it the leaded fuel?
Probably helped, because leads main purpose was to lubricate the valves.

Was it the oils?
Probably not, because the oils are far superior now a days.

Was it the quality of the valves and guides?
Probably not, because valves and guides in the 70’s were old technology.

Was it the tuning?
Probably helped, because most motorcycles are air-cooled and generally have inefficient cooling. So they might have richened up the jetting a bit.

This is not a tech article, just a story.

We knew people that lived in the desert area where the temps are sometimes unbearable. They would drive their bikes everywhere without any problems caused by temperature.
We would talk about their motors because that’s what mechanics talk about. They would disassemble the motors and say they were internally fine. I would ask out of curiosity how they looked so fresh; because we are in Wisconsin and I wondered how a motor could maintain under such tremendous heat.

Answer:
Marvel Mystery Oil. You know the stuff. That’s the oil sitting on the shelf by itself. Remember, we do not have lead to lubricate the valves anymore so the Marvel Mystery Oil makes sense. I kind of forgot what ratio they mixed it at, but remember the more oil blended in your gas the less gas you would have. If remembered correctly they blended 1 oz per gal.

Honda CB750 F2 top ends must be changed together. Head and cylinder must be used as a set. There is an oil drain issue and a couple other things.

F2’s have a 18% bigger combustion chamber. So if you run 10 Ľ compression pistons, your compression will be about 1 point less because of the chambers. (Approx because there are a lot of variables.) So you will have about 9 to 1 compression or so.

Manufactures were offering lower compression pistons years ago because of the fuels. Now-a-days compression is rising again mainly because of technology. Who knows, maybe the motor will be a little happier with a little lower compression on the street.

If you really, really want to go fast, our opinion is to use the F2 top end. Take advantage of those big valves. (They work.)

BUT.., The problem with the F2’s is the valve keepers and valve collars. The top collars are stamped steel and the keepers will pull through and drop a valve.

The only thing to do is have valves made from scratch with the early style keeper set up and titanium valve collars. Valves will cost about $60.00 each and titanium collars over a $100.00. So you want to go fast? $$$$ There is a more about this topic, but just trying to help a little.

Motorcycle shops:
To open a motorcycle shop the following is needed. Necessary state and federal paperwork. Zoned commercial building, yellow page adds, insurance, and then begin to fill out applications to distributors, which sometimes include photos of the building and basically look up your ass with a flashlight.

Here is my point:
Most shops are a dealer with a company called Midwest. They are the same people who need the above-mentioned requirements to become a dealer. The owner of Midwest, has a son that owns the consumers beloved JIREH Co. The JIREH Co. has the resources and has taken the opportunity to sell to consumers at dealer cost or under. This backdoor and dishonorable behavior will force others in the industry to follow suit just to compete.

This will force small family owned businesses out of business. Hence the title: Say goodbye. (This is not a prediction.)

Purchased some metal today. Once again an increase in price. This has been going on for quite a while averaging 5 to 10% increase with each purchase.

Maybe you knew this or maybe not?

Metal prices have steadily been going up because foreign industries have been buying all the scrap metal. Here is what bugs me the most. (What we have heard anyway.) The scrap metal cannot be processed here in America due to the EPA. (Melted or whatever.) So the purchasers are hauling the scrap on a barge out to sea. When the barge reaches international waters the metal is processed and all of the pollutants are dumped into the ocean. Guess where the pollutants eventually arrive? Thats right, our shorelines.

Listen up!! We are not members of Greenpeace or any save the world organizations but since I have become a father my mindset has changed. “Live for moment.” has changed to “Live for the future.” There has been a lot of America this, America that spoken of lately. I would be happy if my children could live the American dream not in a bubble, drinking water and breathing through a charcoal filter. Yea, I know business is business. It is so hard to keep my opinions to my self because this could get political but this is crap.

Tidbit:
Harley engineers are seen on a regular basis in Taiwan. Speaking of “America this and America that.”

