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PostPosted: December 17, 2016, 8:29 pm 
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Location: Summerville, SC
You guys know I swapped the 7 "OOPS" with Chad Summey for his sports racer.
Well here she is Chilling in the Too Busy garage where she's been sitting neglected, totally ignored for the past couple of weeks since the swap
Attachment:
1a.JPG


Today was a BEAUTIFUL DAY in SC. Temps in the mid 70s, sunny, and FINALLY had a chance to step out to the garage after lunch.

So I unloaded her from the trailer, pulled the body and set her on jack stands.
Once up on stands I pulled out the seat to gain some leg room. I'll have to make a seat pan, but pretty sure I'll be happy as a clam without the seat in there.
Attachment:
IMG_0150.JPG


Then I adjusted the carbs a little richer to account for the extra air at sea level and the cooler temps and.....
Attachment:
its alive.png



Just a short little run video
https://youtu.be/EgIG6sktwnY


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Too much week, not enough weekend.

OOPS I did it again
http://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=17496

Blood Sweat and Beers
http://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=15216


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PostPosted: December 18, 2016, 9:45 pm 
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Seeing it without the bodywork and hearing it fire up, makes me wish that's the old owner in Florida had sold it to me!

Congrats on the new toy. Looks like lots of fun to be had.

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PostPosted: December 19, 2016, 6:59 pm 
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A little garage therapy today. I took the Kirkey seat out to gain some legroom. That left me with a need for a seat of some sorts. The bulkhead had a bit more recline than I really wanted, so time for some mods.

First drill out the old rivets and vacuum out the gravel that accumulates in the cockpit with sticky tires. Then I removed the rear bulkhead and found a little mouse house. That had to go.
I unlbolted the bulkhead supports and drilled a couple of new holes to change the angle about 5 degrees more upright. That put the bottom of the bulkhead 1 1/2 inches further back and gave me the legroom I needed to be comfortable.

Next up was fabbing a seat pan from leftover aluminum from the 7. A couple of cuts, a couple of bends, and 3 beads for stiffness.
Attachment:
seat 3.JPG


I re used the bulkhead, but made all new shut panels / firewall pieces out of fresh 050 gage stock.
Attachment:
seat 1.jpg


Last item was a bit of support for my upper back and neck. More 050 aluminum and 3 more beads for stiffness. It'll get riveted top and bottom, so it's not going anywhere.
Attachment:
seat 2.jpg


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Too much week, not enough weekend.

OOPS I did it again
http://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=17496

Blood Sweat and Beers
http://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=15216


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PostPosted: December 19, 2016, 7:33 pm 
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Love your builds. Drive on!


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PostPosted: December 20, 2016, 8:39 am 
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John Hancock wrote:
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Yeah, what HE said!!! :mrgreen:


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PostPosted: December 20, 2016, 10:46 am 
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Thanks guys. I have to make a decision as to what I want to work on today work on carbs or work on wiring.

Yesterday the temps were down in the low 40's and I couldn't get the 2 stroke to start. I don't want to constantly be chasing jetting, so I'm looking for advice on how to solve a cold start problem.

I can tear the carb down, and check all the diaphragms, gaskets, and adjust needle and jetting. Probably a reasonably good idea for two reasons; first get familiar with the carbs, and second just a double check that all is well in there. I have the Arctic Cat engine manual which has suggestions for jets needles and tuning as a starting point.

Option two is to add a primer kit. The F500 had a simple push pull primer installed. pump three times on first start and fire that baby up in any kind of conditions. Doing a little bit of reading, this seems like a good idea, but I;m looking for advice from you guys. I'm about the least experienced 2 stroke guy on the planet.

As for the wiring, it's all there, but a bit messy and it appears there are some extra wires that I don't know what purpose they used to serve. My initial approach is going to be simple; ignition, fuel pump, water temp, and EGT. Down the road tach and speedo may come on board just so I get to see the extra info.
The core wiring is already robust thanks to Chad. Battery connections, battery shutoff, battery tender, and starter are rock solid. I just need to be certain all is well with the connections to the MSD box so that it isn't a contributing factor to hard starting.

