Fantic 309 Ignotion Problems, Oil, Suspension And Brake Questions

[smokey125]

Hi I’m after some help and advice on several different fronts with my 309.

I’ve had it from new. It served me well through the end of my schoolboy trials days including 4-5 national A trials, done the Manx 2 day twice on it, as well as a lot of club, combine and centre events. Well used but well looked after.

A week ago after what must be 4 years sat in the shed I got her out to get ready for my schoolboys club 40^th anniversary/reunion fun event. Amazingly enough after a few kicks she started up and ran abet not very well. Stripped the cab, float bowl was caked in gummed up mix. Got it cleaned put it back together and first kick started beautifully.

Got to the trial ran ok at first but didn’t really want to rev out and seemed very sluggish mid range. I put this down to the needle being knackered (have a new one on order didn’t turn up before weekend). After 8 sections it died completely mid section like someone had hit the kill switch.

Back to the van, disconnected kill switch still nothing. Took out plug very black, sooty and wet, no spark. Quick trip down the road (we were only a few miles from local trial shop) new plug and new plug cap. Put back together and started, great. Did another 8 sections and died. Again it felt like someone had hit the kill switch. At this point I gave up with if for the day. When we got home and washed off bikes I tried starting it second kick and off we go! It seems like something is breaking down as it gets hot!

I’ve hunted around as best I can; I’ve found some with a 307 with similar problem but no solutions, a wiring diagram with some resistance and lots of comments about problems on FM300 etc.

I’m going to check out everything I’ve seen so far but does anyone know of a common problem with the 307 or 309 ignition system that could cause this sort of failure?

Next one should be easy! I always used to run this 50:1 PJ1. I know my brother had problems with his JTR Gas Gas and went over the Castrol TTS at 75:1. What oils do people recon is best in these and what ratio do you use?

The rear Marzocchi unit is weeping slightly round the damper rod and does feel and bit uncontrolled! Who can rebuild/recondition these units?

Last question which might be best in a different forum section but what brake pads do people recommend? I couldn’t believe how little feel the brakes gave, I do remember when I was riding regularly that we put new pads in and they were very wooden compared to what came out, but it was so long ago I’ve got no idea what was what.

At the end of the day I would really like to get the old girl sorted out. I forgot how much I enjoyed trials riding. For the level I am I will have plenty of fun so long as I can sort the problems and with road racing getting ever more expensive I can really see me getting back into trials.

Sorry for rambling on so much hope somebody got to the end!

[scorpa250]

Hi ,the running problem is down to stator and coil under the tank see steve goode for coil , and westcountry windings for the stator rewind they done my fantic with the same problems. 50:1 with a good quality oil is fine dont forget your bike is a few years old and oil has got better in recent years .

falcon shocks of wareham can rebuild your shock .as for the pads i would change the brake fluid and see if that makes it better and have a look on ebay there are lots of good quality pads for sale , Have fun it is a great bike .

Regards Paul

Edited July 2, 2012 by scorpa250

[htrdoug]

I love my 309,she rips like a motocrosser and I dream of the day when I'll have half the skill to utilize it (She's still got her flywheel weight on too)

I'd check all the electrical grounds before splashing out cash on new components,including the engine to frame and the stator to engine case(requires removing the flywheel)

If you're just fouling out the plug I'd recommend a new float also,they tend to get a bit heavy from the ethanol in the fuel.

I run 80:1 in mine,piston clearance is staying right on spec.

Your shock and resevior have adjusters on them,see if you can get the damping slowed before shipping it off for a rebuild just to see if it's completely dead.

I bought some $5 brake pads from some Hong Kong ebay seller,they feel ok to me.

What da hell,here's mine the day she came home(made a lowball bid on Ebay,ended up driving 7 hrs each way to get her when I won )

Need to get a fresh shot of her,she's got alloy kicker and shifter,grey painted engine,Beta rear wheel with a flanged rim,wider footpegs,replaced all the bearing in linkage with bearing from supply house,nothing proprietary in there. Very tempted to swap my OKO from my 240 on her.

[enrico]

I had similar hot starting issues with my 240 when I first got her. As previously mentioned it was one of the coils behind the flywheel that was breaking down as it got hot. I sent the back plate - with coils and wiring to Bill Pye who tested them and replaced the faulty coil. All has been good ever since. Bill has a lot of knowledge (and parts) for all things Fantic - so a great source of help and information.

Edited July 3, 2012 by enrico

[smokey125]

Thanks for the replies very useful answers.

I had wondered about Falcon for the unit. We use his shocks on our classic road racers so I know his main area is offroad stuff.

Htrdoug that’s the reason why I want to get her running properly again. When I was riding regularly it could always do more than me and watching some of my old riding mates putting twin shocks round the expert route with ease it shows just what you can do with an old bike. I know about the adjuster’s first thing I tried was the compression damper on the remote reservoir, max to min made no noticeable difference! That’s why I started looking for other problems. We don’t have as much ethanol in the fuel over here as you do and the floats seem ok. Float valve might not be perfect as that was the only part I couldn’t get out when I cleaned the carb.

Where did you get the alloy kick start leaver from? What did you do to the suspension linkage? That was always the weakest area of the Fantic, especially compared to the TY250 I had before! We modified the swing are pivots to add grease nipples but at the time were limited to the original bushes which aren’t really robust enough!

I never took the weights out of the flywheel never felt the need to, even doing the schoolboy nationals where there were some pretty big steps!

Out of interest has anyone managed to successfully open and repack the exhaust? We ended up putting a DEP end can on (I think) and I tried cutting the side out of the original to repack it but it didn’t really work very well.