Japan Meets Britain

Vince Lupo · Post by **Vince Lupo** » Mon Jul 20, 2015 7:41 am

True enough, but I was thinking more along the lines of 'which one is subject to direct air constantly blowing on it at speed?' The solenoid is kinda hidden behind the engine, so if any air is blowing on it, I'd have thought it would be blowing off the radiating heat of the engine.

Don't forget, though, I'm no mechanic, so I'm likely being more hopeful than anything :)

Vince Lupo · Post by **Vince Lupo** » Mon Jul 20, 2015 7:48 am

BTW I just tried starting the bike this morning, and it fires up instantly, and successive times.

My favourite problem -- an intermittent one!

G-Man · Post by **G-Man** » Mon Jul 20, 2015 8:04 am

Vince

The best sort..... :-)

Maybe it was just a dirty contact in the solenoid and a bit of use has cleared it. It's a nice light bike, easy to bump start, so it's not going to leave you stranded anywhere.

G

Vince Lupo · Post by **Vince Lupo** » Sun Jul 26, 2015 12:27 pm

Did a 145-mile ride today, and the starter is still acting up. When the engine is cool, the starter works. When it's hot, it doesn't. Hopefully John will pick it up this week and have a look.

Just checked my odometer, and as of today I've ridden 1100 miles this season. I'd love to plan an extended road trip, but I just don't think it's in the cards this year.

Vince Lupo · Post by **Vince Lupo** » Tue Jul 28, 2015 5:02 pm

John picked up the bike today, but before he took it away we tested the starter again. Rather than it starting immediately from cold, the solenoid simply emitted its 'click click click'. As John was depressing the starter button, I put my finger on that big screw that's right in the middle on the front of the starter -- it got hot! So something in the starter isn't right. I just hope I don't have to replace the entire starter -- the one that's on there was an NOS one that I got a few years back, and I know that NOS starters go for over $450, so I'd rather not have to do that again.

G-Man · Post by **G-Man** » Wed Jul 29, 2015 1:24 am

Vince

Probably a new set of brushes or a commutator clean-up will get it sorted.

G

Vince Lupo · Post by **Vince Lupo** » Fri Aug 07, 2015 10:28 am

Talked to Johnnie yesterday, and he found two thrust washers inside the starter that were broken. Fortunately they didn't do any damage, and he machined a set of new ones. Everything else checked out just fine, so other than the thrust washers the starter was good.

One thing he did find that wasn't good was my battery, of all things. I've been using the PowerSonic PT14B-4 battery, but I'm wondering if there's something better out there (with better storage capacity, higher CCA's etc). What are you guys using for batteries? What are the acceptable dimensions? I think the dimensions of the PowerSonic battery are 6"x2.8"x5.8".