Of course we have a minor crisis at work and my phone has been blowing up this morning. :BH:
Looks like I get to deal with a few calls to sort out the mess and head for the garage around 11:30.

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Too much week, not enough weekend.

OOPS I did it again
http://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=17496

Blood Sweat and Beers
http://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=15216


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PostPosted: December 21, 2016, 8:00 am 
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That idea of hitting the garage around 11:30, yeah, that didn't go as planned. :BH:
One of my major projects is in trouble and likely going to be in full crisis management mode all through Christmas and the first two weeks of January. I'll be living in Wisconsin and Minnesota following parts and expediting, all because the plant quality group didn't approve a supplier PPAP for 4 weeks. Not only did they not approve, they didn't tell anyone there was an issue. We have calls every week to monitor progress to the timeline and NOT ONCE in 4 weeks have they said the PPAP was sitting idle.
Now it's crunch time and I have to push the supplier to ramp up and expedite so we can complete a 3000 piece build for Ford engineering to deliver by January 6th.

Enough about work.... just needed to vent a little.

So I hit the garage and pulled the exhaust. Pipes puked oil and spooge when the exhaust came off, so I know it hasn't been running hot enough to burn the excess oil.
Then pulled the carbs and set them aside. I reached out to a local buddy from my SCCA club who used to race dirt bikes. He knows 2 strokes and carb tuning pretty darn well. We're getting together after Christmas to play with the carbs.

So I moved on to the next task of reworking the wiring. Right now I'm kicking myself a little for throwing away the excess wire and bits from when I got the 7 going. Now I get to run out and buy stuff I tossed a couple of weeks ago during garage clean up.
Oh well c'est la vie

As I unbundled the wiring I found several mystery wires; some hot, some ground, some just there and not terminated on either end...
It's all coming out one wire at a time.

Started with a fresh ground connection from MSD box and coils to engine.
Then a new power wire to the fuel pump and a new power wire to the MSD box.

Today I'm going to run main fused power from battery lug on the starter solenoid to switches on the dash for fuel pump, ignition on, and start. The tach / temp / hour meter will be my main gauge for now.
With wiring done up second project will be to check static timing and record settings in the MSD box.

Right now it's time for a little more coffee before I call work and rip into someone for not doing their job and screwing up my Christmas vacation.

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Too much week, not enough weekend.

OOPS I did it again
http://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=17496

Blood Sweat and Beers
http://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=15216


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PostPosted: December 26, 2016, 11:51 am 
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Monday 12/26 I'm back home in SC today and going to spend a bit of time out in the garage later, but first, a pre Christmas /Christmas update.

Wednesday afternoon I was out in the garage working on deciphering the MSD box dip switch settings.
I had tidied up the wiring and checked park on all 3 cylinders as noted in the Dumb 2 stoke questions thread. Anyway, neck deep into the manual and looking back and forth with the manual and MSD box as I run through all the settings to see how the PO wanted it to run.
About 5 or 6 switches into the first bank, Wifey Dearest sticks her head into the garage and starts a conversation something like this:

WD: Why can't we pick up Baby Girl in Charlotte on the way to Greensboro?
Me: Well, it doesn't work that way, if you jump off your itinerary early the airlines cancel the rest of your trip. It's their way of keeping you from buying a ticket to a low cost city that passes through where you want to go and just hopping off.
WD: Ok, but she's coming through Charlotte, we could just...
Me: Doesn't work that way. They'll cancel her return.
WD: How much longer are you going to work on that?
Me: About 15 minutes longer than I was, I have to start over now. I forgot where I was.
WD: Into house, slams garage door

Fast forward 10 minutes I'm back on track and starting to understand the initial advance curve point and rev limiter settings
WD: Are you sure about the airlines canceling flights
Me: Yes, go google it
WD: slams garage door

Fast forward 5 minutes
WD: What if she has two one way flights?
Me: She can do whatever she wants, they can't cancel her return.
WD: How much longer are you going to work on the car?
Me: (Kind of PO'd at this point.) Screw it I'm done. Every time we do this I lose track of where I was.
WD: SLAMS garage door

I commence to putting away tools and straightening up so I can come back after Christmas to a clean start point.
30 minutes later car is packed and we're on the way to Charlotte

FF to Christmas Day. We get up at my sister's house like we always do, open the stocking stuffers, have our traditional breakfast with Sis and BiL (country ham, bacon, scrambled eggs, biscuits and gravy)
Off we go to Nanie's house to meet up with Wifey Dearest's side of the family for the rest of Christmas tradition... Open presents, enjoy our HUGE RIDICULOUS lunch, then whole family out for a walk, or as my Son calls it "The forced death march". it's been cold, miserable, wet, and or snowy in years past, so that's where the name originated.

