mikesail

And Kel is a great guy! I'd go for it in a heartbeat, the shock alone cost about a grand.

There is really no way a wiring error in the headlight can allow the voltage to increase above the battery/alt level. There are transients like the starter motor which could cause a spike, but not enough to hurt a bulb A fuse has so much margin that a voltage that would do this would not likely pop the fuse. I'm guessing that either the bulbs are incorrect in some way, or the charging system is putting out something like 20 to 24 volts. One more scenario would be excessive vibration of the bulb, if it was REALLY being hammered it could fail quickly. Hard to believe this could happen in our plastic housings. The RR is the only item that limits the charging voltage, so if the bulb is proper then my money is on the RR. It is quite possible that the RR unit works normally until it gets too hot, and then allows an overvoltage condition.

Sounds OK, unless it intermittently fails ( the bane of all troubleshooting...) Good idea to swap if you have a spare, that should answer the question quickly. It does take quite a bit of voltage to pop a bulb quickly. At 17 volts a Halogen bulb is very bright but still will run for at least several hours, in my experience.

Been a long time since I've looked at compression numbers, but my gut says that your rings are not too good if the wet number is 20 psi better than the dry. Is the leakdown tester calibrated to a bike motor? 10% numbers sound so-so for a big engine, not good for a small motor. the intake with 0.001 clearance is a big warning. If the valve(s) has not already burned, it will soon enough. Reshimming is critical for this tight a clearance. The valves which are off a couple of thou, or too loose are not such a concern, they will just have a minor effect on engine tuning. Did they really spend five hours on the Dyno???

Is that the output over the entire rev range, or at idle?? Make a measurement from idle all the way up to 6k or more, tell us what it does. If you can blow two bulbs in 15 minutes, it is hard to believe that your RR is working properly. Failure to regulate can be caused by the RR being bad, or by a poor connection.

Zinc plating is important to keep pipe from developing pin hole leaks from salt corrosion, I would think. Zinc fumes are very dangerous, must have good ventilation when welding. Are you good enough welder to join the thin wall pipe to AN fitting? If you weld it properly, I would not worry about long term problems.

Here is another possibility. Would it be possible to just put the new adjustable regulator downstream of the old one? If the outlet of the original regulator can hold off the new pressure, then a series connection should be ok. This is of course assuming that you wish to have a higher pressure than the stock setting.

My 2 cents....water in the line/fluid. Clutch fluid should not be affected by temperature. If not that, the only thing that really changes is oil temp, but how that should matter I don't know. Is it hard to shift as if the clutch does not feel fully engaged or just harder to move the lever? If you're pulling in the clutch the former should not be an issue. Because it changes the viscosity, and the clutch drag with it. Seriously doubt the clutch fluid is an issue.

The Datsun L series blocks have the bypass built into the casting, pretty sure that they specified a filter without an internal bypass. +1 Choosing a filter is pretty much like choosing a battery, if it is big enough it will work fine. How it fits is up to you.

First make sure the battery terminals are clean and tight. After that it is most likely battery as others have noted.

Mitch, I've got a few pulse generators that should do the job. I can't believe that it would take too long, most likely the odometer will still count at a rate of 1000 mph or so, might be fun to watch it tick over. I'm pretty much free with my time, and live in Tustin. Pm me your number and I'll drop by.

OK, lets continue. with the bike switch on, you see both turn signal indicators lit, right? And this is when it is NOT working, correct? next, when it is NOT working, 1. what happens when you push the start button, tell me of any changes. 2. what happens when you select either turn signal? After your reply, I'll try to look at the schematic and wiring harness on the race bike, see if I can direct this further.

