Technical Update

Well, I've been quite busy in the garage with a 4 day weekend and grotty weather.

On the 350, I broke the silencer (I think this probably started because of my crash at C-en-T two years ago), and the fairing bracket had broken, so these have been taken off and sent for welding - the exhaust is stainless steel which requires TIG welding so I am using a place I found in the Pagesjaunes (yellow pages). I am trying to find out why the bike doesn't run well at low rpm - just off idle - so as the only thing I changed was electrical (I added an electronic CDI charger which takes power directly off the battery), I am looking at the electrics again.

I have removed the windings on the stator for CDI charging as I no longer use them, this will reduce the electromotive force (EMF) in the stator and should allow the crank to spin up quicker, plus I removed the wiring associated - just to clean up the wiring a bit. Whilst I was at the stator I changed the pickup, to an original Yamaha model, this way I am sure the the stator, and electrics are all good - I just need my silencer back before I can do any testing.

I also, restuck my seat padding, and made a new instrument plexiglass cover as the old one got damaged by the leaking hydraulic fluid. The front brakes were removed and hung up to ensure the highest point was in the calipers, and then bled, this will ensure I lose the spongeness at the lever.

On the RG, the action plan is as follows and in order :-

Change plugs for Iridium
Change plug leads
Change coils
Ignition stator

then ....
Check fuel flow
dirty tank
sticky chokes

and finally if none of that fixes my issue, then it must be the crank oil seal.

I am waiting for my plugs to arrive (www.Sparkplugs.co.uk) so in the meantime I changed all four plug leads with silicon resistive lead, this is not only flexible, but should I change my plug caps again, I will no longer need any resistance. Unfortunately the old leads are held in the coil by some stupid plastic clips which are designed to break, which they did on both coils! So the new leads are held in by tie wraps, to which I will add some mastic sealer when I finish troubleshooting.

I started the RG, and she ran very smoothly in the garage, so maybe I have already found the problem! I will need to run her until hot, to really test to see if the issue disappears. The Gamma listers (email enthusiasts) thing I am getting to the lean end of my main jets so I will need to be careful at Nogaro as there is a really long straight.

I still have a couple of odd jobs to do on the RG, re-torque the cylinder head, check my steering head bearing.

Just to use up my time, my brother has bought his 900SS Ducati down for storage at race HQ, so I changed the oil, filter, and brake fluid, and bled the front and back - his front brakes are pulsing so I hope that will get rid of that!

Speak to you soon, after the RG and RD test later this week.

Dave