A good friend was just in Taiwan and is in the motorcycle business. The whole country is basically industrialized and geared to manufacture just about anything people want. In Taiwan there is a river which millions of gallons of toxic waste is poured into on a daily basis. This river is called the Black River. (Go figure.) The river was described to me as the same color and texture as used motor oil. One day some knucklehead tried to swim across the river and died. (Died of suffocation, not drowning.)

To the best of my knowledge, don’t most people in Taiwan eat fish?

Question:
If there was only one tree left in the world and this tree was the only source of oxygen, what would happen if a million dollars were offered to cut down the tree?
My guess is that some moron would cut it down to be a millionaire for a week or so.
Does anyone have children out there?….. We do.

BASIC TROUBLE SHOOTING:

Before a person can begin to fine-tune the internal combustion engine, many people have issues with their 30 plus year old project bikes. We can talk about a lot of fun topics like exhaust systems, carburetion, ignition systems, etc…. but troubleshooting is sometimes annoying without a systematic approach. We at Cycle X have a system we follow every time an ill running bike is in our shop.

THE POWER TRIANGLE:
The power triangle is nothing new but needs to be remembered when the going gets tough diagnosing poor running bikes.
Motor must be in good, sound condition. (Duh.)
Ignition must be in good, sound condition. (Duh.)
Carburetion must be in good, sound condition. (Duh.)

MOTOR:
Valve adjustment should be checked or adjusted. Reminds me of a story. We had a drag bike with big, overlapped cams and it had 16-to1 compression. Because of the cam profile we had a little over 120lb’s compression. But the compression increased with the RPM of the motor. (It’s a cam thing.) We could alter the compression readings by setting the valves looser. (Cutting back on duration.) The looser we set the valves, the faster the bike went. And the compression changed also. So, if you want an accurate compression reading. Make sure to set your valves.

CHECKING COMPRESSION:
Open up throttle. Turn motor over 4 times and record readings. Do not be concerned with the readings being high or low. Be concerned that the readings are within plus or minus 5 percent of the average. Remember the cam profile story. NOTE: Over-head cammed motors compression readings can be affected by cam chain stretch also. NOTE: An abundance of oil in a cylinder will raise compression. (If you’re motor was upside down or on its side.)

IGNITION SYSTEM:

We like modern high-powered ignition systems for obvious reasons but if you have points and stock coils here are some tidbits of info. Stock coils produce approx. 10,000 volts. Internal combustion engines need 14,000 to 18,000 volts to complete the burn properly. Points start to go out of adjustment after about 200 miles. Points have also been the primary cause of detonation in higher performance motors which connecting rod breakage has been seen.

DO’S AND DON’TS:
Solder all connections. 1/10 of a volt can be lost with each connection without soldering.

Check spark plug caps. 5K ohms is good.
Clean and set points to .015-point gap.
Lube advance unit cam lobe. If you don’t, your ignition timing will retard.
Check charging system. Low battery = Low spark.
Use a timing light. We time to the full advance marks. Timing lights can be used to detect misfires in your ignition system. If you suspect a problem… Hook up a timing light to your bike. Start the bike and flash the timing light on your leg or arm. You will see and here the misfire.
Never splice spark plug wires to get more length.
Modern ignition systems have big spark, consistent timing and zero maintenance.

Now that you have addressed your motor and ignition system the carburetion system will hopefully be a breeze.

CARBURATION:
Check needle/seat and float adjustment. The amount of fuel in the float bowl will have an affect diagnosing rich or lean conditions.
Check for intake manifold leaks. Spray carb cleaner around the intake rubbers to detect fluctuations in the motors RPMs. (We see this problem a lot.)
When jetting carburetors start from the bottom (Idle.) and work your way up.(Main jet.) Check your jetting at Ľ, ˝, ľ and full throttle. This jetting thing is part common sense and experience. Mikuni has a very detailed book on jetting carburetors if you run into trouble.

Remember… Motor first. Ignition second. Fuel last when diagnosing your bike.
The seasoned mechanics that read this article might find it basic knowledge but we hope this helps the others.

