Flash II Begins

[Wheelman-111]

Greetings:

Added pics of the retiring Flash I. I'll do my best to document Flash II's assembly. It's cleaner! Thanks for the kind words of support. I try to honor Soichiro-san when I can.

Now one thing's bothering me: I found an inoperative Spree with good plastics and restorable frame needing only a worthy engine. All for maybe $100. Hhmmmmm.

[Wheelman-111]

Greetings:

Got started at 10PM but had engine completely together last Thursday. Were it not for checking and installing the drive belt 4 (four) times, it would've gone quicker.

Carried the engineless frame upstairs to work without mosquitos in the boudoir. Slipped powerplant in and connected everything in under an hour. The stiff engine and 4-day idle battery nearly failed to kick over, but it started in about 4 seconds' cranking time.

Weird how two nearly-identical engines can sound so different! Maybe it's the compression thing, and it's not like the neighbors void tell the difference, but I can. Idled up for a minute, then took it twice around the parking lot at clutch speed of 5-7.5K. The jetting was pretty much sorted out on the Polini, and it ran quite well idling around to 25 or so.

Smells like a new engine, cooling now to await a real ride manana. Won't know about performance gain if any until I've run a tankful or 2.

[Wheelman-111]

Greetings:

This is what Scooter * must be like. Flash II - ported & gasketless Malossi edition - fired up fine again this morning. I decided to risk this untested Malossi bore with an easy 2-mile ride to work. I got about halfway there and it didn't sound right. Missing occasionally. Once in a while it made pre-ignition pinging sounds and didn't accept throttle very well. Turned back for home and car about halfway there. Nursed it back 25-30 MPH while watching temps. - expected it to run a little hotter than the broken-in Polini, and it stayed under 400 but above 350 almost all the way.

Nearing home it began missing worse and finally stalled. Quarter-mile push back to the apartment. Tried to start it again after it cooled, and aside from a brief stumble there was no ignition. I'll pull the plug tonight and assess. I'm hoping it's just that it needs a richer jet due to increased compression and the heat of a tight bore. Maybe I get lucky and it's just jetting or a plug foul, but right my hopes are low. I hate the thought of having to pull the engine again, but I may need to reinstall a proper base gasket if compression's the thing. I'll check the top edge of the piston for damage, along with everything else.

I feel like MadDog's label of "Breakanic" is apt at the moment.

[Wheelman-111]

Greetings:

Sometimes it's the simple stuff. I had visions of melted aluminum chips welded to the plug before I pulled it. Instead spark plug was Hershey brown and the coating had a bit of thickness to it despite the very short (2 mile) ride this morning. There was even a fleck of deposit chipped off the ground electrode, like baked-on oil. I suspect premature fouling from all that GN-2 smeared on during assembly.

Started on 2nd kick and didn't skip another beat during 3rd warmup. Power is at least as good as Polini.

I Like Simple.

[scooterwerx]

what heat range plug? unless its 100* out, i run the bpr7hs now, much less fouling...

[Wheelman-111]

Greetings:

It's Southeast Texas in May. It's always 100 degrees out!
Actually it was a slightly used, suspected defective BPR8 that I'd used for first startup on Flash I. It appears two oil-filled chambers was more than the NGK could burn off...



It also looks like my legendary (legendarily bad...) caulking skills have let me down again. A telltale drip of dark oil appears to be running down near the case centerline toward the oil pump. Has anyone ever got one of these to stay oiltight?

I put about 15 miles on the new Malossi bore after my last post. Again without skipping a beat, but the sound is definitely sharper and off-throttle coasting raspier and "burblier" than the Polini. I like it!

[GIJoeBob]

Cool!

Where are you in East Texas?

[scooterwerx]

hmmm, was the gasket installed dry or with a sealant? whats the torque spec between the case halves?

[Wheelman-111]

Greetings:

The case gasket seems to be oiltight. The drip is coming from above. I haven't pulled the shroud to see exactly where, but the drip is alongside but not touching the case half gasket. I think it's my lousy job applying the Permatex Copper base gasket stuff, but don't know for sure yet. Anyway, it's a fairly small trickle, greasy but frustrating. I like clean! Will monitor and correct if necessary.

[teeoce]

Good to hear that it was nothing serious. It is always nerve racking when you hope for the best but think about the worst.

[Wheelman-111]

Greetings:

Never doubt the Werx! My second new BPR8 just fouled out. I remember now that it's for "sustained WOT" which of course I'm avoiding during break-in. Same symptoms after 20 miles after the first plug went south. The oil looks like it might be coming from the exhaust port, so I'm off to dismantle and check.

[scooterwerx]

i had the same issue, the br8hs would foul quickly unless it was either raging hot out, or WOT all the time. check the exhaust gasket for leaks, the one i got from malossi needed some fine tuning....

[Wheelman-111]

Greetings:

Deepinnaharta = Beaumont, JoeBob.

The exhaust stud nuts were less than finger tight, which explains the weird sound thing in part. No other obvious leaks either. Wiped it down and will see if it's corrected.

Compression tested at 170 but no pinging and good power so far. 40 comes up quick.

I found #7 plugs at Provo Scooter for $3. Still needs messin' with the jettin' but feels good so far. Temp seems stable at 350, a little hotter than the Polini but with higher compression it's expected. Does the hotter plug change the temp reading?

[scooterwerx]

i get my plugs at auto zone, the MC shop never has the bpr7's. the different plug will affect temperature, but the reading on the gauge is not affected, a pounds a pound, you know? the kepps nuts work well for the exhaust, any sort of locking/interference nut with a flange will do. how does the plug look?

[Wheelman-111]

Greetings:

The plug was a bit dark if anything. Chocolate-y. Honda-san confirmed what you said about not having 7s. NGK does not list a BPR7 HSA at all. Are your plugs "BPR7 HS"? (With no "A"?)

I was thinking a colder plug more readily transmits straight through to the temp gauge, but agree that's a bit persnickity... There's little doubt that the engine will run hotter if it's making more compression and power, right? Just don't want the Dreaded Meltdown.

I had my Polini bore exhaust double-nutted, but didn't bother for the Malossi. I guess they just vibrated back out once the copper crushed. She's feexed.