Timing a two-stroke

Anyone know someone who is adept with 1970's two-stroke bikes? I just replaced the timing gear on my '75 GT380 Suzuki triple and I need to get the timing set.

In the Houston-Galveston area.

Do you have a dial gauge and a service manual? I busted mine and will be doing the same soon after I get it back together.

The short of it;

You put the dial gauge in the spark plug hole to locate TDC, mark your triple plate behind your points to match your case mark. You will end up setting the points a couple of MM's BTDC.

DO NOT turn the nut on the points side to turn the crank, use the other side (opposite of the points) or bump the kick starter to turn the crank. The gear as you might know is nylon and you will break it!

I think my service manual has the specs for the points if you don't have the info.

Jack Giesecke (PM Jack or he might see this) is up to snuff on 2-Strokes in Port Lavaca, not too far away but refresh his memory about the nylon gear if you take it to him.

Here is a Service Manual.

"Specs" should have your timing info.

http://www.3cyl.com/~mraxl/gt/manuals/gt380man/index.htm
Index

http://kawtriple.com/tripleed/dalegt380/sm45.jpg
sm45.jpg (JPEG Image, 601x601 pixels)

Aw heck, it's past the 2 year anniversary and I still haven't gotten to this

See what happens when I don't "subscribe" to my own threads!

Terry, thanks for the pointers (lol). I Am going to take a stab at this next week....

I don't even remember posting this, has my name on it though....

Lol, it's a testament to how badly I can procrastinate. Although I have been turning the engine over by hand every 2 weeks or so...

Next week I am taking it to DNA Motorsports, so Dennis can help me set the timing. I don't have a dial gauge and I am pretty uncertain on adjusting points. I think this is a case where if I could watch someone proficient do it, I can feel better about handling it in the future.

A dial gauge sure makes it easy, I double checked mine with a timing light as a backup in case something was a miss. Once set you should be good to go than just readjust points as necessary.

I took my 380 out for a good ride today around the lake, tested my new tires I installed last weekend, much better.

I agree always test with a timing light to make sure, better than a hole in your piston.

Meh, I have no idea what I'm doing

I did get it running again, but it's not running very smoothly.

For one thing, I cannot set the timing with a multimeter, because open or closed, the points always have continuity.



I used a timing light with my Ford Torinos, but I don't have a clue how to use one with a motorcycle.

Timing light is not very accurate as the dial gauge but it is another check to see how you stand. All you do is put the inductive coil around the plug wire and shoot the light at your Triple indicator behind the point plate in the window. Once you do it, pretty self explanatory when you see what happens, of course your plug has to be firing.

That happened to me the first time IIRC....Loosen the nut and take the wires off the points and see if the same happens.

Possible you need to clean your pilot circuit in the carbs for the other cylinders to run.