Well....it's Saturday and I asked my son to help me check this thing out to the best of our ability. We did the following.
Hooked up a voltmeter between the poles of the battery.
Timing light.
RPM meter.
Oli tank cap on, but loose.
Observations: Oil tank level, after one week, just at the end of the dipstick, Last week it was about half way between the H and L. Maybe 1/2 to 3/4 quart had sumped in a week. Battery volts at 12.3.
Started the bike, started first kick, but had to use choke, two times it had to be started to get it to run at an idle.
Following noted, as accurately as we were able to do...but naturally not resulting in data that you could call, "proven".
After 27-35 seconds, breather had stopped pumping oil and the PCV valve had balanced the air flow in the breather to almost none.
The timing sat at 15 BTDC.
The volts were at 11.8 VDC.
Rpms were under 1000.
By 3.5 minutes, the volts had gradually increased to 13 volts, the rpms gradually increased to 1500. Timing jumped about between 15 and 20 BTDC. The oil pumping up into the tank had a few bubbles in it and settled into a steady flow. Oil level already had risen to the normal level.
At 5.3 minutes, the volts went to 13.5, the timing stayed steady at 20 BTDC and the motor sped up to 1700 and smoothed right out. Oil level and pumping still steady and normal.
Observations, the sump was very quickly cleared by the breather and Oil level quickly reached a normal level and the pump quickly got into an even cycle. The rpms gradually picked up as the motor warmed up and the voltage started lower than I would have thought, but gradually increased with motor speed...until...the voltage reached about 13.5, and the motor smoothed out and increased speed within a period of about 10 seconds. This was a noticable speed increase, less vibration and a happier motor, all of a sudden. There had been a couple of false starts on this, where the motor picked up speed and almost smoothed out, and I thought...here it comes, but when this finally happened, it was unmistakable. A smooth idle and a fast but happy motor.
My reading on all this....? I am as aware as any of you, that my readings and figures on this are to be taken with a grain of salt...but I am pretty sure the oil level was not a factor. The oil system had settled into a normalcy long before this smoothing out of the motor.
The timing and volts gradually increased as the motor warmed up and increased speed , and reached about 18 to 20 BTDC, but the motor was not smooth.
The smoothening out of the motor, and corrsponding increase in the motor speed came, when the voltmeter read 13.5.
I think the boyer was not happy until it got enough volts, and the voltage it wanted, was only reached when the motor sped got up to a point where the alternator could produce those volts. The timing jumped about until the volts reached 13.5.
In conclusion: I can't really say what caused all this, and for that matter, can't even "prove" my results, but it could be caused by volts, or maybe not, and the fact of carb warmup...not even a thing I could measure, but I'm convinced the oil level had nothing to do with it. My gut feeling goes with the volts not being high enough. Incidently, last year, when I replaced the original tail light bulb with the led kit, I was convinced that the bike suddenly picked up a good bit of power..it ran stronger and didn't falter at a stop sign when you put the brakes any more. I attributed it then to the increased voltage the motor now had to run with, which was obvious, because the headlight no longer almost went out when I put on the brakes, as it had since new.
I want somone to run some simular tests and see if they come to a conclusion...be it the same as mine, or be it totally different..... :wink:
