Kawi2strokes.com Forum

I acquired a 1974 MX sidecar that used to be the Swedish GP sidecar teams bike, it was left here in the USA when they came over in 74, it's been moved around a lot in and around Calif for years.
It has been sitting for years and I'm starting to try and bring it back to life for vintage events here in SoCal.
The first carb I looked at was not to bad, but all 3 will be removed and cleaned, the usual things need done after a bike has set a long time, tried to start it but only two of the 3 were showing any life. Checked the compression and here is where my question comes in 125 120 125 is this a good enough PSI or do I need to do a top end. I think I read someplace it should be around 145, but I'm not sure, some input would be great, thanks

Are you testing the compression with the throttle and carbs all the way wide open? If they are closed, the reading will be considerably less.

145psi is what you should have but chances are that the measurements you made are either incorrect because you used the wrong gauge or didn't do it correctly.... throttle wide open, kick until reading ceases to increase.
Do not use carb kits!

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Answers are here: http://kawatriple.com/

yes

Standard threaded unit into the plug hole, kicked till it stopped going up, did not add any oil to see if there was an increase, the bike has been sitting for some time and did start for a brief moment. As far as I know this motor has never been worked on since 74, I guess my question is it ok to run it at that PSI level if after cleaning the carbs it starts and runs.

There were some of those engines that ran just fine within that area of compression pressure.

There was an AFM chair class racer that used to come to both my, and the shop Hurley and I had in Santa Ana, Walt was his name, and one day, his H1 chair was getting tired, so, we swapped one of my slightly massaged H2 street engines in its place. Never was the same, all it did was run away from everybody else.

If the engine as been doing a lot of sitting, I'd run it for a while and repeat the compression test. 125 is enough to run, just not make full power. If after the thorough carb clean it still has a dead cylinder, swap parts like CDI units and coils to see if the problem moves to another cylinder. If you suspect a carb, swap two carbs.

Obviously wapping CDI units and coils doesn't require actually moving them, just swapping the wires. Swapping carbs can be done by unscrewing the tops and swapping everything under those, so you don't have to mess with cables.

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If it surges, that's normal, upshift.

thank you guys

Please keep us posted.

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If it surges, that's normal, upshift.