Show us your TransAlp modifications!

[Clockwatcher]

Originally Posted by Ladder106

Hi, Rick.

We all love a guy who buys a bike and immediately takes it apart.

The silver,blue orange looks great to me....why change?

Been thinking about the Ignitech unit. Can you really alter the spark timing with these? I've been told that the TA can do a bit better with a few deg more advance.

I agree with Ladder.........the 87 colors are the rarest of the rare. If you want to change colors and bash thru the boonies find some old plastics on ebay and have at it. I personally would preserve your original stuff .
Of course this is my opinion..............

[Hotmamaandme]

New guy question

What size nut on the rear wheel so I can pull it on the trial? I'm thinking about one of those tire iron wrech combos.

[R_Rick]

Originally Posted by Clockwatcher

I agree with Ladder.........the 87 colors are the rarest of the rare. If you want to change colors and bash thru the boonies find some old plastics on ebay and have at it. I personally would preserve your original stuff .
Of course this is my opinion..............

ahhhh .... TA peer pressure. Maybe that's the best of both worlds, track down another set of plastics and paint them.

Cheers,

[Ladder106]

What size nut on the rear wheel

24mm

[Hotmamaandme]

Originally Posted by Ladder106

24mm

Thanks Ray. What are you using wrench and socket?

[Ladder106]

Motion Pro makes a nice combo 24mm box and tire spoon. Combine that with 2 other tire irons (pulling a tire is easiest with 3 irons) and you're good.

The other thing to build/buy is a temporary right sidestand to let you get the back end up.

[Santa]

Originally Posted by kbudde

Hi I am the owner of an XL600V ‘ 94.
It has always irritated me that it is running empty early. I am switching to reserve at 250km (155mil) and the reserve is running dry at 325km (200mil). I have investigated the fuel tap but not found any problems and just to be sure I have removed the vacuum valve according to this but with no effect.
This summer when I went on a trip to Ukraine I mounted a fuel filter and this made the machine run dry even earlier. Now I am thinking that the pressure of the fuel (driven by gravity) is too small since adding a filter has an effect. When the engine cuts out I can hear that there is plenty of fuel left in the tank and I have never been able to fill the tank with more then 15L (4gal) and it is suppose to hold 18L (4.8gal).

I have therefore tried mounting a vacuum operated fuel pump to see if this could solve the problem and it did have an effect. Now I am switching to reserve at 310km (192mil), running dry at 390km (242mil) and filling the tank with 18L.
I am aware of the problems which can be related to using a vacuum pump. Before having the Transalp I was driving a Tenere 660 ’92 which also was equipped with a vacuum pump and it didn’t give me any problems. I have only driven 500km using the pump on the Transalp and for now it is working fine.
The pump which I am using is from an old scooter but don’t tell anyone that I am using scooter parts on my motorbike ;-)








Enjoy riding

You are suffering from fuel sarvation.There is a fine balance between fuel demand and gravity feed.
That is why no Transalp using the stock tank needs a fuel pump.

Inspect everything in the fuel path, even the ID of the lines is critical.
Something is restricting your fuel flow
The fuel pump is an expensive and complicated band aid in this case for sure.
Start with the filter screen in the fuel tank.
This is simple stuff here....

[kbudde]

Originally Posted by Santa

You are suffering from fuel sarvation.There is a fine balance between fuel demand and gravity feed.
That is why no Transalp using the stock tank needs a fuel pump.

Inspect everything in the fuel path, even the ID of the lines is critical.
Something is restricting your fuel flow
The fuel pump is an expensive and complicated band aid in this case for sure.
Start with the filter screen in the fuel tank.
This is simple stuff here....

Yes I agree that the problem is fuel starvation and that the fuel pump is a lousy solution. I have been using it on my xtz660 for several years and never came to love it.

I have tried taking the fuel tap apart (before installing the pump) and inspected the screen (both of them) located in the fuel tank and tap and the path through the fuel tap without finding any problems.
I have read that adding an extra paper based fuel filter reduces the tank range and based on this I expected that the design was marginal and I actually doubted that the motorcycle was able to empty the tank when it was new.

I considered replacing the fuel tap with a simpler model without screens and vacuum lock etc.

If you have any advice please let me know.

[tgeliot]

Originally Posted by kbudde

I have tried taking the fuel tap apart (before installing the pump)

When I had similar problems I took my fuel tap (valve, petcock) apart and discovered that the diaphragm that was supposed to pull the valve open when the engine applied vacuum had a big hole in it. This hole mean that that part of the valve mechanism couldn't really work at all -- but it also was very poor at shutting off the fuel supply, so the bike ran pretty well almost all the time. It failed only when I had it maxed out for an extended time, e.g. full speed on the freeway or a long hill climb in the mountains. Then I guess it finally managed to drain all the fuel from the carb bowls and the starvation became apparent.

I replaced the torn diaphragm with a piece of heavy plastic sheeting. I expected that stuff to melt, but it hasn't, and the bike is still fine months later.

