1967/1969 Bonnie Rebuild Desert Sled Project - Any Advice

Discussion in 'Vintage Classics' started by Sundance, Sep 15, 2021.

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  1. Iron

    Iron Elite Member

    Dec 29, 2021
    2,554
    943
    Bob Ross Studios
    Digital Speedos do electronic ones. Koso and Daytona do some smaller diameter stuff on their site. They'll be available on your side
    https://www.digital-speedos.co.uk/
    They also do a gizmo thing that screws into the speedo drive on the back wheel to convert it to electronic.

    Screenshot 2022-06-23 070538.jpg
     
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  2. speedrattle

    speedrattle Senior Member

    Feb 19, 2021
    1,105
    243
    appalachia usa
    thats interesting
     
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  3. Sundance

    Sundance Well-Known Member

    Aug 2, 2021
    217
    93
    Arlington, VA
    I've never seen this. I'll have to take a look. Thanks.
     
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  4. Sundance

    Sundance Well-Known Member

    Aug 2, 2021
    217
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    Arlington, VA
    So, I’m looking for some advice on troubleshooting a failure to start. I got my bike all put together, oiled and gassed. Went through the procedure with my carbs, no leaks but fuel tickled out. Power in the battery, etc, so as far as I knew it should kick over. It kicks over, just not getting any ignition. So advice on the best way to troubleshoot this newly re-built motor to see what the problem is. Thanks.
     
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  5. speedrattle

    speedrattle Senior Member

    Feb 19, 2021
    1,105
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    appalachia usa
    okay.

    there's 18 pages, so please refresh my memory.

    what ignition is in there?

    is it not sparking at all?

    did you keep the original wiring/kill switch/ignition switch?
     
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  6. Sundance

    Sundance Well-Known Member

    Aug 2, 2021
    217
    93
    Arlington, VA
    OK, thanks for the troubleshooting advice. Checked my wiring and wasn’t getting any power to the coils. I fixed that and tried again with great success. After a few kicks I got it running good enough to ride a bit and is sounds quite loud and strong. I’ll be needing to adjust the idle and then take it out to get it heated up a bit in the next day or so. Thanks for all the great help with this project. I’m sure I’ll be needing more soon as I work to get the bike running at it’s best! If I could figure out how to put a video on the site I would.
     
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  7. speedrattle

    speedrattle Senior Member

    Feb 19, 2021
    1,105
    243
    appalachia usa
    take your video and upload to a host like youtube or imgur

    then post the link.

    do not lug or overrev the motor on break in. you want to load the rings on accell and decell to conform them to the bores. i have my own techniques which work well, but in all cases, no extended idling and do not baby the motor excessively or you will glaze the bores.
     
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  8. Sundance

    Sundance Well-Known Member

    Aug 2, 2021
    217
    93
    Arlington, VA
    Ignition off but keeps running.

    OK, working to diagnose my engine/electrical issue. I have the pazon electronic ignition and the podtronics POD-1P-MAX regulator, rectifier with built in capacitor. I have one wire from the positive battery terminal that is fused. This fused wire is split into 2 power wires to 2 toggles. One toggle is my ignition toggle, and this is connected to: the coils, the podtronics regulator and the brake light. The second toggle is my lights toggle: power to the headlight and the tail light. So all these power wires are through the fused main wire from the positive terminal of the battery (I wired this with negative ground).

    Today I started the bike as normal, with the ignition toggle on and the bike started right up. I then switched off the ignition toggle and it kept running. I then removed the fuse from the battery power wire and it continued to run. After I shut it down (with the gearbox/clutch) I was able to start it up without the ignition toggle powered on. After waiting a few minutes I was no longer able to do this, but was able to start it again once I had the power connected.

    So I thought that perhaps the podtronics/rectifier was the reason it was running without the battery connection. But now I am not sure, because once I removed the fuse and it kept running, this meant the podtronics was no longer connected to the battery. By the way, the negative terminal of the battery has 2 wires connected - one to the podtronics and one to the common ground point on the frame where I ground everything else.

    So I am not sure why it keep running, but it does. So I will need a kill switch, and am wondering to what should I connect a kill switch - thanks for any feedback!
     
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  9. Sundance

    Sundance Well-Known Member

    Aug 2, 2021
    217
    93
    Arlington, VA
    Thank you for the many comments and advice on my issue!

    So, the issue has been resolved . . . with help from Mike Grage at The Bonneville Shop. I posed my questions to him and rather than summarize, here is what he wrote - Thanks Mike!!

    I did have my red+ wire from the podtronics and my + wire to the coils on the same circuit. So even when the switch was in the off position and even when the battery was disconnected, power was still going to the coils from the regulator. I moved the red+ from the pazon to another (it’s own) circuit to the battery and all is well.

