lotty
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Posts posted by lotty
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23 minutes ago, lotty said:
Another update. I began to get my wiring head on by reading the manual and just looking at the loom and the components. What a mess. looming tape falling off, odd wires here n there, dirty connectors, ancient repairs, tangles, and all oily dirty, the type of grime where badness resides. So I set about cleaning all the wiring, venturing into places never ventured ever before since day zero. It looked a bit iffy here n there. Other owners had clearly left their home made repair hacks over 50 years. But gradually I found this component and that component and got my head into it.
The big shock was under the seat where the main trunk of wires runs, it threads under the frame, ie right onto the top of the exhaust!, and under this frame cross member 8 of the 15 or so wires had melted into a solid block and many had corroded through........a real mess. Amazing anything had ever worked. I'd never noticed because It was just too dark and dirty under that bit. So I had to chop that section out and rewire that 4 inch section.
By this time my parts had arrived. I replaced the rectifier which was just a little one inch square bit of plastic which had 'blown', blistered open. I fitted a new battery. I used many new connectors. The whole thing started looking orderly and tidy, none of that grimy badness, just now happy goodness.
Eventually it was time to turn on the ignition and see what didn't work, but it did work.....indicators, stop lamp, horn, and neutral light. Fantastic. At last some reward and a weight off me.
Now there is just the head and tail light and however the battery gets charged. I realized this will need me to have the engine running, which means outside in the winter cold. I plan to try it, but if it needs some time on problems then I may have to wait till warmer weather. But for now I will take it outside and try the lights.
One other thing i did discover: I knew the two-stroke oil tank was showing low in its little window, so I topped it up; then for some reason i decided to just have a quick look at the oil pump and so took the cover off. As soon as i did all the oil spilled out all over the floor in one big flood...a mug full. I cleaned the oil pump and casing dry and went to top up again so i could see the leak....BUT nothing, no leak, tank still full. Bone dry. Not a drip! I left it for two days and still the same. So I think it must only leak when the engine is running. Anyway, I have bought new oil pump oil seals and gaskets and this is next weeks job. Saved a fortune in beer haha. Ps always had plenty of exhaust oil smoke, so haven't been running it 'dry'.
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Another update. I began to get my wiring head on by reading the manual and just looking at the loom and the components. What a mess. looming tape falling off, odd wires here n there, dirty connectors, ancient repairs, tangles, and all oily dirty, the type of grime where badness resides. So I set about cleaning all the wiring, venturing into places never ventured ever before since day zero. It looked a bit iffy here n there. Other owners had clearly left their home made repair hacks over 50 years. But gradually I found this component and that component and got my head into it.
The big shock was under the seat where the main trunk of wires runs, it threads under the frame, ie right onto the top of the exhaust!, and under this frame cross member 8 of the 15 or so wires had melted into a solid block and many had corroded through........a real mess. Amazing anything had ever worked. I'd never noticed because It was just too dark and dirty under that bit. So I had to chop that section out and rewire that 4 inch section.
By this time my parts had arrived. I replaced the rectifier which was just a little one inch square bit of plastic which had 'blown', blistered open. I fitted a new battery. I used many new connectors. The whole thing started looking orderly and tidy, none of that grimy badness, just now happy goodness.
Eventually it was time to turn on the ignition and see what didn't work, but it did work.....indicators, stop lamp, horn, and neutral light. Fantastic. At last some reward and a weight off me.
Now there is just the head and tail light and however the battery gets charged. I realized this will need me to have the engine running, which means outside in the winter cold. I plan to try it, but if it needs some time on problems then I may have to wait till warmer weather. But for now I will take it outside and try the lights.
One other thing i did discover: I knew the two-stroke oil tank was showing low in its little window, so I topped it up; then for some reason i decided to just have a quick look at the oil pump and so took the cover off. As soon as i did all the oil spilled out all over the floor in one big flood...a mug full. I cleaned the oil pump and casing dry and went to top up again so i could see the leak....BUT nothing, no leak, tank still full. Bone dry. Not a drip! I left it for two days and still the same. So I think it must only leak when the engine is running. Anyway, I have bought new oil pump oil seals and gaskets and this is next weeks job. Saved a fortune in beer haha
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I was also awake, pottering, turning, thinking and wondering if a decompressor helps navigate a tricky bit of terrain like a rocky drop where much control and finness is desired and a decompressor could help by being able to keep the bike in low gear without having any power on or stalling. So it seems none of us win a warm feeling in the pit of our stomach....haha
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Thanks NEO. that DVLA info is very helpful indeed, and that insurance sounds just right.
