Ignition and timing

[CheshireCat]

Hello, happy to meet you all! I am the new owner of a 75 R60/6 and trying to find work out all the intricacies of the bike.

The bike has been running very rich, soiling plugs very quickly and the spark appears to be weak (red). The valves have been done, and now I'm looking at the ignition coils and the timing. The current setup is dual plugged with a dyna electronic ignition, and green dyna coils.

First I'm wondering if the brown dyna coils (1.5A) might be more appropriate for the bike, and second, what kind of timing and advance should I be looking for with the dual plugs?

[DucatiPete]

The bike has been running very rich

Another newb: welcome aboard...

There's plenty of knowledgable ppl here who will answer your timing question in (i'm sure) more ways than one, but in the meanwhile have you checked your carbs? (ie mixture settings)

Just a thought...

[dwerbil]

Welcome ChershireCat.
I have more of a points background. Your "red spark" does sound quite weak. That's happening on both sides? If the weak spark is on only one side, have you tried flipping plug wires -- pull the gas tank off and flip-flop plug wires to see if the problem follows same. If it does, maybe it's a spark plug or spark plug wire.

Mo'better knowledge should be posting here now. WHERE are you guys, doing the dishes or laundry or out riding the last two days or what? This guy needs some help here.

[Deleted User 62]

What type of coils are you running now? Do you have a strobe timing light? For a dual plug system you will need to retard the timing a few degrees from stock.

[Bob Bennett]

How many K's (Miles) on the bike CC? When my bike was running too rich I rebuilt the carbs and it's much better.
the thing is the bike was starting to let me down when slow work was wanted like slow twisty dirt, it would carbon up
one plug, trick is new needles and needle jets, they seem to wear out with time and K's, thus run too rich.
Just one of the things that might help you regarding your problem.
Yeah, and welcome to the forum.

[Crunch]

My suggestion is to begin with setting the valves to spec., then follow up with a carb sync. I understand that you are new to this bike so you should know that there is a lot of available information as to how to perform these tasks. (Went back to re-read and see you have done the valves. Never mind) One website that many people refer to is this one...http://bmwmotorcycletech.info/. A bit pedantic but thorough. The carb sync may help with the rich running. The spark though may be an indication of the coils. They do go bad over time although it sounds like the coil has been replaced. Hope this gives you some insight. -Mike

[dwerbil]

Choke issues?

[CheshireCat]

Ok,I've done the valves to spec, and they were actually pretty close already, which is a relief. I've been trying to get it tuned up right with the sparking method, and it seem to work. The next time I start it up it starts backfiring through the carb. Alo after examining the choke cables and plungers, I don't believe it is the choke.

Tomorrow I'll go out and check all the sparks again, and wap some wires, hopefully that will indicate give me some more knowledge.

I'll also be strobe timing it this week, but on a dual R60/6, what should I be aligning for in the window?

[Deleted User 62]

You want about 3 degrees retarded timing, which should put your "F" mark in the bottom of the window at full advance (when the marks stop moving) this is approximately 1/4" below centered in the window. Get the timing correct before attempting to adjust your carbs.

[CheshireCat]

Alright, fighting with the timing again today. I did test all four sparks, and my left cylinder randomly stops sparking for short periods of time.
I'm also conidering getting this kit http://www.rockypointcycle.com/p-bmw8_e ... dpkit.html, it look like it would fix everything and hopefuly give better performance. Thoughts?