bluegnu

Does the engine sound noisy - a bit of rattle?

As luck would have it, I came by a very clean looking stator plate and a few other parts (clutch housing inc. pump and a pristine radiator inc. hoses).

Thanks for all your input chaps. I cleaned up the stator and housing, aligned the mark on the back plate with the right edge of the mounting and off she went!! You can't see from my picture but the mark is just to the right of the mounting nut, about 5mm from the edge. It took some kicking the first time, but I suspect I'd flooded the engine again. On the whole, she runs a lot more smoothly and the exhaust is no longer melting hot. Mix screw is around the 3.5/3.75 turns with idle somewhere around 3. But with the new reeds and correct timing the pull is immense, although a bit scary and jumpy - had me clinging on for life a couple of times : | I was hoping to try retarding the stator in order to make starting the bike easier and give a bit less bite. Next job though is a new thermostat, because the fan is only running for a few seconds when really hot and keeps stopping. Parts ordered for the weekend

You were spot on Oni Nou! The woodruff was cleanly sheered when I finally got the flywheel off. Got a couple on order now and will try retarding the timing when I get the parts. TBH there's not a lot of room for manoeuvre as the backing plate is already rotated very close to edge, but should be enough to give a few mm. It was pretty well caked in crud as the cover hasn't been sealed very well, there's also a tiny bump in the case where it's been hit that lifts it slightly. Looking forward to getting it running again

Yup, looks like it's been severely neglected. I don't think the pipe is blocked, it looks as though its been burnt at some point! Although I hadn't realised this was a breather, in my ignorance I'd assumed it was an overflow, so I'll check that's not blocked either. When I took the impeller off to change the seals the washer behind it was completely shot and you could see where it's been leaking. However, I could not begin to shift the bearing out of the case to change the seal on the inside

While cleaning the carb I found there was a lot of sandy grit in the filter Also the jets appear to be 33 pilot and 124 main, does this sound about right?

I'll be praying it is something as small as the woodruff key Oni Nou - would the flywheel be loose on the crank though if that was the case? I'm rereading an old post re stator readings (i've no idea what to look for). Ah, just found full details on SplatShop stator exchange listing

Argh, it still won't run more than a few seconds! Starting easily on the whole (could be the better spark), but will only tick over for a few seconds before just stopping and won't take any revs. Backfiring pretty badly too. On one occasion I had it idling for perhaps 30 seconds, I noticed the exhaust front pipe got so hot it was glowing red (in the dark), this can't be normal!? Can a dodgy stator cause the engine to severely overheat like this? Flywheel puller and tools are ordered, so I'll check the timing once I can get in there. I guess there's no way of telling if the stator is on the way out without a multimeter(?), any advise on how/what to measure would be greatly appreciated. Thanks again