What am I doing wrong?!?

Mancunian · Oct 3, 2013

Hey folks,

I've been working on my 73 cdo for the last couple years...hit my limits once I tried to wire it and took it to a Brit bike specialist whom wired it and fixed a few things that I hadn't noticed...anyway, a couple of days ago I went by his shop to see the progress and much to my delight, saw him 1 kick it and heard the engine for the first time, ever....over the moon happy....brought her home, put in a new yuasa battery, gas and have kicked it 100 times since with not even a notion of start up.

Suggestions?

Dances with Shrapnel · Oct 3, 2013

Battery wired in backwards?
You have spark?
Do you have fuel when you tickle the carbs?
Flooded the f*ck out of it?
Not even a pop or sputter?
Smell raw fuel out the tail pipes?

Mancunian · Oct 3, 2013

Battery in correctly
Fuel flowing
No pop
No smell from pipe..
Will check for spark...

concours · Oct 3, 2013

Mancunian said:
Battery in correctly
Fuel flowing
No pop
No smell from pipe..
Will check for spark...

Correctly... positive earth, red lead on the "+" terminal? Just double checking here.

He go through the cold starting drill with you? Ticklers held down until gas floods out the carb? You got lights, horn, etc? No smell means not enough gas. Pull the plugs, wet with gas? Dry? Do the spark check while they're out.

1up3down · Oct 3, 2013

you probably are not doing anything wrong

I would immediately pull both spark plugs, are they fouled, blackened?

if so either clean them real good or replace them

if they look good and clean, then maybe the wiring is somehow off, as in you are not getting spark to the plugs

you can verify spark by pulling both plugs out, leaving the leads attached, and have an assistant hold the
threaded areas firmly against the head while your have the ignition on and kick it over a few times in a darek garage

can you see they sparking, if not take the bike back to your build guy

if so, then maybe you just are not tickling the carbs enough to get gas filling the float bowl, and try kicking it over while you open the throttle a little, could be as simple as that

Mancunian · Oct 3, 2013

Red on +
Plugs dry,
I'll do a spark check after the gas vapours dry out...just unscrewed the bowl :/ a turn too many...dropped the damn thing plug...(don't talk to wife while working on bike)

No cold start instruction, I should have asked...when you say flood out the carb, what exactly do you mean?

I should have prefaced all of this with my lack of experience with a norton....I've put it together, paid for things that was over my head, and the last bike I kicked over was A 125cc dirt bike in the early 90s :shock:

Hobot · Oct 3, 2013

Ok feels like me, ugh. Ya know it will start and run so nothing real bad wrong. Check there spark on both sides, hold Amal tickle buttons down till first weep shows as that mean the pilot mix chamber topped off [if Miki carb toggle the enricher on] then bring to TDC and fast step down on closed throttle once, if no joy crack throttle 1/8-ish and step down again, if no joy, hold WOT and kicker with pissed off vigor. May repeat this cycle as I've found mine to be fuel hungry on first cold starts but then just key on and step on no throttle starts till stone cold again. Proper Cdo tune is too rich if don't need a tickle or choke on first starts after a rest. May want to put a clean flame by cig lighter or propane on each plug a few seconds before trying again. Also check your kick lever fastening now too.

Chili · Oct 3, 2013

All of the above, and Just a minor thing, check the fuse! May have shorted when changing battery.
PS Guilty of the fore mentioned
Peter

Matt Spencer · Oct 4, 2013

Yea , was going to say ' someone mayve blown a fuse ' .

Cold Start , Gas on . Push tickler ( both ) stop immediately fuel emerges , or before . Push through 2 to 4 compresions . Push pistons up into compresion .
THEN ignition ON . Release kickstart & engage at to of travel . Leap skyward & get leg straight , so your weight throws things around ,

With a notch of throttle it should be running .

Pushing it throughs to prime the cylinders .

Useually if its been running in the past 10 to 30 minutes ( depends on the weather ) it dont need tickling , but sometimes you do just a bit - NOT FLOODED -
and push a cylinder or two through .

If you pay attention , youll figure when a cylinder fires first hit , or if its been dry .

concours · Oct 4, 2013

Mancunian said:
Red on +
Plugs dry,
I'll do a spark check after the gas vapours dry out...just unscrewed the bowl :/ a turn too many...dropped the damn thing plug...(don't talk to wife while working on bike)

No cold start instruction, I should have asked...when you say flood out the carb, what exactly do you mean?

I should have prefaced all of this with my lack of experience with a norton....I've put it together, paid for things that was over my head, and the last bike I kicked over was A 125cc dirt bike in the early 90s :shock:

The Amal carburetor design relies on a primitive but effective method of cold start enrichment, pushing down (and holding down) the tickler forces the float down allowing a "flooded" condition, giving additional fuel for starting. A choke slide is also used, but for cold engine RUNNING, not effective enough for starting.

donmeek · Oct 4, 2013

Kill switch?

dennisgb · Oct 4, 2013

donmeek said:
Kill switch?

You beat me to it...first thing that crossed my mind. All of us are engineers and looking for something bigger than it probably is...I've done the forgot the kill switch a million times

rx7171 · Oct 4, 2013

Assuming spark checks out with plugs held to head it sounds like fuel missing since plugs dry. So flooding ruled out.
However if two carbs hard to imagine both simultaneously having problem.
Maybe a squirt of starting fluid to confirm a fuel issue.

grandpaul · Oct 4, 2013

Call the shop and ask the mechanic for his exact starting

mjfriesen · Oct 4, 2013

it may have wet sumped since it left the shop and came home. drain the crankcase then top off the oil tank with fresh oil. a flywheel sitting in a quart or more of oil spins pretty slowly, and can be very difficult to start.

RennieK · Oct 4, 2013

did you fully charge the battery? check all electrical connections to rectifier, coils etc. by pressing on tightly, wiggling them. do you have points or electonic ignition?

Nortiboy · Oct 4, 2013

grandpaul said:
Call the shop and ask the mechanic for his exact starting

+1.

These bikes can fill the sump with oil overnight which makes it hard to kick over.

It will be something as simple as not tickling sufficiently. Hold the ticklers down until you get a drip of fuel from the bottom of the carby.

If you have spark at the plugs and fuel, it will go.

Mancunian · Oct 4, 2013

Thanks for all of the input! I've spoken with rick, he's run me through the procedure and I'm guessing I didn't flood the carbs well enough...I'll be home later tonight and will post my results.

I will say this however, to have a resource like this forum is amazing...I appreciate every response

Cheers
Manc

Mancunian · Oct 5, 2013

Not flooding the carbs! Got it running!!!!

Thanks again for the input

Nater_Potater · Oct 5, 2013

Yeah!!! There's nothing like the sense of accomplishment once you get all of that big iron running after all that struggling.
As Concours pointed out earlier, the chokes aren't much good for actual starting (read, you still need to tickle the floats), so most people, including myself, remove them entirely to avoid their randomly coming into play. With them being spring-loaded towards the "closed" position, they can play havoc with normal running. Keep the pieces, though. I wish I had...

Happy Trails,
Nathan

What am I doing wrong?!?

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