250-500cc '96 WXC 250 build/restoration

[dhallilama]

one thing i thought about...
the stator wiring.

if the pickup wiring was reversed, would it do anything wonky?
note the pickup wires on the stator are blue & green/black...
CDI wiring is light blue & dark blue

 

[justintendo]

hard to tell...some solder and heat shrink might be good after you determine which wire goes where tho..those look scary with or without tape!

 

[dhallilama]

hard to tell...some solder and heat shrink might be good after you determine which wire goes where tho..those look scary with or without tape!

aye- that was them when i pulled the bike apart. still has bullet connectors, but much nicer ones (waterprooof, even).

i've been having a bugger of a time figuring out the wires, though; stator colors don't match. i'm going to swap the green/black to dark blue, dark blue to light blue thing and see what happens. can't imagine it'd damage the CDI???

i'll try retarding the ignition even more, too.

 

[dhallilama]

sitting here at work, looking for anything to do other than work, something occurred to me:
kick starter.

the kick starter doesn't feel "right", but I wrote it off as just being "different"...

if the kick starter did not disengage properly at the bottom of the swing, it would/could/might stop the motor, giving a sonofabitch of a kickback when the motor fired before TDC, starting the motor running backwards and of course providing that kickback that has my knee sore two days later.

i regularly kick my old Harley Sportster, which are known to kickback hard enough to tear an ACL or throw you over the bars... so the Husky's kickback is minor in comparison, but thinking more about it... it's pretty fucking hardcore for a 2 stroke. it kicked back harder than my old Kawi KX500 would.

three things to check out when I get a chance:

1. see that the kick start assembly is working properly and actually disengaging at the bottom of the stroke
2. too much advance
3. crossed wires on the stator (the green/black going to dark blue, dark blue going to light blue). i have zero idea if this would/could do anything different; as far as i can tell it's only a hall type sensor, but the whole CDI electrimagicry stumps me a bit at times.

 

[2premo]

sitting here at work, looking for anything to do other than work, something occurred to me:
kick starter.

the kick starter doesn't feel "right", but I wrote it off as just being "different"...

if the kick starter did not disengage properly at the bottom of the swing, it would/could/might stop the motor, giving a sonofabitch of a kickback when the motor fired before TDC, starting the motor running backwards and of course providing that kickback that has my knee sore two days later.

i regularly kick my old Harley Sportster, which are known to kickback hard enough to tear an ACL or throw you over the bars... so the Husky's kickback is minor in comparison, but thinking more about it... it's pretty fucking hardcore for a 2 stroke. it kicked back harder than my old Kawi KX500 would.

three things to check out when I get a chance:

1. see that the kick start assembly is working properly and actually disengaging at the bottom of the stroke
2. too much advance
3. crossed wires on the stator (the green/black going to dark blue, dark blue going to light blue). i have zero idea if this would/could do anything different; as far as i can tell it's only a hall type sensor, but the whole CDI electrimagicry stumps me a bit at times.

in the hall,,, you know,, of the hall effect are evil gremlins, they play in the hall and we all know that's BAD

 

[dhallilama]

in the hall,,, you know,, of the hall effect are evil gremlins, they play in the hall and we all know that's BAD

yeah... myself, i miss points. they're not known for their trickery and evilness, only asking for a bit of care and attention from time to time.

my magneto/points bike is dirt simple. troubleshooting is straight forward. i've never been stranded from a points ignition problem.

 

[2premo]

yeah... myself, i miss points. they're not known for their trickery and evilness, only asking for a bit of care and attention from time to time.

my magneto/points bike is dirt simple. troubleshooting is straight forward. i've never been stranded from a points ignition problem.

I have,,, they were allergic to water

 

[justintendo]

yeah... myself, i miss points. they're not known for their trickery and evilness, only asking for a bit of care and attention from time to time.

my magneto/points bike is dirt simple. troubleshooting is straight forward. i've never been stranded from a points ignition problem.

in a way i guess. on a cdi bike you can always just set the timing and be done with it. never really any troubleshooting unless something fries.
do you have a dial indicator for setting timing or any way to tell where your timing is at now? bike really shouldnt be kicking back at all, especially a 250, unless timing or jetting is off.

 

[2premo]

unless one of the vile gremlins is throwing him a curve,,,,, a bad ignition curve that is

 

[dhallilama]

in a way i guess. on a cdi bike you can always just set the timing and be done with it. never really any troubleshooting unless something fries.
do you have a dial indicator for setting timing or any way to tell where your timing is at now? bike really shouldnt be kicking back at all, especially a 250, unless timing or jetting is off.

i have a dial indicator... and a battery powered inductive timing light.
suppose i could mark the flywheel/case at X degrees BTDC, pull/ground the plug and spin the motor with a drill: that'd give a pretty accurate indication of where it sits now.

checked out the kickstart mechanism: works well. releases as it should, etc. scratch that idea.

 

[dhallilama]

timing light: 12v battery in the garage was dead. too tired to charge it or deal with grabbing another, plus it was 30f in the garage... so haven't timed it yet.

i retarded the ignition all the way, a couple swift kicks and it fired up, running in the right direction... then promptly ran out of gas.

i stand by the "stupidest kickstarter ever" statement. part of this is because i have a mildly torn hip flexor so the extremely forward position / donkey kick is a bitch

 

[dhallilama]

Dragged the bike out of the back of the garage. Kicked it... it kicked me back and my ankle is properly jacked up now.

Might be a moment of frustration, but I'm kinda ready to throw in the towel and part the bike out.

I'm tired of working on projects- just want to ride with my kids. Might pick up something newer, with a magic button, that can have a license plate in Oregon. I'm a two stroke guy at heart, but there's some plated 4 stroke Huskys that get my attention...

EDIT:
I'm a proper moron.
The stator wiring... note the stupid ass bullet connectors? Well they bit me in the ass. I knocked them out when cleaning the bike last time I rode it. I put them back... backwards.

Just went out to the garage, pulled the plug, stuck a drill on the flywheel and spun the motor with the timing light hooked up. It was CRAZY ASS ADVANCED. swapped the wires.... not advanced.

Right now I'm paying for my stupidity with a swollen, painful ankle. Good times. I haven't started the bike, but it should fire normally now.

 

[justintendo]

something must be out of tune, mine never back talks until i kick it half hearted. i do wear my riding boots usually when kicking over 250cc stuff

 

[dhallilama]

shameful.... it was the crossed wires.
I'll eliminate the bullet connectors and be done with this mistake. (part of) the problem is the stator wires do not match the CDI wires.

A friend happened to come by- he's never kick started a bike in his life. He kicked it over easily the first kick... and it's even running in the right direction

 

[Busted RS]

A good technique for many big two strokes I've ridden (back into the 70's), is to push the kick starter until the engine moves past compression, but stops around TDC. Then give it an almighty mule kick (mostly backwards for Huskies) .This method seems to spin it quickly and with enough inertia to stop it kicking back. (assuming the spark timing is correct) My 09 WR300 starts 1st kick every time, hot or cold using this method.







Power on regardless