My Ninja does NOT like the cold !

[Bob KellyIII]

on a Whim today I fired up the Ninja to move it into the shed for the winter
.... it's 50deg. and It did not want to start at all.... when it finally did it would
fire for a few times then die so I'd try starting it again. this went on for a few minutes till I finally got it to keep idling but really slow ....below 1000 RPM
any throttle and it would gasp and die.... this is with the choke full on mind you
....
so realising that it was because of the cold I kept trying to get the RPM's up but it would just gasp and die ....or drop dramatically finally I got it above 3500 RPMs and I knew it would warm up at that speed ... so I set there in the cold babying it till it slowly warmed up enough to take throttle and not fall flat on it's face. by then I could feel the heat rising from below so I know it was warm enough to operate but she didn't act right at all... 12 grand in RPM usually cleared the girl out but although it was running on both cylinders it just acted starved for fuel.... it's response to the throttle was slow....slower than it was a few weeks ago.
I finally put it in gear and moved it into the shed, although I am going to curse myself the way I put it in there because it will be a bitch to get out again..... but at least it is in there and under cover now....
....
I think this means it is time for a good thorough carb cleaning with the ultrasonic cleaner and all this time..... as this is the worse it's ran in many months !but at least I have the special tools it takes to work on this thing this time.( I think)
....
I think she only got one ride this summer and that wasn't a long one at that
she still has sta-bul in the gas tank i am sure...as when I added fuel to the tank from a can I added a bit of sta-bul just for general purposes !
....
I swapped motorcycle covers on the Triumph and RX4 and they fit alot better ! that is what started this little fiasco !
a month or so ago when it was 70deg. i hopped on the Ninja and turned on the choak and turned on the key and hit the starter button and it fired right up and quickly reached 5000RPM because of the choak being on....
it's been like that all summer.... but this time when it was colder was a real battle !
....
Now I know it shouldn't do that, it should run just as good in cold weather as it does in warm weather.... which makes me thing a carb cleaning is in order
but this little bike does NOT like the cold !

...
Bob......

[Snake]

My bike has always been cold natured as well. Winter blend gas is supposed to make engines easier to start by mixing butane with gasoline.

[DannoXYZ]

yes RVP - Reid Vapour Pressure property is adjusted so winter-petrol vapourises more easily. But carbs still has to deliver that petrol into cylinders 1st.

Sounds like you need to send carbs to ducatiman. When I got mine back from him for 250 commuter, it would start up perfectly fine in 20F. Ready to ride after I put helmet and gloves on. Not single stumble or unruly behavior on my ride to S.F.

[Bob KellyIII]

Yah I really am considering that !....REALLY that way I would know I didn't miss something again!!!!! and as much as I hate working on that bike that does sound like the easiest route ! HAHAHAH
Bob......

[Snake]

Now you have me thinking �� about sending my carbs off.

[ducatiman]

ready, willing and able....anytime

[Snake]

Thanks

[Bob KellyIII]

yes thanks Maestro....there's only one person on the whole planet I would ever consider sending My carburetors to,,, and it's YOU !
....
Bob.........

[Bob KellyIII]

Well I finally ( after 2 years) got the carbs off and sent to Gordon...
and he did find several things wrong with the carbs ( i thought he might!)
he's done his majick to them and has ALREADY sent them back to me and I should receive them on Monday.... quick work... he doesn't mess around !
and the report on them was "they should be good runners now" ! so that is great!
however I have yet to get the valves all shimmed up as it is too cold to be out there in the shop... my heater hardly works at all the thermostat on it is messed up to where it turns off after being on a bout 30~40 seconds then it kicks back on.... when I have the thermostat set to maximum... so it needs worked on or replaced !
.... I've tried to get the shim's selected and then put them in but by the time I get them selected I'm so cold I say fooie on it and go back in the house.... that has happened 2 times now and no progress has been made !
so I think I will bring the little heater in the house and work on it and see if I can fix it.... LOL ( I think I can by bending the bimetal strip slightly)
....
anyway I've decided to go 4 or 5 sizes smaller in shim size ...I am just hoping I'm not going too far ! but I've held the shims up to the light and can tell that that size is just about what I want it's guess work for sure but I do know it will be very close (should be right on!)
what is getting me is the math I've seen a few videos on figuring it out mathematically and their reasoning looses me... they don't think the way I do obviously... so I have been trying to figure it out myself mathematically
but to no avail... I do not think in MM at all and trying to convert back and forth is a joke so I figure I'll make a educated guess and see if I'm right or not, if not I'll have to pull it apart again.... silly but that is what I am up against !.
.... I know I have to go smaller in shim size the measured clearance is .010mm ( which is .004in.) which is way too tight as it calls for .080~.0110MM ( no#1 exhaust valve shim) so to get to the ball park figure
which is .0950 mm I just take .095 away from the shim size plus the measured gap .... which is 2.82( current shim size)+ .010=2.92- .095 should be around 1.87
...which is more than I had estimated on.... I figured 2.80mm not as far as 1.87 that is like 6 shim sizes away from what is in there.... and that just doesn't feel right.....
there's a good reason for that ... I screwed up ! 2.95-.095=2.855....(not 1.87) which is right on what I was guessing at !
Am I doing this right ?
my brain hurts ! LOL
Bob..........

