Suzuki K10P - Running!

After fighting a week spark and a motor that didn't want to come to life, I finally buckled and ordered up an $8 condenser for the Suzuki.  After some soldering and swearing, my weak spark instantly turned bright and fat, and after a little coaxing of the carb settings, I had a running Suzuki K10P for the first time ever.  Likely the first time this bike has run in over twenty years.

One happy man, one smokey bike

Miyata Assembly - Why Hello There!

It speaks!

Thanks to a new petcock from Treatland and a new 12v battery from Pep Boys, the Miyata started right up and ran great. I didn't even need to adjust the idle or idle mixture. The petcock uses a M16x1.0 bung, and luckily some Puch mopeds and Ducatis use this size. It threaded on like a champ, and thanks to a glass fuel bowl in the bottom, it is easy to see fuel flowing.

Now I get to turn my attention to all the little details, like getting some chrome re-finished, making a rear taillight, finding some rear turn signals, and new Miyata script logos for the side covers and handlebars. All the fun stuff.

Kawasaki Screams to Life!!!

I had been trying to get the Kawasaki to run for the past couple evenings. I had spark, and I managed to fill up the carb full of fuel using half of an old filter as a funnel and a piece of fuel hose. It acted like it wanted to try, but wouldn't quite start.

Today I got serious after installing the new exhaust. With just enough choke and throttle, it almost started. So I fiddled with the timing a little, and advanced it a smidge. Roughly 1-degree based on the mark on the flywheel. As it happens, that is all it took, as it instantly fired up and ran.

I immediately grabbed Susan and the digital camera, and had her take this short video. This is only the second time it ran, so it is extra smokey.

After 30 seconds of running, most of the smoke cleared. I needed to adjust the idle speed up a bit, and it would idle without the choke, and take throttle very cleanly.

Getting a bike running for the first time is always exciting!

It Runs!!!! Bridgestone BS-7 Content Inside

I got my NOS piston, ring, and head gasket in the mail this morning from http://www.scramblercycle.com/. So of course I immediately had to get them fitted to the bike. I still wasn't having much luck getting it to start, so I pondered. The carb sits at quite an angle on this bike, so I thought I might need to raise the float level up a little. I ended up going a bit too far, as it leaked out the overflow tube. But at least I knew it had plenty of fuel.

So I gave it a kick:

It fired right up and idle on the choke. After a few seconds it came off the choke and revved clean. Hell yeah! I still need to fiddle with the float level, and then I can run it down the road.

Holy Smokes!

After wiring up the Bridgestone with a simple on/off rocker switch, and running a fuel line with a small filter, I put a qt of premix in the tank and fired it up. It literally fired on the first kick, but died after a couple seconds. With a quick adjustment of the idle speed, it fired up and ran quite well with just a bit of choke. After 30 seconds, it didn't need a choke at all, and took throttle with a crisp bark of that typical 2-stroke bite:




Unfortunately I apparently stole the aftermarket throttle assembly off the Bridgestone to use on the Honda C110 project, so I had to blip the throttle by pulling the wire. I'll need to order up a new throttle assembly and figure out how to mount up the choke cable.



In summary: It RUNS!!!!