[toomanytoys2]

Man what a difference. Since I am waiting on my cam, I decided to get all the work done on the intake and exhaust systems. Finished them up, and it feels like a totally different engine. Remember that my engine is a very tired stock unit, and it only has 120 lbs. of cylinder pressure instead of the 200 lbs. that it is supposed to have. Previously the engine would not even begin to top out in high range. Now it scoots up to about 8,200 as indicated on the tach. I can only hope that it makes as much of an improvement on the finished engine.

The carburetor worked really well, and my guess on jets was pretty close. Right now it’s on the rich side, and that’s where I want it. I did have to come up with a solution for the throttle cable though. Due to its location on the carb, I had to get a long universal cable that had a 90 degree bolt on connection on one end, so it would clear the head. One feature that I really like about the carb, is that the choke is an automotive flap style, with a built in fast idle cam. This makes starting a breeze, and I can use it if I think that the jetting is lean at the tuning stage. I had to trim a little off of the intake manifold, then the carb and filter fit like a glove. I ended up with about 1” clearance from the back of the seats.

To activate the choke, I went low tech. I am using the throttle lever and cable from a lawn edger. I will be mounting it on the left side of the shifter bracket, with the lever down, choke off, pull up, choke on.

The exhaust pipe took a little fudging, but it worked out pretty close to where I wanted it. At the head pipe, I have about 10” of 1-1/4” tubing, and it then transitions to about 5” of 1-3/8”. Then there is a slip fit junction of 1-1/2” that goes to the muffler. I went with a slip fit because the motor is mounted by rubber mounts, but the muffler is mounted to the frame. The slip fit will allow the pipe to have some give due to the different flex points.

The muffler is also rubber mounted. I welded a bracket to the frame and one to the wing. I went with two mount points because I felt that the muffler’s weight might put too much stress on the head pipe. On the rear muffler strap, I got lucky. I used a generator strap from an old VW bug, and it worked perfectly. The muffler is very quiet. In fact, there is far more intake noise, then exhaust noise.

I will probably be on hold for a little while until the cam comes in. I do have to replace the front spindle / A Arm bushings, and just a bunch of little stuff, but I also have to do some things around the property. Plus I just bought my wife a new dirt bike and it needs to be stripped down on gone over before we do our annual Easter trip