[Bob KellyIII]

Well, a few weeks has passed and it's been trying to snow here for the last week and it's just been too cold to go outside so I haven't !
....
I did get the valves all done torqued down the cams, checked the valve lash
and found they were all in tolerance so I put the valve cover back on it and
left it at that... all I have to do now is re assemble the little monster !
the carbs that Gordon rebuilt for me and fixed are still sitting on the work bench, but they will go back on sometime soon, but I will refrain on putting gas to them till I am ready to ride it. I know me, it could be 3 months of sitting
before that happens !
.....
We have had a bunch or rain here....which is good as we were in a sivier drought but that seems to have been done away with in the last 3 weeks
.... I have 3 tons of wood pellets outside and have them covered with a big tarp that is doubled.... and I discovered that ALL the pellet bags are soaking wet.... NOT GOOD! it seams that big expensive tarp I bought only lasted
2 years out in the weather ! so I went and bought another tarp to put over the tarp out there is a last ditch effort to keep my wood supply dry....
I have several bags of pellets that are wet and swelled up and are nothing but sawdust inside.... that cannot be burned in the pellet stove i think it's time for a more permanent solution to wood pellet storage !
at close to $2000.00 for the winter's heat I can't afford to have them getting wet... not to mention bringing the bags inside when they are dripping wet
leaves the kid and I soaking wet from head to toe....
.....
come on summer,... I've had enough winter already !
......

Bob......

[Triple Jim]

I'd offer you some wood, but shipping would be expensive.

[Bob KellyIII]

LOL....Nah.... wood is too much work for this old man....done that all my life and I seek easier means to stay warm now HAHAHAHAH
you could burn all that though and can the heat and sell it ! that would give you a second business that would be very profitable !
.... I could see that ....torlet paper, beer ,butter ...Oh and 6 cans of heat please....give me the big cans, as I have kids that run in and out of the house alot........ Oh, we only have the small cans ...sorry !
.....
I think I can burn the Exploded pellets that turn into saw dust in my big wood stove... I made a burner for the wood pellets for when the stove brakes down...
it's just a cast iron 12" skillit with a zillion 1/4" holes drilled in it.. I set it on bricks and pile the ash in the stove around the air vent in the back of the stove
forcing the air to go up through the pan... I can burn almost anything in that
even wood chips from the wood chipper but they don't last very long...but it is free heat !!!
I've heated the house on cold winter days with wood pellets when the blower died on my old pellet stove for 2 weeks with that.... it takes alot of attention, like once every hour... but it is better than being cold !
....
at the Ranch I heated only with wood did that for all the time I lived there
and I made sure Mom had enough when she was there alone she went through 4 to 6 cord of wood every winter ! it was a drafty old house !
so I learned to hate having to cut wood, split it and haul it and stack it and then cover it... Unless you've done it you do not know how much easier it can be !!!! anything is easier because that is a hell of alot of work !
....and it isn't free saws and saw maintenance gets expensive as well
not to mention the truck... or if your real lucky tractor and waggon.
.... but I did have a large wood lot so I could go out and cut my own wood
so it was the cheapest heat by far...
...here not so much... I don't have a truck anymore.(big mistake)
but I have 3 good saws.... but no ambition to do it ! HAHAHAHA
I'ed have to drive a long way , buy a permit, just to get the trees...then cut it
and get it home....
this house is fairly well insulted and it would only take 3 cord at the most to heat the place....and I could just buy the wood... but in the past I found most people when they sell you a cord of wood you are lucky to get 1/2~3/4 of a cord ! a cord is 4'x4'x8' stacked tight.... but that is not what you get.
....or worse you buy a pick up bed full of wood and you might get a tier or 2 !
(2 tier per half cord if I remember right) so buying wood is just as expensive as the wood pellets here...
.....
my brother inlaw heats with natural gas at around $57.00 a month IN IDAHO !!!!!! Nothing in California is cheap !!!
....
it'll all come out in the wash.... I'll make it work somehow but next year I will definitely do some serious major covering.... covering them with a tarp isn't working....


...
Bob.......