[Santa]

Any obstruction to fuel flow on these bikes can be a problem

I replaced the stock petcock on my TA with one from the 1989 Hawk as I wanted a purely manual valve.
If you do this mod you need to cut the reserve pickup tube to match the one on the stock petcock to retain the same reserve fuel capacity as with the stock petcock.

This is not a requirement for a stock engine but it may have helped in my case as
my TA has a modified engine that demands far more fuel than the stock bike. I do not need a fuel pump to run the tank dry.
I think it is also important to run the stock fuel line or one with the same ID.

I once ran slightly smaller line and had similar fuel starvation issues.

[mas335]

That is the best reason I know of to not use external fuel filters, they great reduce the ID at both ends of the filter, especially the cheap plastic inline ones.

[R_Rick]

Hi, looking for a bit of assistance.

I had my new to me TA out for a quick run this afternoon to get a feel for it. I ran on highway for about 5kms at 120kph, slowed for a ramp, and then doubled back. Took next ramp and had to stop for a red light. While stopped, found that the idle was running high (~2000rpm) so reached under and adjusted it to run ~1300+/-. When leaving the stop light, I got about 100' and started to experience very loud backfiring (rpm's were likely under 4000 - I think I had just gone into 2nd under light throttle), everything went sluggish, a few more loud pops, and then a stall. I managed to get to side of road without getting smashed by the cages around me, hit the starter, got it running, and drove home (~2 kms, less than 50 kph). PO had installed an inline fuel filter.

I've been searching for possible reasons this evening. I've read that possible cause could be tear in the slider diaphragms. However, after reading the posts above wonder if fuel starvation could be a possible cause? Would it cause a backfire? A couple of weeks ago I was on the highway for my maiden drive and it started to bog on me at highway speed. Figuring it was running low on fuel as I hadn't checked it before leaving house, I put it on reserve, and continued on my way without any issues. Should I turf the inline filter?

I checked my manual and couldn't find any mention of a stock fuel filter ... where is the stock one located or is there one?

Thanks,

[showkey]

Originally Posted by R_Rick

Hi, looking for a bit of assistance.

I had my new to me TA out for a quick run this afternoon to get a feel for it. I ran on highway for about 5kms at 120kph, slowed for a ramp, and then doubled back. Took next ramp and had to stop for a red light. While stopped, found that the idle was running high (~2000rpm) so reached under and adjusted it to run ~1300+/-. When leaving the stop light, I got about 100' and started to experience very loud backfiring (rpm's were likely under 4000 - I think I had just gone into 2nd under light throttle), everything went sluggish, a few more loud pops, and then a stall. I managed to get to side of road without getting smashed by the cages around me, hit the starter, got it running, and drove home (~2 kms, less than 50 kph). PO had installed an inline fuel filter.

I've been searching for possible reasons this evening. I've read that possible cause could be tear in the slider diaphragms. However, after reading the posts above wonder if fuel starvation could be a possible cause? Would it cause a backfire? A couple of weeks ago I was on the highway for my maiden drive and it started to bog on me at highway speed. Figuring it was running low on fuel as I hadn't checked it before leaving house, I put it on reserve, and continued on my way without any issues. Should I turf the inline filter?

I checked my manual and couldn't find any mention of a stock fuel filter ... where is the stock one located or is there one?

Thanks,

Big leap and Ruling out running with the choke on, dirty plugs and the general tune up stuff.........

The usual suspects for loss of power and backfire:

Lean mixture......as in fuel starvation.............one test if it happens pull the "choke" does the problem get better. Fuel cap venting, fuel filter flow, petcock, in tank filter screens and screens in float needle seats are places that can restrict flow.

Erratic spark........one of the CDI boxes acting up........did the tach drop to zero (tach feeds off of one CDI box).......if yes you might have been running one cylinder. You could swap the CDI with each other and drive it again now idrops to zero you might note and try again to narrow things down.

Just two of many things to check............and they are Internet guesses based on limited info

[Ladder106]

If the backfiring was irregular....

my bet is on one of the CDI boxes. One cylinder ignition is dropping out then starting back up again. When it restarts unburned fuel that it has pumped into the exhaust pipe gets ignitied and....BOOM.

The fault with the CDI boxes is a bad solder connection that develops "micro-cracks". It's common for the spark to come and go.

How many miles on the bike....close to 25K or more I'll bet.

For some odd Japanese Zen-like reason, almost every TA that changes owners ends up having at least one CDI go out. My first one did it and has since run almost 40K with the same 2 boxes. My son bought one that ran perfectly for the PO and within 2 weeks after finishing the rebuild we ended up replacing both boxes.

It's a PITA but just part of the experience....we've all been there.

[R_Rick]

Thanks Showkey & Ladder,

I'll start at the tank and work backwards. I may start by ridding myself of the in-line filter if I can round up some fuel lines material this weekend.

As I was trying to get out of the path of traffic, I wasn't paying attention to the tach and didn't even think about the choke.

PO installed an Ingitech CDI unit sometime within past two years so only have one unit ... fingers crossed that's not the issue (bike has 32K on it, CDI was swapped somewhere between 28K and now). He also rebuilt the petcock within the past year.