We get 2 blocks down and hop off the street onto the golf course. Family all gathers up for a pic, we break into smaller groups of 2 or 3 and start off.
brother in law has his 100lb Labrador who is just yanking on his leash wanting to be loose. brother in law turns dog loose, throws tennis ball directly over the rest of us and DUMB PHUKKING DOG roars through from behind and cut my legs out from under me.
I go ass over teakettle and land flat of my back on the golf cart path.
I hear things crackle as I hit the ground and can't breathe

Spend the rest of Christmas day in the ER. Thankfully no broken ribs, just a bruise on my back the size of a salad plate and it hurts to do anything.

Headed out to lunch with my kids in a few minutes. May slowly amble out to the garage late today for a bit or may just hold off for tomorrow and hope I don't hurt as much.

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Too much week, not enough weekend.

OOPS I did it again
http://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=17496

Blood Sweat and Beers
http://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=15216


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PostPosted: December 26, 2016, 2:00 pm 
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Quote:
Option two is to add a primer kit. The F500 had a simple push pull primer installed. pump three times on first start and fire that baby up in any kind of conditions.


This sounds like a good option. My earlier suggestions about taking everything apart and going through it was sort of based on you not being able to get it to start up. If cold weather seems to be the only problem installing the primer seems fine. No need to take it apart until you feel you need to change something.

You should run it regularly every few weeks or drain the carbs for storage...

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PostPosted: December 26, 2016, 4:42 pm 
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I had a dragster with Hilborn fuel injection. I had a small electric fuel pump with a momentary toggle switch plumbed into the fuel line to prime the motor.


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PostPosted: January 8, 2017, 8:13 pm 
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Update
Haven't really done much since breaking my ribs.

All updates have been in the Dumb 2 Stroke Question thread.

I got it running enough to know it needs new rings.
Ordered rings, rebuild gasket kit, new V Froce reeds, and a gallon kit of Chem Dip parts cleaner. It's been over a week and so far only the reeds and Chem Dip have arrived. :BH:

Things are heating up on the Casa Busy sale and I'm rapidly running out of time. The deal on the house we were planning to buy fell apart on Friday, but we still have to be OUT of Casa Busy on Wednesday, February 15th.

Wifey Dearest and I spent all weekend looking for houses. Planned budget is blown and now our first question if we like a house is "Can we close in 30 days?"

We've been busy as beavers selling extra stuff since we're downsizing. Dining room set, kitchen table, futom, entertainment center, 3 bookshelves, and some small stuff all gone today.

Drug time as the ribs are on fire.

Tight lines.

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Too much week, not enough weekend.

OOPS I did it again
http://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=17496

Blood Sweat and Beers
http://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=15216


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PostPosted: January 8, 2017, 9:35 pm 
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TooBusy wrote:
Planned budget is blown and now our first question if we like a house is "Can we close in 30 days?"

.



I cam answer that question and I don't even know what you're buying or where. Back in 2010 the Super Majority passed the Dodd-Frank Act which supposedly was all about Wall Street. Unfortunately it wasn't limited to Wall Street.

Under the mortgage laws portion of that act they give mortgage lenders a set of time frames that all of us have to work under. For instance you can't do a real loan application until after you've written a contract and we can't order the appraisal until 3 days after loan application, and this list goes on & on.

So I just was compiling end of year stats and found out that we only had 2 closings all year in 30 days. National numbers say the average closing takes 52 days (national numbers). We find that rushing things we can get 35-40 days. And by rushing things I mean that the title company cooperates, the appraiser (who has 21 days if he wants to take them) gets things done in a week to 10 days, there are no changes to the contract or terms later, etc., etc.

