El Gringo

Thanks guys I'll just leave this here.... oh and @BradI kept the garage door closed so it definitely wouldn't have made it to yours

Finally think i've cracked it. Oil leak from the exhaust bolt aside, the change of pulse coil seems to have done the trick. Swapped it over into the ignition cover with the oil feed, retested, fired up fine Refitted the turbo, oil feed and drain, pressed the button and after a little cough, she fired up and, crucially again, it revved. Of course this is subject to retesting and refitting of all the other turbo gubbin's but it's a huge step forward from where it was Colour me happy!

Right, potentially some progress albeit maybe not of the good kind After failing to get it to start again, i stripped all the turbo stuff off, stripped and cleaned the carbs then refitted with just the headers minus the turbo. I also swapped the ignition cover for the non oil feed one (as i wasn't running the feed to the turbo) which also meant it had the other pulse coil pickup Pressed the button and it fired up straight away pretty much and, crucially, seemed to rev cleanly, certainly much better than before I then knocked it off as it was getting on a bit and it was horrendously loud through an open header This means one of 2 things 1. The pick up in the ignition cover with the oil feed is knackered and the old one is working properly 2. The turbo is what is causing the reluctance to start and rev for whatever reason Next step is to swap the pulse coil pickup into the oil feed cover, re fit the turbo and try again. I've also found that at some point some hamfisted gibbon (not me) has used a too long bolt on the no3 exhaust collar and gone through into the head as when i fired it up i had a lovely fountain of oil coming from that exhaust stud hole I only fitted the outer 2 exhaust collars for speediness, i'm glad i did now as i'd probably never have found the oil leak otherwise. Edit* Or are some of the header bolts into a wet area of the head?

Right 1,2,3 i'm back in the room Had to walk away from it for a bit as it was doing my swede in, but i'm back to it now. Next step i think is carbs back off, drop the float heights a mm which coupled with running the base pressure at around 0.5psi should prevent it from over fueling I hope.

I'm glad someone is being positive, lol No, it's getting there now, it was never going to be easy, especially starting from just a frame and an unknown engine. I think once the fundamentals are sorted things should start getting easier. Got a few more bits done over the weekend, head light, brake light, mounted the ignition and horn too. Target was to have it running well and Painted/Powder Coated in time for the Kickback Custom show at the Cheltenham Festival of Bikes in September - this may be a little optimistic

The other thing i found this weekend is that the reg/rec is shot so it's not charging at all - which would explain why it gets worse the longer it runs - presumably it starts loosing spark power as the battery drops

Well, i'm not sure if that was a successful weekend or not. Fired it up and it will idle til the cows come home, let it warm up for a few minutes then flicked the fuel pump on. Shortly after it started burbling and coughing - so i did the clear pipe fuel level test and lo and behold the fuel level was about 5mm higher than the previous line I can only assume that the dynamic fuel level is higher than the static as previously measured - kind of as the float is now regulating whilst running it's allowing more fuel in than being closed shut. As a result it started coughing so i swapped the plugs round again until it started back on 4 cylinders again. Before running the pump i had tried it a little richer on the mixture screws which it seemed to prefer. I also managed to get it to run off choke yesterday which it wouldn't do on Saturday for some reason (which later turned out to be a disctinct lack of fuel in the tank - dozy twat!) I also tried it full rich and full lean on the needles but due to the fuel pump over richening it all i couldn't really tell which was better - i did manage to get it to rev a bit in both cases but not cleanly. Not sure where to go from here other than to drop the fuel pressure on the regulator again and try dropping the float heights a couple of mm to try and get the dynamic fuel level closer to the previous mark. One thing i did wonder was whether the dynamic gravity fed level would be any different?