Slick's Note: Once again, Ken and I are in total agreement on this. I can't say enough how important this little mantra is.... POWER TRIANGLE, POWER TRIANGLE, POWER TRIANGLE.... OR.. Compression, Spark, Fuel, not enough of one and the other two don't work. Often times people forget that the ORDER of checking them is as important as all three of them being present. With Low compression your carburetors will not work correctly. They need to be checked just as stated...

1. Compression

2. Spark

3. Fuel

Remember if your new to bikes, and you are learning. Print out a copy of this and hang it on your garage wall,,, it will save you TIME AND MONEY in the long run....

again, Thanks for the great article Ken, If anyone has a question for ken or your looking for some parts feel free to drop him a line stop by his web page at http://www.cyclexchange.net/

The 70’s (Exhaust and Tuning).

For those of you that are to young or cannot remember, here is my opinion. Bike building in the 70's was very simplified; there were over a dozen catalogs to buy custom Honda parts, ranging from gas tanks, frames, wheels, front ends, exhaust systems, etc. We look at bikes from that 70’s era and can identify most every part as an aftermarket purchase. Now-a-days Hondas are much harder to build; every part must be hunted down or made from scratch. So the people who are building Hondas now-a days deserve a lot of credit.

Exhaust systems from the 70’s.
Many systems claimed horsepower increases, but many achieved minor gains by the fact less restrictive exhaust will show gains. Many systems used automobile collectors welded to there 4 into 1 system to save money. Primary exhaust tube diameter was a major issue with many systems, almost duplicating the factory diameter.

In my opinion, any 4 into 1 system is better than drag pipes and most other cool looking systems. Exhaust systems open up a world of theory, debate and experiences in tuning the internal combustion engine. The 4 into 1 system have been published as being tuned with velocity, shock waves or sound beats and the perfect amount of something engineered into them. When a cylinder fires and pushes exhaust down the pipe into a collector, the exiting gases are pulling exhaust gas from the other cylinders. So the 4 into 1 systems work well on muti-cylinder machines. Smaller primary pipes have been known for midrange punch. Shock waves or sound beats have been advertised as being the latest scientific breakthrough. We need to reflect back to our 2 stroke racing days to speak about sound beats. High performance 2 strokes live or die with shock waves. Some pipes are high RPM and some have torque characteristics. I remember cutting and shortening a brand new exhaust system to find higher RPMs for racing purposes. Finding the window of available horsepower getting smaller and smaller. So at what RPM did the exhaust system sold make horsepower?

We custom builders are in a unique situation. We want looks and we want horsepower with ground clearance. We do not have the luxury of shopping for a multitude of different pipes like the 70’s. Here’s my point… We built a bike we call the superbobber and the motor is highly modified (Compression, long duration cam, etc…) and the pipes are extremely long which we did for looks and shock value. We had never tuned or even seen a bike with pipes this long. With the combination of performance parts in this superbobber the normal train of thought would be to give this high performance bike a more generous amount of fuel. So the tuning process begins. Jetting, checking timing, adjusting valves, etc. The jetting process took longer than we anticipated because of a forgotten fundamental mindset needed to tune altered or modified motors. The mindset is if you go into a tuning process with a preconceived idea how a motor should be jetted, you will be wasting a lot of time. Example: Long duration cams help to pull in fuel, and the 4 into 1 exhaust is helping to pull exhaust out. Pressured intake systems help with an incoming charge of fuel. This would mean the bike needs a lot of fuel Right?
The superbobber is now tuned and the jetting is same as a stock motor. Most people find the final jetting on the superbobber unusual.

Back to exhaust systems. Due to the fact we have very few exhaust systems to select from. The only logical thing to do is select an exhaust you like and tune your bike as needed with a open mind. Honda 750s have a great potential to make power with the right combination of aftermarket parts. And have potential to run far better than the factory offered back then. There are a lot of theories about the internal combustion engine. But remember: Webster’s dictionary says: THEORY is a speculative plan, a conjecture, and a guess.

Thought maybe you would like to hear the superbobber story and maybe the preconceived jetting mindset might help you someday. Maybe you have an experience you would like to share?

