I just had a Hothead special done and also replaced the piston, ring and cam chain myself while re-installing the head. The top ring gap is aligned at 12 o'clock, the 2nd is at 6 o'clock and the oil rings are at 3 and 9.
The jetting was fine and the bike ran well before the rebuild, other than very poor starting, which I attributed to a worn out top end due to the age of the bike, a 2002 YZF-250 with an 03 cam in it.
Info on problem:
Very difficult to start
Very poor performance (won't wheely in first gear)
Bike will fire briefly, then die
Seems to start better cold than warm
Info about the bike
Fresh oil, antifreeze and a new clean air filter with NoToil. A/F was done 2 days before the bike was started. Brand new gas after having initial problems, I wanted to eliminate that.
No clunky noises when spinning it over by hand with the plug removed.
Fresh plug (had to be replaced because it got covered with the fresh oil that I lined my cylinder with, after multiple attempts to start, this has not reoccurred).
I checked the valve adjustment, it's ok. Admittedly, this is the first time I've checked it, but the 0.10 fits in there ok and .014 is a tight fit.
Cam chain tensioner is in the released position
Here's a picture of the cam timing. Note that there are 12 pins between the top dots on the intake and exhaust cam and that the engine is on the "i" in the TDC mark on the crank.
Thanks
The jetting was fine and the bike ran well before the rebuild, other than very poor starting, which I attributed to a worn out top end due to the age of the bike, a 2002 YZF-250 with an 03 cam in it.
Info on problem:
Very difficult to start
Very poor performance (won't wheely in first gear)
Bike will fire briefly, then die
Seems to start better cold than warm
Info about the bike
Fresh oil, antifreeze and a new clean air filter with NoToil. A/F was done 2 days before the bike was started. Brand new gas after having initial problems, I wanted to eliminate that.
No clunky noises when spinning it over by hand with the plug removed.
Fresh plug (had to be replaced because it got covered with the fresh oil that I lined my cylinder with, after multiple attempts to start, this has not reoccurred).
I checked the valve adjustment, it's ok. Admittedly, this is the first time I've checked it, but the 0.10 fits in there ok and .014 is a tight fit.
Cam chain tensioner is in the released position
Here's a picture of the cam timing. Note that there are 12 pins between the top dots on the intake and exhaust cam and that the engine is on the "i" in the TDC mark on the crank.
Thanks
