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Winter blues...

2479 Views 15 Replies 9 Participants Last post by trond, Mar 25, 2007

Dutch900

Discussion Starter · Mar 17, 2006

At the beginning of every winter I:
· top off fuel
· turn the fuel pet cock off
· add fuel stabilizer
· turn the bike on and burn the fuel out of the lines
· pull the battery, top it off and place it on a battery tender in the basement
I have done this for the past 10 years and never had a problem starting it up in the spring.
This year I did not burn the fuel out of the lines… Now of course I can’t get her to start up. She turns over very strong, put it just doesn’t want to fire up. So I pulled the plugs, which are 2 years old and UGLY. I cleaned them up and tried again to no avail. (Of course the local auto shop didn’t have replacements on hand, so I have to pick ‘em up today.) So, if I replace the plugs today and she still won’t fire up, what should be the next course of action?

1 - 16 of 16 Posts

amullo

· #2 · Mar 17, 2006

That would be to disassemble the carburetors and clean them.

The problem in Europe is that alot of oilcompanies (if not all) mix in a 5% part of ethanol in the gasoline to boost octane and for enviromental reasons.

Using Shell´s V-power will get you better fuel without the ethanol mix.

//amullo

Dutch900

Discussion Starter · #3 · Mar 17, 2006

That would be to disassemble the carburetors and clean them.
HMMMM, this might be the reason I have been looking for (to tell the wife) that I NEED new 41mm flatsides!!!! So what your telling me is that the carbs are shot and NOT rebuildable?

dresda

· #4 · Mar 17, 2006

Our experience with leaving ethanol fuels sitting in various motorised objects like chain saws, etc, is that the ethanol attracts water and really gums up the works. You just need to clean the carbs and get all the mung out.

Stephanie

Dutch900

Discussion Starter · #5 · Mar 17, 2006

I have never touched my carbs myself. Is this something I can do myself? What is it that needs to be done and can it be explained in such a way that I could do it?

bruce19

· #6 · Mar 17, 2006

Dutch900 said:
That would be to disassemble the carburetors and clean them.
HMMMM, this might be the reason I have been looking for (to tell the wife) that I NEED new 41mm flatsides!!!! So what your telling me is that the carbs are shot and NOT rebuildable?

If you go for the Kehein FCR's, do yourself a favor and mount them on Malossi short intakes. That eliminates the plumbing and the fuel pump since it will all be gravity feed. It also gives you more HP according to folks I spoke to before I did it on my '96 SS. That bike turned into a beast. Estimates from BCM were that it made 85-90 hp at the rear wheel. I never had it dyno'ed. Believe me it was strong. Should add that was only part of the mods. Also did the 944 kit w/hc pistons, DP CF exhaust, etc.

bruce19

Dutch900

Discussion Starter · #7 · Mar 17, 2006

bruce19 said:
If you go for the Kehein FCR's, do yourself a favor and mount them on Malossi short intakes. That eliminates the plumbing and the fuel pump since it will all be gravity feed. It also gives you more HP according to folks I spoke to before I did it on my '96 SS.

bruce19

So, are the Malossi short intakes included in this "package"?
http://www.ca-cycleworks.com/shop/catalog/ducati/fuel.html Or do I have to get them in addition to this?

RickD

· #8 · Mar 17, 2006

Dutch900 said:
So, if I replace the plugs today and she still won’t fire up, what should be the next course of action?

Check to see if you are getting spark.

Dutch900

Discussion Starter · #9 · Mar 18, 2006

New plugs did it. Now I NEED a reason to get those darn FCR's....

Lars

· #10 · Mar 18, 2006

FCR's

Will the FCR make starting and life in general worse ?

Where I live its generally cool outside and I have been told they make starting and idle trouble in theese conditions.

gorma900

· #11 · Mar 18, 2006

Lars said:
Will the FCR make starting and life in general worse ?

Where I live its generally cool outside and I have been told they make starting and idle trouble in theese conditions.

What I've found on my bike is that it does not necesarrily start more difficult, but initially it would run a bit uneven and I have to keep my hand on the throttle to keep it going until it smoothens out. During this time its difficult to keep the revs below 2000rpm, which I generally prefer to make sure the oil circulate throughout the engine before I pick up the revs. Once its smoothened out out and the engine heats up it would idle at say about 1100rpm, no problem. Note, my FCRs are mounted on the stock long manifolds.

trond

· #12 · Mar 19, 2007

bruce19 said:
If you go for the Kehein FCR's, do yourself a favor and mount them on Malossi short intakes. That eliminates the plumbing and the fuel pump since it will all be gravity feed. It also gives you more HP according to folks I spoke to before I did it on my '96 SS. That bike turned into a beast. Estimates from BCM were that it made 85-90 hp at the rear wheel. I never had it dyno'ed. Believe me it was strong. Should add that was only part of the mods. Also did the 944 kit w/hc pistons, DP CF exhaust, etc.

bruce19

I am ready to order. I already received the Malossi manifolds. Now, on the front cylinder, do you have a downdraft FCR or a side draft ? I am really anxious to know if a side draft works or not as this is the only option with the 37mm. If I need downdraft I have to get 35mms or 39mms

Lars

· #13 · Mar 19, 2007

Trond?

Sounds more Norwegian that Egyptian.

trond

· #14 · Mar 20, 2007

correct. Norwegian in Egypt ! best place in the world for offroad ! Not a good place for roadbikes though as the traffic here is dangerous.

Miss my roadbike though and need to get this question of downdraft vs side draft sorted to have them ready for when i get home end June.

Some say you must use downdraft I think, and some say use sidedraft I think. i need to find someone who has Malossi manifolds and FCR and will actually tell me what works !! Like BRUCE19 !!! Hello bruce, care to answer ? Do you have downdraft or sidedraft on that front cylinder ??

(If sidedraft I will order two sidedraft 37s tomorrow. If downdraft I don't know, either 35s or 39s)

Glockem

· #15 · Mar 20, 2007

Hey there Greg (Dutch). After talking extensively with Donnie at Duc Pond Racing, there is absolutely no point in putting FCR's on an air Cooled Twin such as ours. The biggest problem with these motors apparently is that they can't breath due to the fact the internal areas of the heads are so rough and not machined very well. I got to see the differences in Polished/ported heads vs. stock heads at his shop, and no wonder these bikes can't breath good.

So the analysis is that these 39 or 41 FCR's are excellent upgrades, and they do increase the volume of air drastically, however until you improve the internals of the motor, i.e. polishing the heads, the FCR's could be considered a waste of money.

I hope this post confused you or helped you.

trond

· #16 · Mar 25, 2007

My heads are properly ported and polished, with larger valves, by Baines Racing and MEZ Porting in the UK . Also light flywheel, lightened and dynamically balanced pistons and crank. The reason for wanting flatslides is throttle response, not top end power. I had the primitive Mikuni TM flatslides earlier and they were a hassle to set up, but had fantastic throttle response, so much better than the Dell'orto pumper carbs (that are not bad at all). Nothing however beat properly set up flatslides. But you are right, the carbs are definitely not limiting top end power with these engines.

1 - 16 of 16 Posts

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