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PostPosted: January 8, 2017, 10:29 pm 
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I'm hoping that we'll be able to close quickly using the 100% down payment plan. :wink:

We decided to shift some stuff around to free up enough cash to buy the house. We'll re-shuffle to put things back in order after our current house sells / closes on 2/15.

We've found a house we like and wrote up an offer this afternoon. We have 2 backup properties lined up that we like if we can't come to an acceptable price on the one we like most.
2 of the 3 properties are empty and have been on the market between 90 and 100 days. The 3rd is the one we like most. Seller's agent says they can be out in two weeks (Air Force officer moving to a new post). This one has been on the market since September, asking price is a few thousand over market. We offered market, so we'll see what happens.

We've got our inspector, title search agent, and closing attorney lined up and we're hoping to :cheers: week of January 30th.

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Too much week, not enough weekend.

OOPS I did it again
http://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=17496

Blood Sweat and Beers
http://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=15216


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PostPosted: January 9, 2017, 2:08 pm 
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So the Emergency Room bill from Christmas arrived today. $1100 because of my idiot brother in law and his dog.

That was the ER visit that said I DIDN'T have broken ribs. The trip to Doc in a Box a few days later for more X Rays to confirm they were broken was another $300 and change.

I should mail him the bills.
Stupid dog. :BDH:

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Too much week, not enough weekend.

OOPS I did it again
http://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=17496

Blood Sweat and Beers
http://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=15216


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PostPosted: January 15, 2017, 7:36 pm 
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Take Two update

Yesterday I hit the garage with all of my new top end rebuild parts. I had the pistons soaking in Chem Dip for a week to remove the carbon buildup. Took the pistions out, brushed them with a medium bristle toothbrush and they look great. I took advice from a couple of guys who know more about two strokes than I do and sanded, then polished the piston crowns. 2000,400,1000 grit paper then red buffing compound on a cloth wheel. I didn't take them to mirror finish but a good high gloss. Set those aside for later.

Grabbed the heads and flatted them. 400 grit paper on Wifey's marble top sideboard in the dining room. (She was gone of course) :wink:

Then grabbed the cylinders and honed them with 500 grit stones and light oil. I honed them just enough to deglazed the cylinder walls and re-establish a light cross hatch pattern. I mic'd them afterwards and couldn't measure a difference.

After honing they got the same decking treatment as the heads. End result nice and flat. Should be able to get a good seal with metal to metal plus the O-rings.

Then into HOT soapy water. Wifey still wasn't home and I thought about putting them in the dishwasher. Used the sink instead and good thing because as I was moseying back to the garage with my freshly washed parts she was pulling in the driveway. The dishwasher would have another 30 minutes left on it's cycle and I'd be busted.

With everything clean it was time to gap the rings. They all checked at 12-14 thousandths right out of the box, so no filing needed.

Reassembled, torqued everything to spec, set the carbs at 1 turn out on the pilot fuel needle, jets at 330, needle 1 notch to the rich side. Timing at 26 BTDC and 7 degrees retard. It started on the second try and all 3 cylinders firing
:yay:
I brought it up to temp and had it running for a little while. No leaks, no problems
That was all for yesterday.

This morning I decided to see If I could getting closer to correct running
Regapped the plugs
Put in 350;s
ran better but not there yet

Set the needles to full rich
ran better but not there yet.

Checked my messages at the arctic cat forum and had timing settings from one of the race guys
32 to 36 initial advance
retard all the way to 15 at 8500 rpm
set over rev limit at 9250

Ho Leeeee Chit
it SCREAMS like a banshee now Still need bigger main jets or put on some restriction in front of the carbs to richen it up a little more.

I backed off the timing and rev limit to 20 degrees full and 8000 rev limit until I get the carbs a little closer. No sense in melting it down before I get to run it.

:yay: :yay: :yay:

I sett he body on and called it a day.
Off to mexico tomorrow for work, then a bit more tuning next weekend before I start packing Casa Busy for the move.

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Too much week, not enough weekend.

OOPS I did it again
http://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=17496

Blood Sweat and Beers
http://www.locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=15216


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