Sorry to disappoint, it got a bit late. I had to have the carbs back off and reattach the float bowl breathers which i took off last time i stripped them. All bolted back up now and ready to go though. Re checked the fuel level on the pump - still ok

Retested last night with another litre of fuel in the tank Level rose above the previous line by approx 1mm - so I backed the regulator off by about half a turn, retested and it dropped back down to the line. Will fire it up later and hope for the best

Thanks Slingy, that's my plan, softly softly from here It all seems a bit too easy though........

Right another update Stripped and rebuilt the carbs with new seals and float needles - there was a noticeable difference in the tips, new ones were much wider and less tapered - also the sides of the old ones were definitely worn. Rechecked all float heights at 20mm bang on - re tested gravity fed level - bang on the same line as before Then i plumbed the tank in and re checked the fuel pressure on my gauge, now down to 0.5 to 1 psi ish so i wound it up to 1.5psi to make sure that both ends of the spring were contacting the seats, plug it onto the carbs and retested the fuel level Bang on the same line as the gravity fed mark. Only thing i will do is retest it with another couple of litres of fuel in the tank as there was only a drop (circa 1 litre or so) in the bottom so i want to be sure it's the same with a decent amount of fuel. Other than that i think that's that bit of it sorted (He says with fingers firmly crossed) Next job will be to start it up again and try and run it on the tank - then start re introducing the turbo bits again - plenum and up pipe etc

Seeing as Photofuckit has deemed that 3rd party hosting is now going to cost me $400 a year i'm trying a different hosting service This was from the other day after the float height drop test on the pump I re tested the gravity test last night using the fuel tank just above the frame and it was way higher than previous - again almost at the same level as on the pump - in fact probably around the 21.5mm pump test height Carb rebuild kits should be here today, so i think i'll rebuild them, double check the float heights and re do the gravity test again to triple check before i try it on the pump to see how far it needs adjusting. On the regulator, i had a look at the return spigot, it was just under a 6mm bore, so i very gently opened it up to 7mm - i daren't go anymore as it's quite thin walled now. The actual hole where the stopper is is about 8-10mm across so that shouldn't be an issue. Will update over the weekend *edit - fuck me that pictures a bit big

I did wonder about that, the remote tank is hanging about 1 m above the bike - the only difference between the 2 gravity tests was the amount of fuel in the bottle, which lends credence to the theory i hadn't let the float bowls fill properly on the first test. I'll drop it down and hang it above the carbs where the tank would be then and re test. I've got some carb rebuild kits on the way, hopefully be here for the weekend Feels like progress even if it's not really moving forward. Once I've done the tests i'll get a video of it running Thanks again for your help @slingy1157 i'd still be blindly stabbing in the petrol soaked dark if not for your insight! *edit - did a bit 'o' maths - remote tank is approx 1.5m above the floats - that's 15kPa or 2.2ish psi - which would fully explain why the line from the gravity test was everso slightly higher than the 2psi regulator/tank test

Thanks for the replies guys. I'll get some rebuild kits ordered up soon. I re checked the fuel level last night, standard 20mm float heights with about a litre of fuel in my remote tank suspended above the bike It ran like this on Sunday afternoon and idled nicely The fuel level is now at the same level or slightly above the 2psi line? I fully drained the outer 2 bowls, then let them re fill and got the same result so i think the original gravity fed readings were way off. Will drain and re check tonight then i'll recheck with the pump running (and remember to take some more photos) One of the biggest headaches with this bike is getting repeatable results during testing

I also think it might be worth replacing the float needles, they don't look to have any wear on the tips but the sides are a little shiny

Cheers Slingy, i thought they looked a bit low, i'll retest them tonight now it been run for a while - might also stick a drop more fuel in the remote bottle as it was quite low so wouldn't have had much weight of fuel on them. I did wonder about the return outlet - it's about 4-5mm IIRC, might be worth opening it up a bit and also checking the inside diameter. The spring is redundant now as it doesn't touch both seats at the same time when off the bike so i've got the adjuster wound in so its just touching both ends and not increasing the pressure at all.

