1978 390 CR Will not Fire Up

if you mixed the fuel in the tank, your problem is very common. it doesn't do to chuck a couple of hundred ml in the tank, bang in some fuel and slosh it around for two ticks then open the fuel tap as it will usually drop raw oil straight into your carb every time.
if I do an on the tank fill, I shake the sh*tter out of it for ages with the fuel off then ride the bike till i hear the bowl running out then bang on the tap. if there is any residual oil, there is a chance of dragging it through and getting some better mix in to flush it out without poohing the plug. great outcome tho, nice scooter!

I mixed that 927 Castor crap with AV gas at a jet ski race about 20 yrs ago and it separated and would not mix no matter how much I shook the can . don't know if it was the castor or the AV gas but I haven't used either since.now I use sunoco 93 and golden spectro @ 40:1 for ALL my Huskys and never had a problem. what type of fuel did you mix with???

it wasnt the castor, but perhaps a problem with the 927. the klotz i run mixes easily with many different kinds of fuel, most oil makers will not talk about it but klotz states it directly on the bottle. i mix my fuel in a clear container usually and have dumped the super techniplate in, not mixed it, and after about 5 minutes it seems to spread out pretty well. or at least the color does.
trying to mix fuel "after the fact" is probably a recipe for problems regardless of oil choice.

I have had castor come out of suspension, but I believe it is the fuel that causes it. In Australia we had leaded fuel until 1986 and never had any problems with castor, once unleaded was mandatory it began happening, but was more prevalent with certain brands of unleaded.
Tony

fuel can be unstable, and you never really know whats coming out of the pump. i have definitely pumped water out before, and had my streetbike start running badly within a few miles of filling up. drain the tank into a glass jug and see the water roll around the bottom.

we had a servo years ago and after a pretty big storm we had an incident that was interesting. we were filling cars all day and around 3pm this guy came in, filled up his car and left. A minute later the bloke walks back in and says it stopped 100 yards up the road ?? "whats wrong with your fuel?" "Nothing we reply"... "well whats this?" he says and shows us a bead of water in his hand. he had whipped off the airfilter and pumped the jets and realised it was water being squirted out.

we dip the tank and its 1/2 full (some 2000 gallons) of water the tank was 30 years old, the water from the storm the day before had filled up all around it, "floated and cracked it" and filled it up in about 10 minutes. Amazing.

That is such a nice bike! I purchased a purple 390CR brand new back in the day. I thought the purple CR was a 77? I remember that bike as being crazy fast, it had a pretty good hit in the mid range. I have photos of it somewhere.

What a find! Are you going to restore the 390 or use it for a rider? It's a beautiful bike but I would have a hard time not taking it to the local track and enjoying the ride.

I used Chevron 94 octane which has zero methanol here in Western Canada. The 390 still starts on the second kick without choke in summer weather. I will leave the 390 as is because it's all original plastics and Seats. All I had to do is get all shocks rebuilt and really dig into the carb. Also new cables everywhere and grips. Attached is another set of photos as I went riding around the orchard today.

I used Chevron 94 octane which has zero methanol here in Western Canada. The 390 still starts on the second kick without choke in summer weather. I will leave the 390 as is because it's all original plastics and Seats. All I had to do is get all shocks rebuilt and really dig into the carb. Also new cables everywhere and grips. Attached is another set of photos as I went riding around the orchard today.
As for mixing I was using an separate gas tank on the ground. This time I really mixed it hard and it seems to come out as a light milky mixture. I still have the original litre of 927 but I will not use it any more. I ended up buying a new batch. I suspect it's a bad liter of 927 I had unless adding oil in the mixing container after the gas makes that much of a difference.
The purple tank Husky is a 1976 WR. I am not sure which model of CR came in purple.

Next projects will be a nice yellow 125 and later a CZ but that may take a few years.

Forgot to mention I had the handlebars powder coated the the pipe ceramic coated. Had to replace the rubber handlebar mounts as well. Seems like some rubber like the fender mounts lasts forever but other rubber does not. All carb boot rubber changed as well. It had oil in the transmission that was still to level since 1982 but that's been changed twice just to be sure. Nothing funny noticed in the oil.

nice pipe on that maico....

something sounds really messed up with that oil.

Finally have the front plate stickers ready. Original from 1978 vs Replica.

Back in the day, I'm starting to sound old,

but anyway I digress,

I was told with castor oil, you mix it, use it and dump what is left at the end of the day.

It is known for not staying in suspension.

That is why I never used castor oil, but a friend who raced go karts gave me the heads up.

Some good reading,

http://www.klemmvintage.com/oils.htm

Cheers, Dave.

Thanks a million Dave. That is fantastic information and makes one really wonder.
I like the professional way that the articles were written with facts as opposed to just opinion.

Interesting on the 20:1 vs 40:1 ratios depending upon the RPM your planning to use the most.

i would listen to Harry Klemm he built some fast bikes back in the day E.C. Birt to