Slick's Note: This is one of my favorite articles by ken and applies to ALL motorcycles. I have had the exact same experience with motorcycle exhaust and tuning. Especially when related to Jetting the Carbs. Simply do not ASSUME!!! Each and every motor will act differently. What works fine for one person might not even be close for another. I've had identical bikes set up with identical drag pipe exhaust and identical air filters that took completley different jets. To correctly tune a bike you MUST understand how to read spark plugs and understand how a motorcycle engine and its components work. So in conclusion, don't just hop into a chat room and say "i've got a stock 1973 750 with mac drags and K&N intake, what jets do I need"........you might get lucky and get a correct ball park range, but chances are all you will be is in the area of where they should be. The same goes for exhaust. Exhaust effect the whole bike, its acceleration, midrange, carb tuning, timing ect...

Great article Ken and thank you, I'm looking forward to more in the future. If you would like to get ahold of Ken, or are looking for any parts, stop by CYCLEXCHANGE.NET

Carburetion Designed From Experience

Every time I walk into a motorcycle dealership, there is always a proud father buying his son his first new, expensive mini motorcycle. That’s when I start to reflect back to my childhood. Remembering walking down an alley and seeing a Briggs and Stratton lawn mower engine someone had thrown away. Taking the engine and getting it running with the intension of building a motorized something. My father was not to keen on the mechanical aspect of anything. No tools, no interest, no money, no messing up the garage. So my project was to be secretly done elsewhere. This project (Go-kart.) was made from wood. A washing machine belt drove the kart and pulleys. The wheels were found somewhere. The governor was wired wide open and off we went driving down the road going faster than we should of. Then it happened… Busted by the old man.

Many years later, I got a job working on motorcycles (The 70s.) Honda 750s were the shit. The boring bar was running constant. Boring Honda cylinders to 836, 900 and 1080cc. Cams, headwork and the whole performance thing. The one thing I will always remember is after doing performance or minor changes. (Pipes & air filters.) The carbs were a pain in the ass. 30 years later Honda 750s are hot again and people are reliving their youth. Not being able to afford one of those v-twin bikes or whatever the reason.

So here we go again. Big bore kits, cams, headwork, etc… and there are those carbs again. I said to myself, “I’m not going through this carb thing again.”

Introducing our new carb system:

Thru years of experience we have taken into account velocity, atomization, carb size, fuel to air ratio, distance from the cylinder head, etc… And developed a carb system that we are proud of. The development of the manifolds was not rocket science. No computer generated images. No elaborate Nasa space shuttle testing facility. Just experience and determination. (“Persistence wears down resistance.”) The manifolds were lengthened, opened, angled, shortened and everything you can imagine. We knew we must get the intake runners equal length. Then we had to test quite a bit to get the intake runners the perfect size. (Inside diameter.) Not to big. Not to small. They had to flow like water. Flow like water? Yes, bigger is not always better. Just like cylinder heads, velocity and direction of the flow means everything. Think of the intake flow like a garden hose. If you squeeze a garden hose the water moves faster. If you have a great big garden hose the water moves slowly. We knew we could gain a lot of torque and some streetable horsepower if we pushed the carbs away from the head a little, but we also knew that the carbs had to feel a signal, or pulse from the motor at low rpm. Some of the carb systems we have seen in the past have a long intake tube or something with the carb or carbs attached to it .We have found this theory impossible to work in the real world. All the carbs feel is vacuum at low rpm, not a signal or pulse. Remember, carb tuning should be done from the bottom up. (The main jet is last.) We tested 30, 32, 34, 36, 38 and 40mm carbs. Bigger carbs made more power on top rpm, but we were determined to build a system that worked at all rpms. Because we wanted to build a system that covered all possible applications, (Custom frames, pipes, air filters and altitudes.) we were not focusing on high performance. After testing, testing and more testing, it was time to DYNO test the bike. Mainly for proper fuel to air ratio. When we check fuel to air ratios, we like 12 or 13 to 1 ratios for good power. Sometimes with lower cooling abilities we like 10 or 13 to 1 ratios for cooling. (Richer). We never make lofty horsepower claims because there are so many variables involved to achieve max horsepower. (Exhaust, cams carburetion, ignitions, etc…) Lets just say, if you have your fuel to air ratio correct your motor has reached its potential and the horsepower is there. Once again, we like to leave exaggerated horsepower claims to bar stool mechanics, but if you want to have some horsepower facts here you go.

