| Author | Message | ||
     Swordsman |
Okay, so I thought I'd tinker with the timing a bit on my bike. I was getting a lot of predetonation during the 100' summer, so I drilled open the cover and retarded the timing plate by a degree or so, and it took care of the popping. Now that the weather has cooled down, I thought I'd set it back. While I was in there, I decided to see just how much the timing could be adjusted back and forth before it started running poorly. While it was running, I left the 2 bolts loose enough that I could turn the plate forward and backward, to see how it effected it in real-time. I can't make sense of the results! Rather than having a "zone" where the engine ran the smoothest (like I would have expected), the engine speed actually changed instead. It was like adjusting the idle. As I retarded the timing, the engine slowed, to a point that it would almost die, and as I increased the timing, the engine just got faster and faster! Can someone explain to me how this works? It's obviously nothing like adjusting the timing on a car... every car I've ever dealt with (that used a distributor) had a perfect zone, and had nothing to do with the engine speed. I'd like to understand what's going on in there before I touch it again. Thanks! ~SM | ||
| Blake |
Rotating/adjusting the cam position sensor affects more than ignition timing. It also affects the fuel injection. "As I retarded the timing, the engine slowed, to a point that it would almost die" But that sounds normal to me. | ||
| Swordsman |
Yeah, dying I would have expected, but not the running faster and faster part! Once that started, I realized I really didn't know what I was doing after all, and decided I'd better step awaaay from the bike!  ~SM (Message edited by Swordsman on October 28, 2007) | ||
| Mikej |
If you would have keep adjusting it it would have started to run bad in the faster direction as well. Back in the old days of points and centrifugal weights to kick in the ignition advance was one thing, but these days with ECM's and integrated/programmed systems and smart/learning systems there's a whole lot more to this than simply adjusting a timing plate. Tube-frame carb'd Buell, go ahead and play with the timing some, but fuel injected X-frame programmed Buell you'll need a computer linkup to mess with it to any gainfull results. | ||
| Swordsman |
Yeah, well, I've got a cable on the way for the ECMSpy software, so hopefully I'll get it figured out soon. =) ~SM | ||
| Phaedrus91 |
I got a tuber cyclone. I'm timing it today and I had the exact same though. Advance just made it fast and retarding made it slow. No real sweet spot. You gotta have a light (if your carb'd) or a computer like stated above if you're EFI |