From your first post >>>>noticed that pulling in the brake lever made the rear tail light go off and the rear flashers come on steady. The stop light bulb in the tail light is not working. The front turn signals do not blink. cudgel unscrewed the turn signal switch and we squirted alcohol into it, got some grit out, and lubed it with a WD40-type product. Reassembled it and noticed that now, with the turn signals "off", that pulling in the brake lever would kill the bike. We unhooked one of the brake lever wires so I could get home without stalling out. >>>>>> Randy, you are now describing a different sort of symptom. When you say that either everything works or it is dead, then things like the ignition switch or the main fuse ( do we have one? ) become the obvious culprits. The previous description of the bike shutting off when operating the brakes gives a very different suggestion of what is wrong. Lets start over and describe the symptoms that you have now. 1. key on. what happens? does it either all work or nothing? 2. when it does run, does anything else happen that is unexpected? I'm pretty sure your ECM cannot affect anything like this. an ignition switch problem will only do what turning the key on and off could do, except for the possibility that the switch is intermittent in which case things might flicker instead of dying outright.

Electricity does NOT travel on the surface for DC circuits. Your point is only valid for radio frequency circuits, nothing on the bike would be affected that way. Bad tarnish might suggest a problem with any crimped connections however.

I'll take the stator and exhaust gaskets if joe isn't. pm sent.

My original plugs are still in the bike, 49K so far. I've noticed that it takes a bit longer to start now, so I will take out the plugs and fit new ones soon. Runs just fine though.

hey Kel. +1000 on Dave Moss. I believe a year or so ago I mentioned my experiences with him at the track. From my engineering viewpoint, this is a guy who can precisely explain what is going on and what it means to you as a rider. Also, he is just a really cool guy, enjoyed all the time chatting with him at the track. And thanks again for helping me with the tire change on my road trip, I'll never forget how helpful you were!

Sure it can. Vcc and Vout are both tied to the battery, so it's strictly up to the modulator. meant to say self start with dead battery. that feature is the only good thing I see in the existing shunt regulator scheme. And in case you're interested, the thought of using a synchronus rectifier instead of diodes comes to mind here with the switcher scheme. Might not be worth the bother, but I think it has merit.

Throw a few diodes (one for each phase) and a big capacitor in front of this and you're mostly there. I'd have to go research a good PWM IC, since it's been awhile. yep that's a buck. The level shift is the only 'trick' there, I'm hoping someone does a high voltage controller instead. The circuit shown cannot self start, I would like to preserve that ability for the new RR. May have to build the pwm out of more discrete components to get the 100v or so range we need. All I could see from linear tech is 60v stuff, I'll continue looking some more later.

Are you thinking of designing a circuit that is not a shunt regulator? When you say "free up the waste", I assume (there's that word...) you mean something along the lines of a system that does not shunt excess current to ground. I would be very interested in seeing the results of your investigation. Yes, the idea is to build what is known as a "buck"regulator, this is a device that converts an arbitrary voltage down to some fixed level. It uses a magnetic core ( inductor) and some high speed switches to shift the voltage without very much loss. the trouble is making one to work with the fairly high voltage the Bird will put out, and handle the fairly high output current. I'm quite busy the last few months working on a consulting job, but when that IC gets finished in a month or so I should have time to get serious on this RR project.

I believe that any 3phase R/R can work, as long as it is able to handle the output capability of the stator. Because the unit is a shunt regulator, it needs the capacity to short out the total stator current, which depends on the stator wire size and magnet field strength from the flywheel. As an aside to your question, I'm investigating the design of a new circuit to replace this unit. Its value will be to free up the half horsepower the current system wastes, and also protect the stator coil from its typical failure mode.

It will probably work ok from the riders perspective. Doubt it could harm anything. If you put it on a dyno you will see a change in the output at some rpm range. If the effect were positive you would have seen stub pipes capped like this on race vehicles.

Filing off the little locating tabs on the bottom of the stock bar clamps will allow them to rotate on the fork tube. I found the orignal swept back bars to be very uncomfortable. After doing this the bike is much better for me, 6'5" and 200 lbs. Footpegs are still stock.

From your description the newer thermostat is the type which has a bypass valve. This additional valve lets the pump circulate coolant locally, bypassing the radiator when the system is not over the setpoint temp. By not using this style thermostat, not all the coolant will pass thru the radiator when above the setpoint temp, and thus your system cannot cool as well. Unless you overheat, it will not make a difference. I'd suggest getting the correct unit before a hot day.