Scott,
That sounds like experience talking! Did that happen to you? Are there any dangers
affiliated with retarding the timing?
2K on these motors is kinda lugging or borderline lugging anyway. But the pinging is something that has developed. It did not used to do that. I though ht I had got some bad gas the first time that I noticed it. However the temp also warmed up considerably
during that time.
I am going to give the Tmax a while longer to see if it rectifies the sitch.
Pinging can be caused or affected by the quality of your fuel, the type of spark plug being used (for your specific modifications - there are "hotter" and "cooler" plugs), ignition timing, lean or rich fuel mixture or just plain lugging the motor by using an improper gear for the amount of horsepower and torque your motor is creating....
I have not had that much experience with motorcycle motors, but I spent about the first 40 years of my life in my father's shop - he raced pretty successfully for over 50 years - now retired - in various road racing series and in various types of cars. I started building motors at about the age 12 or so - and as the years went by I built hundreds of motors and spent many many years working with various high performance engine builders and parts manufacturers across the country - some of the best in the business. I have a pretty thorough understanding of how it all works. So, yes, I have seen it happen, and even caused it to happen once or twice by crossing that magic line - just not with a bike motor.
There are fewer dangers associated with retarding the ignition timng, but no real advantages either other then losing a bit of temperature. If retarded to much, the engine will become hard starting and definitely lose horsepower. Effectively, it would be like losing compression - retarded ignition will cause the spark plugs to fire when the valves are "more open" and advanced ignition causes the spark plugs to fire when the valves are "more closed". Of course this can be optimized with the grind of the cam - but that is a whole other topic...
Think of the motor as a big air pump. The more air you can flow through the entire system - from the intake through the exhaust - the more potential you have to make horsepower and torque. What you do with the air as it flows through the system is where the shape of your intake manifold and cylinder head ports, the position - configuration - and size of your intake/exhaust valves, the configuration of your pistons, the grind of your cam, your exhaust system - the weight of all the moving components, the type and method of lubrication - and as we are discussing here - how and when your spark plugs ignite the air/fuel mixture - determines how efficiently your motor runs and what type horsepower and torque your motor creates. Of course, flowing more air and fuel to create horsepower and torque are enemies of fuel economy - so you have to keep your goals in mind - you can't have everything
. The only primary adjustments that can be made to your motor without getting into the mechanical component side of things is adjusting the air/fuel mixture (thru jets or computers) and adjusting the timing.
I have been away from this mechanical world for a few years now, so I find some of the recent advancements made through use of computer technology fascinating. I recently installed a ThunderMax with Autotune on my bike and am still figuring out what its capabilities are and how to use it - I know one thing though - it is pretty cool stuff. Unfortunately, my time is very limited, so I know little of its capabilities. Fortunately, I have benefited from the experiences of some of the members of this site to help accelerate my learning curve of this system - and for which I am very appreciative.
Scott
Author
Topic: Hot Head 110 (Read 34526 times)