dead engine start tips

[jdaatwebco]

I attended the AHRMA race at Diamond Don's this last weekend. It was a hoot! Great turnout and site to race motorcycles.

The cross country races were dead engine starts. My 81 430 will usually fire off on the 1st or 2nd GOOD kick ( I have been racing dirtbikes over 40 years and Huskys much of that time). It took me 4 or 5 kicks to get started and by then the pack was long gone.

Although the 430 takes a lot to get going ( compared to other bikes-- even other Huskys), I can usually live with the 2 or 3 kicks it usually takes. But not in a dead engine start.........

Let me say that all the electrical connections are perfectly clean and grounded. The plug is gapped at .020. Timing at 2.0 BTDC.

Stock carb with a 45 pilot, 3.0 slide,420 main,6DH3/ T2, Q8 needle jet. The carb is perfectly clean, as are the jets. The carb ( or the parts) is not worn. I test and confirm carb jetting by reading the plug at each race.

I get to the starting line after warming the engine up and confirm that it is running cleanly. Kill the engine using the kill switch. Petcock is on. Stand on a stool, ratchet the kickstarter several times to get as much as I can toward the top while finding TDC. Watch the flagman and kick hard using no throttle until she fires.

Do you guys have success doing something different?????

 

[Husq.fleet]

I have no idea if this relates at all? My dad had a 501 Maico, he always killed the engine in gear with the clutch. He yelled at me for doing that with my XR75 so I asked him why he did it? he said it starts better that way next time with no other explaination than that, well try to explain that to a six year old anyway! Thinking mechanically 37 yrs later, shutting off the spark with the piston still travelling might "wet" the plug?

 

[Leftcoast leftkicker]

Was the kick-start lever at TDC? Could you have stood next to the bike (on a stand)?

 

[ruwfo]

cold starts

Here's my experience with starting my Huskys, i never start them 1st, before a race (moto) . If i didn't run it long enough it wouldn't start at the gate .

I start it the day before the race & ride it shortly around til the cylinders too hot to touch then shut it down. I always put a fresh
plug it & fresh fuel, if it been more then 3 weeks since then last time
i've fired it up.

In your case i would start the bike, right before the race & get it good
& hot ,then kill it on the line, if your bike starts fine hot it should fire
easily, at TDC & giving it a good boot.

Husky John

 

[jdaatwebco]

Yes, I stood on a stand on the left side and kicked hard using my right leg.

Yes, the engine was warm and the engine was burning clean and crisp before shutting it down on the starting line. I shut it down about a minute before the flag dropped, kicked it thru a couple of times very slowly to get a little fuel into the engine, then got the piston to TDC.

When the flag dropped, I kicked it fast and hard 4 or 5 times before it finally fired off.

My question is proper starting technique; my guess is that it needed more fuel in the cylinder to start ( but that is just a hunch). I hesitated to lay it over to get fuel into the cylinder with a hot engine--- doing this would either let it start or flood the engine......

Thanks for the responses.

 

[Husq.fleet]

"before the flag dropped, kicked it thru a couple of times very slowly to get a little fuel into the engine, then got the piston to TDC."

With my 82 430 if I dont hit it hard first kick after its been running it then takes a couple more. I move kicker very slowly not to bring fuel into cyl. when engine is warm when finding TDC, when TDC is found, then quick kick and she'll fire first time always. Usually get myself into the "few" kick thing if I try to start it sitting on the seat and miss the first one! Works OK on my 250's but not the 430

 

[mattmcphail]

I kicked it fast and hard 4 or 5 times before it finally fired off.

QUOTE]

Is this the way you kick it when it usually fires first or second kick for you? If not, maybe instead of worrying about kicking it fast, kick it hard and deliberately. If you were trying to rush it, you may not have been kicking all the way through it even though you thought you were.

 

[Old Geezer]

"before the flag dropped, kicked it thru a couple of times very slowly to get a little fuel into the engine, then got the piston to TDC."

With my 82 430 if I dont hit it hard first kick after its been running it then takes a couple more. I move kicker very slowly not to bring fuel into cyl. when engine is warm when finding TDC, when TDC is found, then quick kick and she'll fire first time always. Usually get myself into the "few" kick thing if I try to start it sitting on the seat and miss the first one! Works OK on my 250's but not the 430

I'm constantly amazed at the intricate littany of maneuvers needed to get these things to light up!
Don't forget that it also helps to point the bike into the wind, cock the handle bars 23 degrees to the left, give three loving patts to the head, throw salt over your shoulder, and say a silent prayer that the sun and moon are properly aligned before you stomp with all your might on the kicker. That, plus all the regular stuff like leaning your bike over until gas pukes out the overflow, giving a two second blow on the carb vent tube to "bubble the gas", get the piston just barely past TDC....stuff like that. Oh, and don't forget to bungie a milk crate to the back fender so you have something to stand on when you're out in the woods and need to re-start after stopping for a leak.
Someone needs to write an SOP that we can tape to the handlebars in order to remember these details. All this to consider while you're trying to get started at a dead-start race.

 

[subarumy98]

I wil go with your "kick over a fewtimes slowly theory"

Perhaps best to kill in neutral once hot.
Line up TDC once


leave it alone

then kick like hell.

 

[Husq.fleet]

"cock the handle bars 23 degrees to the left, give three loving patts to the head"

John you got it wrong again? Here we go AGAIN, its 24 deg. to the right, that way the bars are out of your way, and its three loving patts to the seat (towards rear of seat) not the head.

 

[dartyppyt]

Try this,

Get your husky well warmed up and hot. Ride it before start to clean it out.

Keep starting it on the line and keep it cleaned out and hot.

Right as you are hitting the kill switch. Pull the choke on to prime the engine then shut the choke off.

Run your kick starter down real easy with your foot till you get it up on compression and your kick starter is going to engage all the way at the top.

At some races that you had to run to the bike while someone held it by the back fender. We used a long rubber band to hold the kich starter out and engaged.

Teach yourself how to kick it with your left foot on the bike (It took me a while to get it down). I always used a milk crate on the line.

Should work like a charm but practice with your left foot, kill switch and choke.

It will get you to the first turn quicker.


Typpyt

 

[jdaatwebco]

Thanks Typpyt, I'll try just that.

I've been riding and racing dirtbikes for over 40 years--- so I'm not new to this. I really appreciate the sincere posts.

I doubt if I can consistantly get a good kick on the 430 with my left leg. Certainly not THIS 430. In the 70's and 80's I mostly rode 250's and always used the left leg for the dead engine starts; only recall not starting once on the first kick.

My riding buddy repositioned the kickstarter on his 430 and it catches 80 degrees sooner than mine ( mine catches at 3 oclock). He gets a lot more kick action than I do, however, I hear the kickstarter slam forward once in a while--- I am afraid that he is going to shell something.

 

[racemx904]

here is how i use to do it....

I stood on the right with a crate on the right...kiicking with left...

in nuetral....
as you kill the bike for your start....kill button and wide open throttle....loads it full and ready to start...

then one good clean solid follow through....I use to go just past TDC too...
....