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Thanks for that NEO. I myself can only think there must have been a good reason why the designers would have put in an extra spark plug hole, so it's still a bit of a mystery.
For some reason i never ever have ridden a trials bike. I watched them a lot, but that riding never appealed to me, though that tv programme 'Junior Kickstart' presented by Peter Purves was very watchable. It seemed a very different skill, and they had a little lever on the handle bar to decompress, and i suppose the use of it would only be known to a trials bike rider. But maybe even a DT in certain situations could benefit from a decompressor. But I don't know. Doug
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Its been a few years since i rode my DT 175 1974, but now I can't wait again. But things have changed a bit i gather, that I don't need to tax it and MOT it, but will need to insure it.
Do I have to register the bike with dvla as historic? Can I get very low cost historic insurance as probably only do 100ish miles a year?
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The top of my DT 175 cylinder head has a port for the spark plug going in vertically, but it also has another port going in at 45 degrees (blanked off with a bolt). The only thing I can think of is for a decompressor which if I remember rightly was to help kick over large engines, and I seem to remember as a young lad that some of the trials bikes had decompressors.
So, what is that 45 degree 2nd port for, and how are decompressors used when riding trials bikes? The correct answer wins a good feeling in the pit of their stomach, haha. Doug
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Just an update. I bought a bike stand, the scissor type, so can get the flywheel to eye height, sat on stool. Superb, on castors, too. I have forensically cleaned the whole thing. No I am psyching myself up for the light electrics.
I'm rubbish at posting pictures, but this youtube is totally identical in EVERY way, though mine has an 18inch rear wheel and 21inch front; this one looks like they are both 18inch, but probably the photo, so may as well post it. This bike looks in good condition, but cannot be better than mine. You would struggle to find a square mm of rust anywhere, and it is ALL original totally. It runs totally wick, like this one. I can't wait. It's been six years since i last rode it. It has done 6.5k genuine miles (I had to change the original perished tyres).
Ps, my headlight is cream, and my chain guards and back brake bar are orange.
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Well, the fat lady sang, but she didn't make the grade.
Carb kit came. New o-ring on main jet and spang into life on 2nd kick.
It's been an ordeal.....for me....pushed and tested me. But at my age I've got used to how it can be. I am very grateful for the support here and rex's for the coils rewind. Life certainly throws 'em at a person. I'm drained, haha. Thanks everyone.
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Just a quick post to put this thread to bed. So the stator got rewound, the three coils and all cleaned up and re-wired and tested. A superb job by Rexs Speed Shop. I also purchased a new old stock flywheel magneto ( My old flywheel was stamped F-140, as is this new one, which means, according to the manual, that my bike is a UK series DT175. If it wasn't UK series it would be a CT175 and be stamped F-130) because i needed a new advance/retard which sits in the bottom of the flywheel.
I wired it up and put it all together. Very difficult as always to set the points because so awkward and at the highest point the contact gap can be seen but the adjustment screw can't be got to! Anyway, I took a stab at it and kicked over for a spark.........which I got.....hooray. So it should work, BUT, with the plug in I kicked it over and eventually determined that no fuel is getting through at all, so I am having to service the carb before I can start the engine. But it should work. The stator coils rewind and re-wire is a good job and i'm sure it is right, just like new and all tested with the results.
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Thanks, just the advice i need to begin the journey. The magneto is coming tomorrow. I'll get it all working and get familiar with the wiring and then try what you wrote and post how it has gone or is going so far. A great little winter job. It's a superb bike, great nick, untouched. I'll get my girlfriend to work out how i can show photos of the bike.
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My headlight and tail light bulbs blow within a minute. I don't know much, but do know some. It wasn't the earth. These two lights get their electricity straight from the magneto, not via the battery. So I reckon it is basically that the voltage regulator isn't working right, and that is what is blowing them. I think it is under the tank.
I'm sorting a little problem with my magneto at the moment, so i know the lighting coils are good and so is the condenser, so i would like to just continue a bit further and get the headlight and tail light working. I suppose the best thing would be to replace the parts like the regulator and whatever. I wouldn't be able to test them, and i can't keep blowing bulbs to see.
