New to 500's...a few issues....HELP! ALOHA!

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thekelzer
Posts: 77
Joined: Sat Oct 12, 2013 12:49 am

New to 500's...a few issues....HELP! ALOHA!

#1 Post by thekelzer » Sun Nov 17, 2013 4:56 pm

Aloha,

I'm dialing in a bike that's been sitting for 10+ years after being rebuilt by LanceGamma. I'm having a few issues..

Quick background: Bike has 13,800kms, was rebuilt 10 years ago and parked. After speaking to Rick Lance, he indicated the pistons and rings were left alone, but cylinders honed and new seals installed. Tommy Crawford pipes installed, K&N pods on elephant ears, stock carbs rejetted. I rebuilt carbs and adjusted float level to "new, updated " spec from factory service manual. . Bike sounds great on my lift, all cylinders about the same exhaust temp from infrared reader. Misfire under load only, not on bench. Plugs are NGK BR9HS (though 8's were in it when I took her apart). Lots of hot, steady throttle days, and hills in your typical ride, no traffic to speak of.

1. A really bad "stutter"/misfire between 4500 and 5500 rpm at ALL throttle openings under load, so I'm leaning towards an ignition issue.

2. Bottom end is really soft, softer than my RD400 was, no real "hit" until 8000 rpm.

3. Fouling plugs INSTANTLY...ok within 3-5 miles or less... 3 of 4 are toast and I'm limping home. Plugs don't get too dirty in such a short distance, so it's hard to tell exactly what is going on. I was thinking coils failing when warm, but 1 cyl (the same one all the time..front left..) keeps chugging along, when the rest are dead. And it looks great in color.

4. Spark (with new plugs) is so weak I need to close garage door to see it. Coils have an additional ground wire going to cyl head that P/O must have installed, definitely not OEM. Giving clue to prior spark issues....,

5. Cranking compression is about 80psi on all 4 cylinders. Seems low, but all are within 5psi....maybe still breaking in from rebuild?

6. Smoke was gnarly initially (after first fire-up in 10 years) but is barely a puff when warmed to operating temp and not noticeable much at all at idle any more.....there is smoke...but again, not as much as any of my other 2-smokes. Running Redline in the injector tank (bled)....as I do on all my bikes for consistency. Is this a "500" thing?

So anything stand out as extremely goofy?

Who makes a good coil set-up and is it necessary?

Mahalo,
Kelly

thekelzer
Posts: 77
Joined: Sat Oct 12, 2013 12:49 am

Re: New to 500's...a few issues....HELP! ALOHA!

#2 Post by thekelzer » Mon Nov 18, 2013 9:38 pm

Wow...strong forum...nothing to offer eh? Hello? Bueller? Bueller? Bueller?

Shoulda bought a Gamma I guess.... (c'mon, if THAT doesn't make someone reply...ha ha ha. ;-)

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nzminis
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Re: New to 500's...a few issues....HELP! ALOHA!

#3 Post by nzminis » Tue Nov 19, 2013 5:41 am

check what i said on 2 stroke world . thats a start

thekelzer
Posts: 77
Joined: Sat Oct 12, 2013 12:49 am

Re: New to 500's...a few issues....HELP! ALOHA!

#4 Post by thekelzer » Tue Nov 19, 2013 2:28 pm

nzminis wrote:check what i said on 2 stroke world . thats a start
I did, and I very much appreciate your help. I'm going to focus on the ignition first.

Kelly

pods on the ears do change the jetting ........Yes, I know, I stated jetting was changed.

you might need a set of ivan needles , i think they help with the midrange with pods......... My problem happens at all throttle openings as I stated....needles don't matter at WFO.

http://www.economycycle.com/servlet/the ... sh-/Detail
2 of those on the 500 will be good .
............ According to Dynatek directly, they do not have a kit for the 500. I gave him the coil specs and he suggested some coils and wires for me...but they don't have caps that will work? HUH? Anyway, will be ordering those.

bottom end is always goign to be soft .............Not softer than my 1974 Kawasaki KS125 Enduro...which will smoke this 500.

the check valves on the pump might be leaking when the bikes is off and dumping oil into the intake.............. I do not have a smoking issue, rather quite the opposite.

you could have a headgasket leak . its hard to tell . if you can do a cooling system pressure test ,do it ! the heads do warp. ............When a motor that has separate heads has virtually the exact same compression across all of it's cylinders, it's more than likely not going to be a head gasket.


i did see your post on the 500 forum thats the best place for your problems !
..........I thought so too.... :???:

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Gary Papesh
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Re: New to 500's...a few issues....HELP! ALOHA!

#5 Post by Gary Papesh » Tue Dec 24, 2013 1:40 am

any luck with your bike?
The man who dies with the biggest carbon footprint WINS !!!

thekelzer
Posts: 77
Joined: Sat Oct 12, 2013 12:49 am

Re: New to 500's...a few issues....HELP! ALOHA!

#6 Post by thekelzer » Thu Feb 13, 2014 3:12 am

Gary Papesh wrote:any luck with your bike?
The biggest problem was that it had sat for so long....

The more miles I put on it, the better it runs! The motor was a fresh (10 year old, zero mile) Rick Lance rebuild and not broken in yet. He is great to work with and steered me away from spending money on stuff I didn't need.

Love this bike....!!!

Aloha!
KK

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two-stroke-brit
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Location: Houston tx

Re: New to 500's...a few issues....HELP! ALOHA!

#7 Post by two-stroke-brit » Wed Sep 10, 2014 1:55 pm

only hear good things about rick lance :grin: .
She might not be pretty but always a fun ride !!

RZVTokyo
Posts: 149
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Location: Tokyo, Japan

Re: New to 500's...a few issues....HELP! ALOHA!

#8 Post by RZVTokyo » Fri Sep 19, 2014 12:37 am

Hi Kelly,

Are you located in Hawaii?

thunder938
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Location: Ohio

Re: New to 500's...a few issues....HELP! ALOHA!

#9 Post by thunder938 » Tue Oct 14, 2014 7:31 pm

Make sure you check the Coil brackets.I had one, lower, crack and break that cause a bad ground under load and it would misfire. at mid range but sounded great while parked

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