Strada Camshaft Oil Ways

[Jordan]

Method could be a factor causing difficult cold starts?
With starting enricheners (not really chokes) starting is better when the throttle is not touched until the engine has started and running for a few seconds. That's the case on all my Dell'Orto and Mikuni bikes with enricheners.

[themoudie]

Aye Jordon,

.... starting enricheners

They may be fine if the rest of the carb set up is spot on, but in my experience with an Amal MKII 2932, they are set up way to rich in the 'standard' jetting and there is no control on the degree of enrichment available. You either flood the engine and wash out the spark, the engine starts but revs it' nuts off, or else the engine sits and sulks and then backfires due to a weak mixture and cold engine. At least with a choke slide and or a float tickler you can control the degree of choke applied.

As to whether the Amal, Dellorto or Mikuni are screwed up by touching the throttle, I suspect it's all down to the drillings in the carb body, the luck of the draw and which way your seaweed is drying in the wind on the workshop door!

The Dellorto on my Morini twin and single both have the on/off enrichener and once started, which is usually easy, then need juggling on the throttle till warmed through. Trying to close the lever, beneath the tank, with gloved hands whilst riding is not an option, so warm ups take a wee while.

Personaly, the only cold start/choke/starting enrichener that I have found to work reliably is the one fitted to my Yamaha SRX. Put the vacuum fuel tap to 'Prime' open the choke fully, one priming kick on the kick starter, turn the ignition 'ON' and with the next kick, ticks over at a steady 2,000rpm that can be reduced to 1,500rpm on the lever straight away. With the electric start XT motor, hit the button and away you go, the same adjustment on the lever being possible straight away. I can then ride away and gradually reduce the enrichment until the motor is warmed through after 3 to 5 miles, using the lever on the handlebar.

Maybe I should have invested in the lever controlled 'cold start' for the MKII, but, being a cheapskate and it costing an extra £22-72, plus a cable, plus a lever to operate it and find a space to put it on the handlebars, I decided that for the time being to 'Pass'.

There will be further installments on the '450 desmo carb' thread in due coarse!

Good health, Bill

[Duccout]

Certainly the cold start system on Dell'Orto PHF/PHM carbs will not allow the engine to run with them on, it is purely a system of richening the engine for starting, but then needs turning off to allow the engine to run. Apparently, the Mikuni system usually will not allow the engine to run with the starter jet opened.

Reading stuff on the Net, it appears that the off-idle backfiring may be cured by a richer pilot jet, so as the supplier of the carb included one in the package, I will try that first, even though it appears to be the slide cutaway that is wrong. I think that it will be a while though as it is too cold at the moment for changing tiny jets and starting cold engines!

On the plus side, I have received my new Monza filler cap, which was made in India and cost about £20, but seems pretty good, so I will be glueing it over the existing filler neck with JB Weld, which is supposed to be petrol resistant ( but is it ethanol resistant?) and maybe then I can stop fuel sloshing out of the cap! But that will have to wait until the temperature improves too.

[Duccout]

Did a bit of freezing work today, putting on new handlebars, which was a bit of a problem due to the cables, which on the Strada go through a hole in the dashboard, without leaving much room for manoeuvre. I glued on my new Monza filler cap and tried a new pilot jet in the Mikuni, without much success.

[Jordan]

I forget - Does the Monza cap have a breather hole?

[Duccout]

This one does, or I would have drilled one!

[Duccout]

Spent a very chilly hour in the garage today trying to fit the pod air filter to the Mikuni; who would have thought it could be so difficult? The filter cannot go straight on because the frame is in the way, so I needed a piece of rubber tubing to fit the bellmouth, with a short piece of metal or plastic tubing spigotted in the end for the K&N to slip over. I have some radiator tubing of the correct 45mm id, but it is too stiff and too wide to fit, and I couldn't find any 45mm tube either. In the end I was lucky and found a 45° waste pipe elbow that fitted to the bellmouth via a piece of the radiator hose, and then the K&N fits on the other end. It only just fits, and is very Heath Robinson, but will have to do until I can find something better.

[Duccout]

Managed to get a run out today! After overcoming carburattion issues (detailed elsewhere) I had a short ride and things are looking up. My new handlebars give a much better riding position, less like a chopper and are a big improvement; the brakes are working better, and the bike is a pleasure to ride, although a bit lacking in the go department. I've still got gear selector problems, so I'm going to order a new return spring and try that.

[Duccout]

Had a run in the Spring sunshine. Once the engine was warm the bike ran fantastic; I'm so pleased with it, it seems amazing that it has reached this stage, after the rattly heap that I started with. The gearchange is working OK now and the engine is brilliant, really torquey and so smooth, perfectly adequate for the back lanes, and in many ways feels like a modern bike, certainly not like one that is over 40 years old, although it is strange to hold on to the gears so long and keep the engine spinning, after coming off a 1000cc vee twin! It makes you wonder if the engine had been cheaper to produce whether Mototrans could have still been going.

The next problem is the wiring; it has become rock-hard and parts of the insulation is cracking off, so I need to re-wire it. The plan is to do it in sections, cutting the handlebar wires outside the switch gear and soldering new sections in, then down to new junctions. Any thoughts? Electrics are not my strongest suit!

[George]

Hi Colin. Good to hear your bike is running OK. What few miles I have rode on my little Ducati I found that engine not happy at low revs and felt like a different (better) bike once I got into the habit of holding lower gears a bit longer. Good for oil circulation as well with low pressure pump.
If you are going to rewire best to go right back to terminals on switches otherwise you are still leaving old wires in switches, problem waiting to happen.
I hope to get out at end of week once my back gets over putting new concrete fence posts and fence panels in. Time for a lie down.