OK, it was not the ignition coil and plug. Replaced both. The Hellcat coil plug wire pretty much fell out when I removed it, so I was confident it was the culprit.
The issue started when I put on the rear shock, exhaust, and TBolt USA CDI. I would prefer not to trace out all the CDI contacts from sources with a multimeter, so I have swapped the Hellcat CDI back in. IIRC the older ones used to have 8500rpm limiter, but if I find myself hitting 8500rpm then that would tell me all I need to know.
Been working on the KP Mini quite a bit. It ran briefly with the 70mm BBK, and it felt like it pulled hard. Then the exhaust valve seized open, and bonked the piston.
I wanted to brace the engine more. Using MotoCheez' video on bracing his Hellcat I thought I had the perfect answer...
The brackets don't line up perfectly, but the top hole seems to align with the rear motor mount. Sadly, the bottom relief cut for the rearset mounts is too high to make solid contact. This leaves me with two options:
- Mount the brackets using the rear hole and the bottom 4 bolts to the engine, then weld to the frame. (I have no welder, nor friends who can do this)
- Mount the brackets to the engine and rear mount, then drill the second hole location and use the cross-bolt with sleeve.
Option two seems like a good one, since it would relieve some stress from the rear mount and supposedly reduce vibration per the Cheez himself after he welded in his mount.
NDCustomz finally delivered the chain adjusters. I would be ready to swap swingarms except.... BikeBandit has not shipped my order of Honda Parts from 20 days ago. I might mount it up anyway since the new chain tensioners would allow more rapid replacement of the hub/cushions/bearings/axle. Removing the swinger would also be a good time to drill/mount the cradle.
The more I fuss with the carb, the more I feel the desire for EFI. I felt the same way with the XJ as I was dialing it in.. but putting EFI on a single cylinder 1-1 exhaust bike is way more doable than a 4-cylinder 4-2 exhaust bike which would require 4 separate throttle bodies, 4 injectors, etc.
I checked for fuel delivery issues with the Hellcat, and I don't think there are any in the tank -> filter -> petcock -> carb chain. If we assume 80mph & 40mpg then as long as I can drain 1 gallon in under 30 minutes it should be fine. I was able to drain 1 gallon in about 5-10 mins.
I tightened the bar holders to the point the rubber cushions are doing almost nothing. This was a massive improvement. While forks were out I did a 'po-boy/lazy-boy front end alignment. Secured the tubes in the top triple with caps off against a small marble tile, left axles and lower pinch bolts loose, bounced the front end, tightened it all up. Slight improvement. The bike doesn't immediately try to lean/dive to the left if I release the bard while riding. Now it just leans lazily to the left if I release the bars. I can now wave at people without the bike changing course.
Lubing the clutch cable made it ten thousand times better. The clutch actually has feel and springback now! It's fairly light.
Still to do:
- Cry about forks. Stare at ebay listings until my eyes bleed looking for grom forks that aren't priced like the tubes are actually made of gold.
- Ponder if my fat butt really needs bronze swingarm bushings, or if it will just lead me high preload and a sore tailbone.
- Maybe ohm out the whole ignition circuit and re-crimp terminations / solder.
- Actually make a muffler bracket and get rid of my 14-zip-tie braid holding it from the rearset. The zip ties have been incredibly sturdy. They are all at equal tension and woven together.
- Actually finish the oil cooler install. Just need to cut/shape the mounts and finish assembling my lines. Dunno why I am being so lazy about this one.