Hi All. After seven years of rebuilding, finally fuelled up my `C` Shadow yesterday and went for the start.....
Points to note:
Despite meticulous care throughout the rebuild,still managed to plumb in the plug leads wrong way round-hence much head scratching as it refused to start on my roller starter, an occasional backfire whilst cranking the motor got me suspicious, yep, I had managed to cross the leads behind the steering damper bracket! -Doh.
It fired straight away,yipee!!, but,once started, clouds of blue smoke and oil pumping copiously out of the breather showed me just how much even a newly built Vin can sump whilst stood- I thought it may need to clear itself a little as the tank level was down,inexperience makes it hard to judge,but this was crazy.I stopped the bike and drained no less than 2L of oil from the cases!Holy Moly........
Fired it up again and the smoke began to clear....... first time its run since probably the mid 60`s .....carbs are original 229/289 and boy do they drip..... not so much the front one, but the rear-drip ,drip, drip-are they really this bad?-do the new ones drip like this?
Ran it on and off for a while yesterday afternoon whilst i adjusted the carbs , and got it running pretty good.
Any way, slightly more concerning were tiny particles of alloy in the oil from the cases, Hmm, not lots, but noticeable. Definately alloy, - a magnet would not attract them. May be just initial start up detritus, but the build was surgically clean, and the oil tank cleaned out-and I mean clean-camera in etc etc, so I`m puzzled...... Took off the timing cover just to check it all out-everything fine in there, no alloy shards, so I`m none the wiser.......any ideas?
If the rear carb does not improve, I wonder if fitting one of the new plastic floats may help-i.e. a bit lighter and more buoyant than the original copper soldered job, which, whilst it seems sound, is a bit unconvincing in the way it floats in its bowl.I wonder if the new floats would apply a little more pressure to the (new)needle valve??
Any ideas?, Bob.
Points to note:
Despite meticulous care throughout the rebuild,still managed to plumb in the plug leads wrong way round-hence much head scratching as it refused to start on my roller starter, an occasional backfire whilst cranking the motor got me suspicious, yep, I had managed to cross the leads behind the steering damper bracket! -Doh.
It fired straight away,yipee!!, but,once started, clouds of blue smoke and oil pumping copiously out of the breather showed me just how much even a newly built Vin can sump whilst stood- I thought it may need to clear itself a little as the tank level was down,inexperience makes it hard to judge,but this was crazy.I stopped the bike and drained no less than 2L of oil from the cases!Holy Moly........
Fired it up again and the smoke began to clear....... first time its run since probably the mid 60`s .....carbs are original 229/289 and boy do they drip..... not so much the front one, but the rear-drip ,drip, drip-are they really this bad?-do the new ones drip like this?
Ran it on and off for a while yesterday afternoon whilst i adjusted the carbs , and got it running pretty good.
Any way, slightly more concerning were tiny particles of alloy in the oil from the cases, Hmm, not lots, but noticeable. Definately alloy, - a magnet would not attract them. May be just initial start up detritus, but the build was surgically clean, and the oil tank cleaned out-and I mean clean-camera in etc etc, so I`m puzzled...... Took off the timing cover just to check it all out-everything fine in there, no alloy shards, so I`m none the wiser.......any ideas?
If the rear carb does not improve, I wonder if fitting one of the new plastic floats may help-i.e. a bit lighter and more buoyant than the original copper soldered job, which, whilst it seems sound, is a bit unconvincing in the way it floats in its bowl.I wonder if the new floats would apply a little more pressure to the (new)needle valve??
Any ideas?, Bob.
If you continue to find metal sparkles in the oil check your filter and clean/replace if necessary.