So, to do this job, what should I order? I'll try myself, for certain, but if anyone can help with some advice i would welcome that very much. Doug
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Cheers pal. It's on its way. What a good do. I really appreciate your help. Nice one.
It does pass quick. Was all chatting the other day at my daughter's. Age came up. I looked at her and casually said, 'Well you're knocking on a bit now. what are you, 34'. Her face. Stunned. First time she'd ever heard anything like that about her. She said 'Yes'. I said, so your are only five and a bit years off forty!'. Suddenly she was almost 40! Ha ha. I did use this to make an important point, saying 'If there is anything you want to do, do it, don't hang about'.
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Hi NEO and Cynic. Yes, the advance and retard arm. That picture of it in the flywheel it right. Cynic, sorry i couldn't find the picture on fb......it's me, I'm hopeless.
I need another advance and retard arm. At least i know what it is I'm seeking. Not going to be easy. If anyone knows of a possible one then please let me know.
On my damaged one (beyond repair), on the arm was some black plastic which I reasoned was debris fallen from the plastic coating of the magnets, so that is something to keep an eye on...chunks fall off and into the mechanism and could have caused the damage.
So thank you. The advance retard arm. And thank you for explaining the reason for it and how it works.
PS. I used to have a 175 mx. Sold my AP50 and got the mx all ready for my 17th birthday. A superb bike. My 4 other mates all sold their mopeds and got MXs. We drilled an extra hole in the monoshock to get em a bit higher. They were great bikes. We'd all shoot off over Pendle Hill and stuff. Take our baffles out and blast round muddy fields firing mud all over eachother. Even in the snow going home from the factory, cars and buses skidding sideways, and we'd go back over the tops riding through drifts. Great days.
Once again, thanks. Doug
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I'm on my way to making my magneto good again. It is a 1975 dt 175. A component in the magneto had come out of place and so as the bike was kicked over it caught on the coils and damaged them and bent itself. So I have had the coils re-done, a good job at Rex's. So all there is now is to replace the component that did the damage; the trouble is that i have no idea what it is called, and neither can I find any pictures/diagram drawings of it. So I will try to describe it in the hope someone can know what I am on about and what it is called.
How can i begin? Well, I am taking about the actual flywheel with the magnets around. In the center of this is a tapered shaft, and with the slot an woodruff key it would snugly and accurately locate onto the stator plate, BUT whilst this happens, there is a sleeve with a cam which fits onto this taper and this spins freely on it. Sounds nuts because the cam needs to be fixed in position.....BUT in the back of the flywheel is a component, a sort of arm that rocks and is fixed to the bottom of the flywheel by a plate which screws it down in place. In the cam sleeve is a little cut-out square, and the rocking arm end fits into this cut-out square, loosely. So this is what holds the cam in place.
Does anyone have any idea what the hell I am on about? Doug
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Ha ha............'if my magneto should stop revolving......'. Ball and chain did the photobucket stuff, ha ha.
Thanks about mi hotmail account link.....think sorted it.
It's just too difficult, the cookies, the hoops, the this, the that, and often still doesn't work. I can't take it anymore....'I'm as mad as hell and I'm not gonna take it anymore!'. Ha ha.
I'll just get 'em rewound. Seen something ont internet...rex's or something. Tried to email them but got email saying undeliverable. But I'll plod on and get there. Thanks for your views and replies. Wish I could have done the pics as it would have been interesting to follow the job through.
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Thanks for reply Blackhat. Shame no pics showing. They do for me. I don't know how to show them. I'll email them if you'd feel ok about that. The pics tell the tale well.
In the actual flywheel, screwed to the base, is a 'thing' that has a rocking thing on it and this rocking thing has come off it and got lodged so as when i kicked it over it was taken round by the flywheel and chewed up the three coils on the stasis plate. It just skimmed them enough to cut top layer of copper wires. The condenser and points are ok as it missed them. I'll have to replace the coils, but would be hard to find, so think will have to have em rewound. I can find places in the US, but not so sure who would be good to rewind them in UK, so maybe you might be able to recommend a place.
As to that 'rocker thing', I'll have to replace that, but I don't know what it is called to get one. Shame about the pics. This computer stuff just baffles me. insert image from URL....to my brain. Ha ha, you've got to laugh.
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Advice/thoughts please. Should I just get these rewound, and if so who'd be good to do it? Or could i buy a replacement? Or maybe electronic ignition?
