ninjette.org - View Single Post - Pulling the carbs and doing a valve check.

Bob KellyIII · January 11th, 2023, 04:24 PM

that's interesting.... it's like when in doubt send them to california those people won't notice ! LOL......
I did several tests on spark plugs in the day actually.... durring one period it was hard to find sparkplugs that actually WORKED ! no kidding !....
where they would fail is that they would arc sideways from the inner porcelain to the threads and not from the electrode tip like they should.... and for years I tested each one before I put it in on a bike.... if it didn't arc from the tip of the electrode it was a bad one.... I did find several in that era that looked good at first but within 20 miles would stop firing My 305 Honda had a thing about sparkplugs they had to work good
or it simply would not run right..... many times I remember replacing the plugs and going to town and returning on 1 cylinder pull the plug to check it and it would arc below the tip down in the porcelain.... and my old 305 would not run on those plugs !
replace the plug and it ran great..... now days that is not an issue at all.... but it used to be..... several times I got way up on backbone road going around Shasta lake near Redding ca. and the spark plug would crap out ..so I usually carried 6 spark plugs on the bike several used plugs that were known good ones and 3 new ones still in the box
.... that was all part of riding in the early 1970's ..... hearing a triumph go by on 1 cylinder was uncommon but it did happen.....
back then the bikes ran richer than they do today and that broke down the plugs faster I think.... and the gas actually had lead in it which did screw up spark plugs.
.... I remember using straight gasoline in a 2 burner Colman camp stove that called for white gas only.... it worked but sooted up the pots with a yellow flame about 20 years later and with the same stove I put unleaded gas in the stove and although it was dirtier than white gas it wasn't by much... the flames were blue and only had a hint of yellow at their tips.... that is how much gasoline has changed through the years.
the change is gasoline alone would account for the plugs not being as fussy as they used to be...... but I still carry at least ONE spare plug with me when I ride.
....
when I did the spark plug testing I had just purchased 24 spark plugs I used many in my motorcycle business in my back yard at the time so I thought nothing of it
I tested them all Using my Honda 305 which had a really good spark at that time
and I came up with the 1 in 4 ratio I took those spark plugs back to where I bought them and they were nasty about it but did give me replacements..... but they also tested out 1 in 4 being bad.... If I remember they were Champions so I switched to NGK and got the same ratio as well.... the smaller the sparkplug diameter the worse the ratio became.... the ones on my 305 were very small indeed the ones my DT1 took were hardly ever bad.....
I remember being very pissed off by getting 6 spark plugs.... NGK's for the 305
and finding out only 1 worked consistantly but I did get another to funtion good enough by closing up the gap to go get more spark plugs... that really pissed me off !
the next 6 plugs were ALL good..... it's like they dumped thousands of sparkplugs on the market that they knew didn't work but did it anyway to get them out of the invintory
those plugs were NGK and I have been using NGK's over champion's every sense
.....
...
.. Bob.....

January 11th, 2023, 04:24 PM	#55
Bob KellyIII Retired motorcycle Mc. Name: Robert Location: Weed, California. Join Date: Jul 2021 Motorcycle(s): 2012 Kawasaki Ninja 250R, 2021 CSC TT250, 1977 Triumph Bonneville 750cc,2001 Honda XR650L. Posts: A lot.	that's interesting.... it's like when in doubt send them to california those people won't notice ! LOL...... I did several tests on spark plugs in the day actually.... durring one period it was hard to find sparkplugs that actually WORKED ! no kidding !.... where they would fail is that they would arc sideways from the inner porcelain to the threads and not from the electrode tip like they should.... and for years I tested each one before I put it in on a bike.... if it didn't arc from the tip of the electrode it was a bad one.... I did find several in that era that looked good at first but within 20 miles would stop firing My 305 Honda had a thing about sparkplugs they had to work good or it simply would not run right..... many times I remember replacing the plugs and going to town and returning on 1 cylinder pull the plug to check it and it would arc below the tip down in the porcelain.... and my old 305 would not run on those plugs ! replace the plug and it ran great..... now days that is not an issue at all.... but it used to be..... several times I got way up on backbone road going around Shasta lake near Redding ca. and the spark plug would crap out ..so I usually carried 6 spark plugs on the bike several used plugs that were known good ones and 3 new ones still in the box .... that was all part of riding in the early 1970's ..... hearing a triumph go by on 1 cylinder was uncommon but it did happen..... back then the bikes ran richer than they do today and that broke down the plugs faster I think.... and the gas actually had lead in it which did screw up spark plugs. .... I remember using straight gasoline in a 2 burner Colman camp stove that called for white gas only.... it worked but sooted up the pots with a yellow flame about 20 years later and with the same stove I put unleaded gas in the stove and although it was dirtier than white gas it wasn't by much... the flames were blue and only had a hint of yellow at their tips.... that is how much gasoline has changed through the years. the change is gasoline alone would account for the plugs not being as fussy as they used to be...... but I still carry at least ONE spare plug with me when I ride. .... when I did the spark plug testing I had just purchased 24 spark plugs I used many in my motorcycle business in my back yard at the time so I thought nothing of it I tested them all Using my Honda 305 which had a really good spark at that time and I came up with the 1 in 4 ratio I took those spark plugs back to where I bought them and they were nasty about it but did give me replacements..... but they also tested out 1 in 4 being bad.... If I remember they were Champions so I switched to NGK and got the same ratio as well.... the smaller the sparkplug diameter the worse the ratio became.... the ones on my 305 were very small indeed the ones my DT1 took were hardly ever bad..... I remember being very pissed off by getting 6 spark plugs.... NGK's for the 305 and finding out only 1 worked consistantly but I did get another to funtion good enough by closing up the gap to go get more spark plugs... that really pissed me off ! the next 6 plugs were ALL good..... it's like they dumped thousands of sparkplugs on the market that they knew didn't work but did it anyway to get them out of the invintory those plugs were NGK and I have been using NGK's over champion's every sense ..... ... .. Bob..... __________________________________________________ Its too late when you've gone too far !