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[Help] with my '73 DT3 250, having ignition issues
- RT325
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Replied by RT325 on topic [Help] with my '73 DT3 250, having ignition issues
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- 19stuberd
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Replied by 19stuberd on topic [Help] with my '73 DT3 250, having ignition issues
Alright everybody. I'm confident in saying that THE BIKE IS FIXED!!!
The threads on the flywheel were absolutely unusable for some reason. I thought it was a size issue so I ordered a set of pullers with different sizes and pitches but it seems that it was just a messed up 17mm x 1mm left hand thread. I turned my first puller into a DIY thread chaser by carving a couple of slots in it (like a tap) and then tapering the first few threads to guide it in. It worked pretty well I thought, but good lord this flywheel was stuck on there tight. The puller ended up just stripping the actual threads of the flywheel out. Extremely frustrating. I then decided my only option was to re-vamp my puller "design" by beefing up the bolts and adding some better hardware for all of .70 cents. When I couldn't physically twist the puller any tighter I decided to get a hammer out and gave it some gentle taps and the thing nearly exploded off of the shaft. But I got it!
Windings were slashed two layers deep, meaning it slashed through my bonus layer and one other layer. I opted to trim the damaged windings, solder an extension on, and rewind the layers. I realized then also what caused the failure in the first place: Someone had made a crimp connection under the points to a wire extending from a lighting coil that had disconnected. The wire was in REALLY bad shape and I couldn't just replace it since it travelled to the core of the coil, but I did manage to DELICATELY solder it together and heatshrink it reasonably well. I put it all back together and remounted the coil and magneto, then had to do the points timing again, which sucked. I again got it pretty close and went with that because 3.3mm just seemed completely impossible for some reason. Wired it all in, had a nice hot spark. Got a little ambitious with the ether and flooded it that night, woke up the next day, choke in, kicked it twice, started up without issue.
I just took it for a ride today and it was the best feeling on earth. I can't tell you guys how much it means to be able to finally ride this bike, and I can't thank you all enough for helping me through it all. Words truly fail me. I came into this thinking I was doomed with $2800 down the drain and now I can say that I fixed the thing myself! All that remains is to put the air filter back on (oops) and the battery holder and battery, and then I'm in business. I'm sure I'll be around to fix other things that break, but I think this thread is officially finished!
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- RT325
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Replied by RT325 on topic [Help] with my '73 DT3 250, having ignition issues
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- 19stuberd
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Replied by 19stuberd on topic [Help] with my '73 DT3 250, having ignition issues
I thought I was out of the woods but apparently not. I'll try keeping it brief for once:
It ran PERFECTLY for a day.
Randomly blew a headlight and tail light, engine ran poorly. Made a post about that.
Was out riding next day and engine stopped. Magically ran again next day, stopped again.
Pulled flywheel to see source coil was too big, windings rubbed against stator and wore away. Pic attached.
photos.app.goo.gl/nmRGpUMFNb3A5c78A
Had to rewind source coil (3rd time's a charm).
Remount it all, put it on bike, weak spark.
Clean plug, no luck. Dismount stator and see points are bent so that they touch like this /| and not like this ||
Fixed points, gave em a polish, reinstalled everything. Re-timed points. Got a nice hot spark on the drill at all speeds.
I went inside with a smile on my face to get my helmet and go for a ride.
And now the engine runs like this:
photos.app.goo.gl/QkvDYFkh5vPddbJA7 - stationary
photos.app.goo.gl/vCxiaVxmzCLc7oPh6 - riding, beginning part is most telling. i just rev it at the end.
Very frustrating. Any thoughts are appreciated. Thanks again.
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Replied by RT325 on topic [Help] with my '73 DT3 250, having ignition issues
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Replied by 19stuberd on topic [Help] with my '73 DT3 250, having ignition issues
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- msavitt
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Replied by msavitt on topic [Help] with my '73 DT3 250, having ignition issues
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- 19stuberd
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Replied by 19stuberd on topic [Help] with my '73 DT3 250, having ignition issues
Apologies for the late response, I was out of town for the weekend. I have a video of the bike in the dark and it shows the points sparking at higher RPMs. I honestly forget if that's normal at this point so feel free to let me know. I also come to you with a question which is if any of you suspect this could potentially be a carburetion issue. I have noticed increasingly that this bike outputs a pretty large amount of white smoke and smells very gassy, to such an extent that my clothes smell like it after I'm done riding it for any distance. I added a video to illustrate the extent of the smoke and to let you guys be the judge if this is normal or excessive. Also I know that the smoke is a matter of two-stroke mixing but i think that running rich could also cause such a thing, yes? Also I realized that when I re-attached the air filter it began to run worse, possibly indicating that it is air-starved. Also I forget if I mentioned this but I have a hot spark at all RPM ranges which is odd. Thanks in advance for any input.
photos.app.goo.gl/kYsiGzP91AkmR6b36 - points
photos.app.goo.gl/Ah1mNCrpbAh6LaB58 - revving video, revved it reasonably high on a WARM engine.
photos.app.goo.gl/JZ35bysN8Udioy5A6 - more revving, taken AFTER previous video, total wide open throttle from standstill does this. Notice the "choofing" sound.
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- RT325
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Replied by RT325 on topic [Help] with my '73 DT3 250, having ignition issues
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- RT325
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Replied by RT325 on topic [Help] with my '73 DT3 250, having ignition issues
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