Dad came down to direct the adjustment of the points. I'm really glad he did. I probably would have removed the points, which might have been a bad thing.
As it was we took a look at the points and he showed me the interaction of the low and high lobe. As may seem obvious to the mechanics out there, we measured the gap on the points as they were set. We didn't have a feeler thin emough to measure the gap. I ended up using a digital micrometer to measure a single sided razor blade at .22mm, even this wouldn't fit in the current gap. The proper gap is between .3 and .4mm.
Kind of a funny story. I had to run some early morning errands, my final stop was at Advance Auto Parts to look for a "Points File". I asked the girl at the counter for a Points File. Her eyes shot wide open and said "a what?". There was a guy walking behind me with a ladder and a drill, he had the uniform of an electrical company. He said, "I haven't even heard that term in 20 years, that's only for very old cars". I went on to tell him it was for a 1976 Honda Goldwing. He said, "I had a 75". I told him that I paid $300, he immediately asked me if I wanted to make my money back. That was the second offer I've had for the bike, sight unseen.
No new file for the points. Luckily I had an old file that would do the job.
After we measured the points Dad showed me how to file them down without taking them off. I cleaned them with a business card by simply turning the crankshaft until they were closed and slid the card through a couple of times. We then set the gap using a feeler gauge. After putting the cap back on, I cleaned most everything up and made ready to start the bike.
I got the hot shot, clipped the leads on, put the key in and turned it, pulled the choke, turned the hot shot on and...nothing. The oil light was on but nothing happened? I giggled the leads, took them off and put them back on, nothing.
Dad asked if we were getting juice I said yea, the red oil light was on. Then it hit me. The oil light was on but not the Neutral light. I touched the clutch up turned the key, the neutral light was on. I hit the starter and she popped right off.
The bike ran great it idled nicely at about 1100 rpm's, still a bit high but nice. It would hold at 2000 which it wouldn't do before. It revved like a bike should. It had a slight hesitation on a power rev at most all rpm's; that may be how the bike accelerates. Since I've never ridden a known "good bike" it may be how the carbs respond.
After heating up it seemed to want to idle at 2000 rpm. I could get it lower if I pushed the throttle down. It could be the idle setting. But, the bike doesn't have an air filter in it so I don't think it would be good to mess with the idle. I thought the throttle might be a little tight or sticky. I tried some adjustments but that didn't seem to make a difference.
Just to make sure that things weren't too gloppy, I broke out the Dawn dishwashing soap and the toothbrush and proceeded to scrub the springs, throttle cable and (damn I can't think of the name of the part that holds the cable on a boat steering mechanism). The cable itself my need lubricating or replacement, for now I'm holding off on all that stuff, simply because I'm broke.
After the cleaning it still wanted to idle at 2000 when warm.
I stopped and started the bike a few times during the day. By the last start at around 6pm it was running a little rough. But, the gas is getting low. I'm thinking that the Magical Mystery Oil my be in higher concentrations at the bottom of the tank. I'll add some more fuel and see what happens.
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