    From Mike:

    Hello Brian,

    I had to draw out a wiring diagram to help me understand what’s going on here.

    One question. Do you have the red (+) wire from the podtronics connected to the same ignition switch terminal as the coils? In other words, are they on the same side of the ignition switch? If so, that is the problem. Nothing is stopping the charging system from providing power to the coils. Moving the red wire to the other side of the ignition switch will fix it.

    If that is not the case, and it continues to run with the ignition switch in the off position, the contacts inside the ignition switch are failing to open the circuit (cut power to coils). In other words it’s stuck in the on position. You can check it with a test light. With the key in the off position the test light should remain off (not even dim) when checking the terminal with the white wire.

    Link for ignition switch: https://www.thebonnevilleshop.com/p...ton-bsa-pn-30608-g-31403-g-31899-s45-60-0989/

    Personally, I like to make the power to the coils (white wire) run through a handlebar kill switch like the one in the link below in case the main ignition switch fails.

    https://www.thebonnevilleshop.com/p...a-2-wire-kill-switch-button-pn-35835-lu35835/

    Hope this helps.

    Sincerely,

    Mike Grage

    Technical and Customer Support
     
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  10. Sundance

    Sundance Well-Known Member

    Aug 2, 2021
    217
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    Arlington, VA
    Front brake squishy - So my rear brake is solid, but the front brake is squishy and just barely stops the front wheel when the brake lever is fully compressed. I put new shoes on the front and cleaned the drum with a wire sheet before assembling. I suppose I will be taking the wheel off to take a look in case I have assembled it improperly. I am wondering if any members have experience with this and if there is something simple I am missing. Thanks for any advice!
     
  11. darkman

    darkman Crème de la Crème

    Oct 26, 2015
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    New shoes will req a few miles to bed in but one common problem is people often forget to fit the two shim pads 37-2026.
     
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  12. Sundance

    Sundance Well-Known Member

    Aug 2, 2021
    217
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    OK, I don't remember putting in shims. I see on my parts book the part W2026, "abutment pads," and these must be what you are referring to. From the part diagram it is hard to see what they look like or where they go. Are you aware of somewhere where this is more easily seen? And thanks!
     
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  13. darkman

    darkman Crème de la Crème

    Oct 26, 2015
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    Number 23 :)

    frontwheel-ntr5t.jpg
     
  14. Sundance

    Sundance Well-Known Member

    Aug 2, 2021
    217
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    Arlington, VA
    OK, I see, I'm pretty sure I did install those, but will be taking it apart today to see what is all looks like. Thanks!
     
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  15. Sundance

    Sundance Well-Known Member

    Aug 2, 2021
    217
    93
    Arlington, VA
    So I took the front brake off and here is how it looks. First off it seems like it is assembled properly as is - unless any member can find some fault that I can’t see. Any suggestions are welcome. I do see that one of the brake shoes seems to be having only about 10% contact while the other looks like about 60% contact with the drum. So, is this where I need to shave down the brake shoe high points so they will have more contact? If the brake looks assembled properly then perhaps this is the fix? Thanks for taking a look.

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  16. capt

    capt Elite Member

    May 8, 2016
    3,052
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    western Australia
    You will get minimal braking if you can only see a very small contact/wear point ! Yes you need to grind and remove material from this high contact point. Doesn't take much , just a mm is likely to be enough. If you get 70% or so contact on setup , the shoes will bed in from there soon enough. Just ride doing lots of harder than usual stops.
     
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  17. Sundance

    Sundance Well-Known Member

    Aug 2, 2021
    217
    93
    Arlington, VA
    Thanks Capt. I was just doing this today and think I've ground enough off to get more contact on the shoes. Now to reassemble. By the way, do you have any advice on how to determine the correct length of the rod assembly for good braking?
     
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  18. darkman

    darkman Crème de la Crème

    Oct 26, 2015
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    Its also important to disconnect the rod between the two arms and apply pressure to both arms rearward until you feel both shoes touching the drum and then adjust rod length as req.
     
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  19. Sundance

    Sundance Well-Known Member

    Aug 2, 2021
    217
    93
    Arlington, VA
    Darkman, thanks - I was wondering how to make this adjustment.
     
  20. Sundance

    Sundance Well-Known Member

    Aug 2, 2021
    217
    93
    Arlington, VA
    I followed the advice of forum members and sanded the high spots off of the brake shoes until it looked like I had contact on most of the shoes. I then put the wheel back together and on the bike. Now I am finding what may be a contributing problem, something I wondered about when I was initially concerned about my front brake being “squishy.” It seems my brake cable - which is 47.5 inches long - is too long by about 1 to 1 1/2 inches. I am not able to adjust it to get enough pull on the brake arm. Has anyone had this problem before? I would think I should try to find another cable of shorter length rather than try to shorten it myself? Thanks for any comments!
     
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