Right, it's been a weekend of carbs on ,carbs off, carbs on, carbs off repeat ad infinitum Slight progress and a problem, Having stripped and thoroughly cleaned the carbs for the umpteenth time i reset everything to factory settings and did as slingy suggested - fuel gravity fed on stock 20mm float heights and marked the 2 outside float bowls. Then repeat on the tank/pump/regulator combo with the pressure turned as low down as it will go. I did have a slight issue that #1 float fuel level seemed drastically lower to begin with but when re tested was about the same as the other side. Here's the problem - bottom line is the gravity fed level, upper line is the fuel level when on the pump. Difference between the 2 is approx 15mm. #4 float bowl Other side (No1 float bowl) I tried adjusting the fuel level down - tried 21.5mm, re tested, and fuel level was roughly 1.5mm lower - surely i can't adjust the floats down as far as i need to get the lines to match? I can't go any lower on the fuel pressure as it's backed all the way off - would increasing the return line size help? its 8mm bore all the way back to the tank. On the plus side, i reset everything back to factory again after fiddling with it and fired it up on the remote bottle, and not only did it started pretty much instantly, it idled nicely too aside from cylinder #4 which was popping and coughing - quick swap for an old old plug and it chimed in nicely and gave the best idle i've had since getting it running. It almost accepted a bit of throttle though i think without the airbox/plenum it's always going to struggle. Just proves what i thought was running on all 4 previously wasn't So, once i've sorted the fuel pressure level i can start looking at the next step. Many thanks to @slingy1157 for your help, i'd have had no hope getting it to work from where i was without it!

Thanks for the info Slingy, They are GK76a carbs so that could well be the issue, i think i'm going to go back to 20-21 and try the clear pipe idea and see what it's doing on the pump/regulator. I had it running again over the weekend, seems like it had eaten a couple of the plugs. At one point it sounded like it was trying to chime in on all 4 cylinders - which was odd as i thought it already was running on all 4?! Carbs are now fully apart again to be cleaned and float heights re set. Will also get another fresh set of plugs I shall not be beaten!

Its good to know it's not just me!

I'll pick up another set this weekend. The ones i've got in it now are effectively new but it's worth a go

Right, this thing is trying my patience once again, Tried upping the mixture, 2.5 turns and then 3.5 turns out, still no joy, although it is coughing and burbling it just won't run on and catch on all cylinders. Tried it with the fuel pump running to raise the fuel level in the float bowl, no difference. Tried upping the fuel pressure a little, no difference. What effect would the lower float heights have on the idle/starter circuit - i know in theory the lower it is the leaner the mixture. *Edit - I may try going back up a bit on the float heights as a matter of course - a logical reversal of the process I could not have picked a worse bike to try turbo-ing!

My 1100L ended up 1216'd, Piper Cams, RS38s, Ported and Devcon'd Head with oversized inlets, Akra system, Dyna Coils and a mildly lightened and balanced crank, was knocking on the door of 148-150hp but with nearly 90ftlb of torque from low down (i'll have to have a look at the dyno printout to see where) That was with some very ballpark out of the box jetting so with a bit of setting up i expect a bit more. It's hilarious to ride but relatively civilised unless you want it to be lairy

Aye, brand new plugs That's my thinking, i'll spin them out a turn and see what happens

23mm is about 2.5mm lower than stock so not massively lower

Right, it's all together with the tank on and all of the turbo gubbins attached Got the base fuel pressure down to 2psi - won't go any lower but should be ok. With the float heights set to 23mm and the 2psi fuel pressure it's not overcoming the float needles which is a good thing However, it won't start again - not sure if it's because it was completely dry and needs a bit of help or if it's struggling with the float heights being too low. It's giving the occasional cough and pop but sounds like it's not getting fuel through. I've got the mixtures set a little bit leaner than standard from when it was over fueling before - so i will try them out a turn or so. Other option is to up the fuel pressure a bit - does that seem like a logical approach?