Spark, Fuel, and compression

The KZ200 lives! I woke up this morning with one purpose... To get Mary's motorcycle to run. I am thrilled to say that the bike is now running well and ready to be registered and inspected. The little single cylinder 200cc bike is pretty simple, and after consulting the service manual, calling a friend for advice and doing some "on the fly" repair, I took it for a couple trips up and down the driveway, and around the lawn.

18 horsepower sounds pretty weak, but the bike is so light that it actually feels sorta zippy. I started out this morning by filing down the points and while doing so, I noticed that the pivot for the points had a little too much play. I pulled it apart rolled a piece of paper on the outer part of the bushing and jammed the points back on, removing the play. I think the bushing was originally pressed into the fiber part that the point mounts to, but it had worked itself loose. The paper sleeve gave a nice tight fit. This allowed me to adjust the ignition points and actually have them stay adjusted. I know that a piece of paper doesn't sound like a good way to fix a motorcycle, but i just needed a small amount of thickness, and while I could have just used some epoxy, the paper will probably work even better. The points are mounted to a fiber part to begin with, so why not, right? It sure beat buying a new set of points for 30$.

Now that I had the ignition timed, I double and triple checked it, and moved on to the carb. I don't really have that much experience working with carburetors, but I took it all apart, cleaned it up, blew out the jets, and passages, made sure nothing looked sticky or worn, and put it all back together. Piece of cake. I took out the spark plug to test for spark and also do a compression check. The compression was over 160psi. the service range is between 130 and 195. I was smack dab in the middle. I cranked it over with the plug out and could smell fuel, and the plug was firing, but the spark didn't look so great, and the plug looked carbon fouled...
I took a trip to the parts store and purchased a new plug, some starting fluid, just in case the problem was with the carb, and some carb cleaner. When I got home I gapped the plug, popped it in, and sprayed some starting fluid in the airbox. I hit the starter and the bike fired righ up! I was almost expecting it to sputter out once it burned up the starting fluid, but it kept running, and running really well. I revved it up and blew out the cobwebs, let it get up to temp and then shut it down. It was even starting with the kickstart, with only one or two kicks.

I took it up and down the driveway to check the clutch and brakes. The only thing left to fix was the headlight, which I took care of, and then I called Mary to brag about my mechanical prowess. When she got home, she started it up and with a little bit of coaching and a couple stall-outs from trying to launch in second gear, she figured out the clutch, and took her first ride up the driveway and back to the garage. If it hadn't been raining, she would have probably played on it longer. The grin on her face was fantastic, and I think she will probably be riding for many years to come.

I want to thank my brother in law Charlie for the wonderful present. Even though the bike is Mary's, It feels like a gift to me too! I can't wait to ride it to work!