Our test bike went from 51 to 58.8 hp. (Rear wheel) The bike gained significant torque. We were pleased, because it does not hurt to have extra power. This carb system took us about a year to develop. (Yea right.) Because we also have a full service department. Honda high performance engine program, custom frames, and other custom stuff. The carb system was put on the shelf now and then. There seems to be a lot of speculation on how this system makes power and how this system actually works when so many other systems have failed. Lets think about a couple of theories. Webster’s Dictionary says: “THEORY [The principles of an art or science rather than a its practice][A conjecture, a guess.” 4 into 1 exhaust systems work well because as a cylinder fires the exhaust helps pull exhaust gases from the other cylinders, so the cylinders are working together extracting exhaust and pulling fresh fuel in the cylinders. With that in mind lets talk about the intake system we have developed.

You will notice there are two separate manifolds. One manifold is for number 1 and 2 cylinders and the other manifold is for number 3 and 4 cylinders. Lets talk about number 1 and 2 cylinders. While number 1 cylinder is pulling fuel in the cylinder, number 2 is not pulling fuel. We feel just like the 4 into 1 exhaust theory, by number 1 cylinder pulling fuel in the cylinder this helps number 2 cylinder with a waiting incoming charge of fuel almost pressurizing the intake manifold. This almost makes you think that a 4 into 1 intake manifold might work also, but do not forget, you must jet the carbs from the bottom up. And the carbs must feel a signal. Seems to me there is also a lot of speculation on which is better. One carb per cylinder or an intake system like ours. I believe at very high rpm, maybe one carb per cylinder might make more power, but Honda sohc motors do not rpm that high. Before you go spending money for a carb system, remember this system is not a cure all solution for other problems. You will also need basic skills to install and possibly tune the carb system. Consider the power triangle procedure we at Cycle X perform on all ill running motorized vehicles. Motor must be in sound condition. (Compression, valves adjusted, etc…) Stretched cam chains will affect your performance.

Just like a race camshaft that has not been degreed could cost you a half a second through the quarter mile. (Drag racing.) Ignitions must be powerful and ignition timing perfect. (Honda ignitions are suspect even new.) And every unsoldered electrical connection may cost you approximately 1/10 of a volt loss. Then lastly, the carburetion is addressed as necessary. Most of the fuel purchased now days is causing some problems with older hot rod motors. We recommend to jet up a bit for pinging and detonation. Each carburetor system is prejetted for your particular needs. Altitude, motor modifications, exhaust system, handle bar size. (7/8 or 1 inch.) So, there you go. Some insight on developing products and a few tech tips. Hope you like.

Slick's Note: Ken has included a title in with every article that he has sent me. After all it just plain makes sense to give a article a title so that the reader knows what there in for. This article did not come with a title. There was a reason for that too. This was a Tech Sheet never intended for this site when it was originally written. Ken was asked by Chopper Underground to write an article about carburetors and his new carburetor system. Ken came through with his end of the deal "as he always does" but Chopper Underground went "UNDERGROUND" for good. Ken and I were talking about the article and I asked him to send it to me. He said no at first because he thought it would seem like a blatent advertisement and that is not the intent of this section of Slick's Choppers. But I kept pestering him about it until he gave in and sent me a copy of the article. Once I read the Article I could only think of One title that would make sense... and that title is above.

I have PERSONALLY used Ken's Carb system and would recommend them to anyone. If your motor is good and your mechanics are sound, this carb system runs GREAT!!! I will buy another carb system from ken, and will continue to recommend it. Thanks for the great article Ken, and thank you for taking the time to design a carb system for our old bikes...If you need a carb system,,,, click on the photo of one of the koolest looking carb systems around.

*Always use a piece of tightly wrapped electrical tape where you are going to cut braided hose. This will keep ends from graying so when you get ready to install ends it will not be nearly as painful handling the sharp frayed end of the hose.