I don't know a lot, so even if it is simple let me know please. inside the flywheel the cam runs free. This must need to be held in place. So there is a little hole in the bottom of the cam and then the retarder (I think it is called something like that), and which you can see failed and the arm of it came loose and chewed up the coils. Well, that little arm should go into that hole to hold it in place??? I'll need another one of those or have to make the old one do, but what are they called?
Anyway, here's the pics
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Cheers. Thanks for that info. I didn't know that they can so easily cut keys from the lock.
I think I will try a yamaha dealership first. Thinking about it a bit more, I suppose with the number they should be able to do it. It's just that with an old bike you think that there's no chance.
What I would really like is a skeleton key that will open any lock in the world.......the idea of one of those facinated me as a kid.
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I have a 1974 dt 175, but the key it came with was not the original, which works the ignition switch, but not the petrol cap or the steering lock, all of which have the same number stamped into them, so I presume one key did the lot. It would be good to have such a key, if only for the steering lock. But is it possible to get such a key cut from the number stamped on the locks and switch?
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Well, I'm just bumping this thread up to say how i got it going, as it may help someone.
I was a bit stumped. I noticed the battery was down so thought I may as well charge it. As I was doing this a connector dropped down the air intake, and it got me thinking about air. The filter was all ok, but I decided to screw in the air screw on the carb, and then wound it out again between 1.5 to 2 turns (which is what the book says). I then decided to take the back of the exhaust off to check the baffles, which were ok, but I noticed some play in the exhaust, finding that it was a bit loose at the engine pot, so I fit a new gasket and kicked it over and it ran fantastic. It is a good bike.
I think that it was just suffering from some neglect in terms of keeping it serviced and everything set correctly. Oil was certainly needed in the flywheel's moving parts, especially the rocking thing, as it was wearing away. I suppose it is true what Fred Dibnah used to say, 'All you need is one little tiny drop of oil, but if you haven't then you are f********'.
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Well, I've got the new points in and everything set and tightened up, and am getting a good healthy spark. It started first time, as it always (normally) has, and ran well, but again, only for about ten seconds. I took the plug out to check the spark, but nothing, the plug was wet, so I checked with a new plug and there was a good spark and it ran again, but for ten seconds.
I have taken the plug out and left the pot to breath for a day, and will give it another go later......it was 1am when I got it running, so I couldn't keep trying.
In a way, this is basically where I was when the thing stopped in the quarry. I was getting a spark then...but, as i'd kicked it over a fair few times, when I took the plug out I expected it to be drenched, but it was dry!
The points were in a bad way, so it is all better now, but basically the same thing seems to be happening as when it cut out in the quarry, I could manage to get it running for a few seconds and then it just dies.
In the quarry, when the plug was dry, I naturally thought it was the carb, which i took off and checked over and put back on.
I am thinking that it could be something to do with the carb being set up wrong, or the throttle cable not beind right (affecting the needle not being right position in the carb, perhaps).
I'm going to wait until Saturday pm when i can get it outside and, if it starts, which it should, keep the revs on for a good long time, if I can.
But, it baffles me because these things are essentially so simple that it should work without any mysteries.
Why is it running for only 10 seconds and yet coming out with a wet plug, so there must be petrol? Perhaps there is too much petrol going in, and maybe this could be the needle in the carb letting too much in.....this may sound daft, but I'm a beginner, really, in the scheme of things.
I could take it to someone, but I want to learn, and I want the challenge.
Anyway, I'll have another bash tomorrow. But if anyone has any suggestions they are certainly most welcome, and don't assume that I will have covered obvious bases. I could be missing something really basic, so any suggestions are welcome.
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Yes, Colne in Lancashire. We have chatted before, about 3 years ago. I think you said that you had been through Colne on your way to The Lakes once?
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Yes, It's probably best to get one. I'll do that. It's amazing how much you begin to learn by getting stuck into a challenge like this one I have. I'm actually really enjoying the challenge rather than it frustrating the hell out of me. It's all the more pleasurable to be able to chat about the job. I should make this a regular haunt......even when my bike is running, not that i feel i have much in the way of helpful advice or hints to give, but it is good to be a part of the group. Keep up the good work, Cheers.
How are decompressors used?
in The Bar
Posted
Dear Cynic. Well, after all, I reckon the truth is we are all stumped. It's a come down for us all, perhaps. I mean, we just don't know. It's a leveler. Tough deep down. But....well.....er......at least we are 16 again haha x