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. o O (Boy, ImDying sure hit the nail on the head there ....)
"Finish first, but first finish." - Old racer saying
Here's the score on Cagllari/Daytonas, aka "Cag": You're going to be working on it a lot, period. Figure there's two kinds of time on these bikes, ride time and down time. Ride time is about 1/3 of the time, whn you wheel the bike out of the garage, pour in some fuel/oil, fire it up, and go for a spin (preferably in a parking lot so the cops don't hassle you - street-riding is illegal and dangerous, btw). The other 2/3 of the time is down time, where your bike is up on the workbench, half apart, parts and tools all over the place while you're tweaking this or fixing that. Not good with tools? Trust me, after messing with these things for a month or so, you WILL be.
ImDying gave you some good advice there - I'm going to give you some more.
-Before each ride, make sure all your bolts are right and tight. This helps prevent losing them while riding ... kinda scary if the bolts you lose are the ones holding the rear sprocket or clutch cover on ....
-Keep your carburetor clean, and use only clean gas. Mix only as much gas as you're going to use in one session, usually a couple of tankfuls. A fuel filter is a good idea, as are clamps on all the lines. Storing the bike for long periods of time with gas in the tank is a bad idea .....
-When you finally decide to do some wrenching on the bike, one of the first things you should do is replace all of the cheap Chinese bolts with good quality stainless or hardened bolts. (Total cost: like maybe ten bucks.) Chinese bolts are more prone to loosening / falling out / stripping / breaking than good quality bolts.
-Tools:
Basic tools to get would include:
--A GOOD set of metric Allen wrenches
--Metric open-end and box-end wrenches, from approx. 9mm-19mm
--Metric socket set, same sizes as above, and ratchet driver, either 1/4" or 3/8" drive
**** Note: Sears and several hardware stores carry a stubby 1/4" ratchet with a 1/4" drive on one side, and a socket to hold screwdriver bits in the other. Works great for getting into tight places, such as in between the rear wheel and carburetor to get the air cleaner off. Costs about ten bucks, best money I ever spent on a tool ....
--Several screwdrivers of varying sizes, both Phillips and flathead
--Adjustable wrench, aka "crescent" wrench, at least two different sizes
--Pliers: needlenose, regular, vise-grip, channel locks
--Dremel: aka "The Pocketbiker's Best Friend." Very useful for porting and polishing, grinding, general small cutting.
As you go on with working on these bikes, you'll add to your list of tools, but for starters, these are the basics you would need to get you going..
The stock carburetor on a Cag is finicky, and will leak if not properly adjusted. Be prepared to spend some time doing this. Good news is, if you set it up properly, you won't have to do anything to it except regular maintenance cleaning now and then. These carbs can be modified by porting and polishing intakes and exhausts, and also fine-tuned by changing the main jet (located in the float bowl, the brass tube).
Reeds: As was pointed out earlier, the reeds in the engine work as a valve. The reeds allow the fuel/oil mixture to pass into the cylinder, then seal for compression. When you are changing reeds, hold the reed block up to the light after installing the reeeds and see if there is any light shining through. Light = air leak, probably means you either tightened down the reeds too much or have the installed upside-down (it happens). Stiffer reeds - i.e. Black Widows - help to smooth out the powerband from low end to midrange to top end, and also reduce top end reed flutter. (Reed flutter is when you have the bike wide open throttle, or WOT, and the reeds are flapping back and forth so fast that they can't seal properly against the cylinder, resulting in loss of power.)
Air cleaner--> carburetor--> intake manifold--> reed block--> reeds (actualy inside engine case)--> reed stop--> engine case
Bottom line here is to gt your bike running well FIRST. This gievs you a baseline for anything you do to it later.
Last edited by SpyGuy; 01-10-2009 at 04:46 PM.
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