*Rule of thumb for determining whether you are lean or rich: Coughing or sneezing in the carb indicates a lean condition. A sluggish or lazy engine that has black smoke will indicate a rich condition.

*Before re-jetting your carb you should first make sure that your timing is set properly an dif you have a mechanical advance, that it's not worn out. A worn advance unit will allow your timing to advance too far and show up as lean condition on a perfectly jetted carb.

*When mounting early style Fat Bob tanks (pre Softail) always check for clearance between right tank and rear rocker cover. To do this, simply slide a piece of card board between both of them.

*Anytime the exhaust is changed, the carb may need to be adjusted or even re-jetted. Basic indications of what is wrong are coughing in the carb along with a surging feeling means a lean condition. A sluggish with black smoke mean rich.

*Always disconnect the battery ground wire before servicing start and related components.

*Never short between the positive and negative posts to check battery for being charged. The sparks can ignite and blow your eyebrows all over the neighborhood.

*Adjust the aim of your head lamp by drawing a line on a wall or garage door the same height as the head lamp. Then back the bike up 25 feet and hold level. With the high beams on, the light should show even and no higher than the drawn line. Adjust accordingly.

*When installing additional lighting make sure you use heat shrink tubing and inline fuses on power leads. Waterproof as much as possible. Lights and water don't mix.

*You may need to upgrade your flasher unit or add a load equalizer when adding lighting for turn signals or pretty stuff.

*When rewiring and electric start system be sure not to leave out the starter relay. This makes it possible to use small low amperage switches at the handlebar.

*When installing a solid mount Big Twin engine into the frame, tighten the rear motor mounts first then fill any gap between the front motor mounts and the frame with the proper amount of stainless steel shim stock. Top Motor mounts can be filled with washers. Engine mount and crankcases can easily be broking if not mounted properly.

*When installing shorter shocks, tire fender clearance must be checked. Do this by installing one shock with spring removed and compress shock. You must have at least 1" clearance from top of tire to fender to allow for the growth at higher speeds. This is a good time to check those swing arm bearings.

*Stainless steel braided lines wear heavily on any surface that it comes in contact with. Use a clear shrink tube on the lines to protect that million dollar paint job.

*For max life of throttle cables, lube ever 5000 miles. Use cable lube NOT chain lube.

*Use anti seize on aluminum body threads for a positive seal and thread lubricant.

*Use DOT 5 on all disc brake applications and use DOT 3 or DOT 3-4 on all drum brake applications.

*Never use Mineral based solvents to clean rubber brake parts denatured alcohol works the best.

*Always pre-lube speedo cable with a light grease when assembling and do it every 5000 miles for years of life to these cables.

*Remember to set the position of the speedo drive before tightening the axle so you cable angle is correct

*Always center brake shoes with the drum when retightening the axle on the drum brake models

*Most common cause of pushrod cover leaks is the pushrod rubbing the inside of the pushrod cover. To avoid this, chamfer the inside edge of the top tube at the middle and at the top

*When installing aftermarket connecting rods into stock flywheels, always use the stock torque specifications for the crank pin nuts.

*Never use silicone sealant when installing oil pump gaskets. Silicone can clog oil passages in the engine causing bad things. A good coat of aluminum based paint or a copper spray sealant can give good results on paper or Mylar gaskets

*When the kicker arm doesn't return all the way it's usually an indication of a bad crank gear ramp. This problem will also crack the kicker bell housing.

*Don't tighten the kicker pedal bolt all the way to the head. There needs to be an unthreaded portion of the shank most of the way through the kicker pedal bushing. This will help the life of the bushing and the pedal

*Going through chains? Change your sprocket. A sprocket will only last for about 2 chains.

*Engine sprockets and clutch baskets are subject to far more heat then you final drive and although they run in a closed environment they will eventually wear out. Knocks often heard in Big Twins are caused by worn out ramps on compensating sprockets and kinking chains slapping the chain adjusting foot.

*Any easy way to tell if your drive chain is worn out is to try to pull the chain straight back off the rear sprocket. if you can pull the chain half a tooth depth or more replace the chain and check the sprockets. A new chain won't last long on worn sprockets