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Bringing back to life

Posted: 25 Sep 2006 10:05
by Riatsala
I have finally pulled my 1976 3 1/2 sport out of the garage after 4 years in the hope of reviving it.

Optimistically this weekend I bought some petrol and stuck it in the tank, kicked the bike over a couple of times to see what happens. Clearly nothing happened apart from petrol pouring out of the reserve tap.

My question is this; in what order should I proceed to check things. For example the battery is super dead but it never seemed important in the past, do I need a good battery?

Any advice would be welcome

Posted: 25 Sep 2006 10:54
by huub
first of all change the oil, strip the carbs and clean them or at least drop the float chambers, they are probably full of muck by now..
i dont think you need a battery, but i would disconnect the regulator if i run it with a dead battery, if the old battery shorts, you might blow the regulator.

and if it runs, what about a new cambelt?

cheers,
Hubert

Posted: 27 Sep 2006 10:49
by Riatsala
Thanks for the advice. So you reckon the battery doesn't make any difference. Is there any chance that the ignition system stops functioning, or is it fairly robust?

Thanks again

Posted: 27 Sep 2006 19:16
by huub
if you havent used the bike for a couple of years the ignition system is unlikely to fail because of that.
you might change the plugs,
The ignition is easy to check, as long as you have a visible spark with the plugs removed from the engine you should be OK.

but a carb problem is more likely.

cheers,
Hubert