jim9755

finished work for a few months now and back in the country. I have a rooster ignitions bantam booster kit for the bike, tried fitting it yesterday and the bike wouldn't start at all with it fitted, the spark looked weaker than when i was running it with the points so tomorow will fit the new ht coil then fit the rooster booster kit, hopefully with a new ht coil the ignition kit will be able to work properly. cheers for the help

just been out with the bike, cleaned the breather out but it made no difference the bike still dies after a while but was worth a try any way. the bike is cleaned up and put away now for the next couple of months but in the mean time if any one has any other ideas then let me know, hopefully the ht coil and some other bits should come whilst im at work so can hit the ground running in april and get it sorted. at the moment im thinking of a complete rebuild new bearings/seals/gaskets rings the lot when i get home, hopefully throwing a bit of cash and time and effort at it might pay off. in the mean time thanks for all the help and keep posting the ideas and will let you know how i get on cheers guys

cheers once again guys, new HT coil ordered yesterday and in the post, it was only 16 quid so gotta be worth a try, unfortunatly i have to go back to work tomorrow and am going to be out of the country for the next two months so wont have the chance to fit it until april time, but will post when its fitted to tell if it works, fingers crossed it will. Thanks for all the help guys il check the tank breather today too and give it a quick run, see if that makes a difference, i have a feeling it might actually be chocked up with s*it now you mention it, once again would never have thought of checking that so thanks again its gotta be worth a try.

yeah thanks for the hint was thinking maybe a cracked head or something too. definatley worth checking. i don't think it is the oil seals as i took the dipstick out whilst the bike was ticking over and nothing sprayed out of the gear box and there was no pressure in there when i put my thumb over the hole but you never know. but had the bike out in the snow today got it running but was still conking out every 10 minutes or so now, so i fitted a brand new spark plug, the bike lasted a lot longer with the new plug but still died in the same way after about 25 minutes with the same problem so im wondering if it could be the ignition/ht coil that has died or on its way out?

managed to find two new condensors one a new old stock wipac one and the other just a 3rd party spare. tried them both and there is no difference the bike will run for about half an hour then it just dies away still. Any more ideas ppl? im now thinking that maybe it is the carb?

cool cheers, il definatley get one ordered and give it a try, I know a supplier who can get the specific one to fit the D7 so shouldn't have to move it or anything. Thanks for the suggestions

when it happened the first time i took the spark plug out to check it and there was still a spark there but the bike just wouldn't fire until it had cooled down a couple of hours later. so i guess the insulation in the condenser is breaking down with the heat then?

if it is the condenser would i still get the spark at the plug when kicking it over?

there is a gasket approx 5 mm thick between the carb and the barrel so i assume this is the insulator you are talking about? i just thought it was a distance piece however it is made of some sort of gasket material as oppose to metal so an insulator makes more sense. i have put gasket glue on this when i was reassembling the barrel as the o ring was a bit flat so i don't think the carb will be sucking air in. will try getting hold of a new condensor and changing that then, thanks for the tips. cheers guys would not have thought of that.

Thanks for all the help with the kickstart trouble i had. The bike is a converted bsa bantam d7 I now have a new problem that has just started this week. After changing the piston rings i have been riding the bike quite a bit and loving it but... the bike now will run/tick over fine and all seems to be good for the first approx half hour of riding then all of a sudden the bike will just die, almost like it has run out of petrol, except that it hasn't. this started a few days ago. normally with the bike warm it will kickstart no problem however once the bike has died like i mentioned above it wont kickstart for a few hours until it has cooled down again. At first i thought it may be the points getting wet as i had been thrashing it through some pretty deep water but i checked them and everything in the cover seemed bone dry? the bike on has basic electrics, just the HT lead from the magneto to the sparkplug. I also thought maybe the spark plug was damaged and when warmed through might have lost its insulation, however i checked an am still getting a spark when warm. Also thought about it been a compression problem but i doubt it as the bike starts fine and will kickstart when warm as long as it hasnt died in the way i mentioned. Also when the bike has died and i try to kick it up it still feels like there is plenty of compression there, like the bike wants to start but just cant. Im now thinking it may be a carb problem but cant understand why this would be a problem once the bike is warmed up, if it was a carb problem the bike wouldn't be running in the first place? Any idea on this new problem would be very welcome. thanks

Its not an electrical problem. have definately ruled that one out now. Fitted new piston rings today, its still a pig to start from cold but they have made a big difference in performance the bike feels much more pokey and responsive. whilst i had the barrel off this time though i noticed that there was quite a big step at the top of the cylinder so i think the barrel might be on its last legs which would point towards a compression problem again. The barrel has already been bored out to plus 60 thou so i think the barrel is on its last legs really. however as the bike works a treat when warmed up i think il leave it till next winter and replace the barrel with a new or recon'd one and maybe also do a complete engine rebuild at the same time, new oil seals/gaskets etc. thanks for all the help guys. cheers

cheers guys, got round to taking the bike apart today, took the head off every thing seemed ok piston is in good condition and the piston rings are all in good order. took the barrel off and seemed ok too, but there were two quite big scratches/grooves on one side near the bottom of the cylinder. Noticed that the gudgeon pin circlip on one side of the piston wasnt actually located properly and has worked its way to the edge of the piston and was probably scraping against the barrel. dont think this would have made a massive difference to the compression but am glad i caught it before any real damage was caused. all the joints seem in good order The exhaust port was slightly choked with carbon, but not to any major extent so i doubt if this is the problem either but will clean it out and box it back up and try it over the weekend. in the mean time any one else with ideas are more than welcome. Also what i thought was a D3 i have now been reliably informed is a D7 so i apologise for my ignorance. Cheers for the help guys.

yeah i think new rings might be another good idea as it is still quite hard to start cold but when warm it kicks over no problem so maybe when everything is cold i lose alot of compression past the rings (until they heat up a bit and expand). havn't got round to taking the head off to check/have a look at the state of things in there though, maybe later this week. thanks for the tip.

thanks for the help, had the bike out today and tried the suggestions. none really helped, got the easy start out and got it kick started that way. got it warmed up but noticed it wasnt ticking over too well. thought i might have to strip the carb. then had another thought. the petrol in the tank was quite old so i drained the tank and made up some new 2 stroke got it started and it was running on the new petrol, ticking over great so i think that it was just the 2 stroke oil in the old petrol degrading it.

yeah it has a condensor, it is a waco pacy type 55/mark8 contact breaker. il give that a try thanks