Did I fail to see your feeler gauges? If so, if so I'll try to pay more attention. It looks very nice indeed, a credit to you! Tom.
@RTD Tom, I do not intend to set the valve clearances in the side of the road. The risk of loosing a half ring is too great…
@Guillaume69 Very sound decision making regarding setting your valve clearances at the roadside and associated risks I thought the feeler gauges might help if you needed to check your plug gaps during interim roadside adjustments? Although, I'm sure you have thought of this, and in any event I hope you enjoy much trouble free riding without the need for roadside intervention of any kind. Tom.
I am not an expert in gapping my plugs but I thought it was something that should be done/controled upon setting new plugs, once and for all. Can a plug gap change in time once in use on a motor? Honest question.
Yes you can if it's a single-electrode plugs like this: https://www.championautoparts.com/Technical/Tech-Tips/Spark-Plug-Gap-Tip.html I can't find a link to a neat little tool I used to own, but this person is using one in this: But a little tap on the electrode by the roadside to close up the gap is in my muscle memory from the 70s!
This extract from a "Champion" article may provide a simple reason for checking the spark plug gap during maintenance or fault finding after use, possibly in a variety of internal and external conditions: "The gap between the spark plug’s center and side electrodes needs to be calibrated perfectly to ensure optimal engine performance. Having the right gap ensures that the arcing occurs at the proper voltage to ignite the fuel and generate the combustion that makes the engine run. If the gap isn’t set correctly, extra stress could be placed on the spark plug tip which could cause it to erode and wear out prematurely." The links below, in addition to the above and any additional posts, may be of interest: https://www.ngk.com/should-i-gap-my-plugs-2 https://ngksparkplugs.com/en/resources/set-gap-when-installing-new-plugs https://www.championautoparts.com/Technical/Tech-Tips/Spark-Plug-Gap-Tip.html https://ngksparkplugs.com/en/resources/gapping-and-indexing Hope it helps. Tom.
Most definitely. At a long overdue service on my daughter's Toyota Aygo the plug gap had doubled from 1mm to 2mm. Not sure how it was still running.
Good morning chaps! I have been riding the Darmah around my area for the past weeks. Absolute pleasure with the new clutch which really makes a difference. No more slipping at all. After around 400km total (farthest ride was 100km), a new issue is manifesting itself: gear shift lever return is less and less consistent. Gears are still shifting very smoothly, and neutral is found easily, but before I get stranded with a gearbox stuck in 1st or 5th, I will take a look at the detent and return springs, which probably need to be changed, if I believe my readings. I researched all I could on this, read what the workshop manual had to say about it and am now ready for an imminent gear shifting assembly deep dive. An interesting discussion here: https://www.ducati.ms/threads/gear-selection-problems-on-darmah.129771/ Stay tuned as I will try and document my findings with pics and all.
Yeah... for the sake of a few pounds I replaced those springs when I refurbed my Darmah and as the thread alluded to you just need to be careful in the exact placement of both the ratchet & selector drum plate thingy on assembly. The nut/bolt on the ratchet is an eccentric but I can't for the life of me remember exactly what it's for... I think it somehow adjusts the resting position of the gear lever And again, from what I recall, as you may be able to tell memory doesn't appear to be one of my strong points , it's possible to manually turn the rear wheel and try all the gears before buttoning the cover up.
Had one break on my SS which was interesting. I seem to remember it's not hard to do but might need the clutch off for access.
@ducv2 Definitely clutch off for access. @Andy Bee The little eccentric screw allows to fine tune the relative position (mesch?) of the shifter shaft to the other dented part, to get the up/down travel perfectly centered. Looking at it, it seems to be acting on the return spring itself.
That bolt hole, just below the gear selector shaft, looks like it's got some sort of packing in it... and strangely enough on mine that very same thread isn't the strongest and it's something I'm going to have to have a look at when I next take the cover off. And it's looks like the eccentric moves all of the components the most important of which is the fork that engages with & rotates the selector drum washer. Btw it's mesh, without the c.
@Andy Bee Ah, thanks Andy, « mesh » it is. What you see in the bolt hole is just a bit of hi temp silicone, remnants of the liquid gasket I used last time I closed the left cover. Threads are all fine. They look much better once everything’s cleaned. And what I meant by the eccentric acting on the return spring will show more clearly on this picture: The eccentric only touches the spring, nothing else. Moving it around when the spring tips are fixed, will change the position of the black dented part, which will affect the shifter shaft position in turn. Just finding the sweet spot is what I understand this is used for. Here’s how my spring looks like once off: Even though it is not broken, compared to a new one, it has clearly lost some of its original stiffness. That should explain the mushy shifter lever feel. New springs ordered through Back to Classics.
