Scott E

Perhaps he builds models instead of watching TV......

CDI ignition systems use capacitors and resistors to change the advance curve depending on engine RPM. Microprocessor ignition systems have a computer that sets the advance by monitoring engine RPM and setting the advance using programmed settings from a look up table. CDI systems actually retard timing to control the "Advance" curve. The slower the engine is turning the more the timing is retarded. If that made your head hurt you are not alone! It's counter intuitive to what you would expect. Typically with microprocessor ignition systems static timing is set so the plugs are fired at the lowest end of the advance curve. If you have a CDI system or a system that use passive components such as resistors and capacitors to control timing typically static timing will be set at the maximum of the advance curve. That's generally how you can tell what sort of system your electronic ignition system is using is how the static timing is set. One exception are electronic ignition systems that retain a mechanical advance system using fly weights and springs with a magnet attached that sets advance in exactly the same way points would do.

They were aftermarket Harley pipes so of course they were loud. I think the fish tail shaped tips actually made them louder than just straight pipes. I always have ear plugs handy on both my bikes just in case I end up riding among Harley Riders because it seams like they all take off the stock mufflers and put on aftermarket loud pipes. I prefer to do without the noise and don't feel the need to attempt to draw attention to myself. Of course my Dnepr with sidecar dosen't need loud pipes to draw attention here in the USA. When I get the new stock exhaust in a few weeks and put it on I will file a report about the results. I just hope it's even quieter than my "Lawn Mower" mufflers.

When static timing my old points system I would lock the fly weights open at maximum and set the points so my timing light would just turn off at the maximum advance marking on the flywheel. After setting it and locking it down I too wondered what the minimum advance was going to be. It turned out to be 5 degrees before Top Dead Centre. I checked it by bumping the flywheel with the kick starter just a little at a time until my timing light went out. I did it that way so I could get an accurate reading with the flyweights and points springs interacting with each other as the cam lobe contacted the points rub block. When kick starting the bike I could occasionally fell pressure from the kick start lever as it started firing just before the piston reached Top Dead centre. With electronic Ignition I never get that now. It feels the same as kicking the engine over before turning on the ignition system on to pump oil up into the oil passages so the engine starts oiling immediately on start-up. Anyway, looks like the range for the mechanical points system is from 5 to 36 degrees before Top Dead Centre. I would not say that's exact for every bike due to differences in the springs used between bikes and how much use they have had.

Yes, when kicking it over to start it. It's kick start only so that's actually a good thing! When it fires off and starts running the Electronic Ignition immediately advances the timing so it's working properly. Firing at TDC when kick starting prevents kick back injuries and it makes kick starting the bike easy.

Got my new electronic ignition kit in the mail today from Arbalet. From the picture on the website I thought I was getting a type III with the pot metal rotor. It ended up being a type IV microprocessor unit with the metal cup rotor. I installed it with no problems and it works just fine. The engine runs nice and smooth and it's easier to start. When kick starting the engine the plugs fire at Top Dead Centre. The old points unit was firing the plugs when kick starting at 5 degrees before Top Dead Centre. Kick starting is smooth as butter now. I checked the timing cure with a timing light and degree wheel. It's not an advance curve like you would have with fly weights and springs. It's defiantly being microprocessor controlled. The LED made setting static timing easy too. I should have ordered it back in February when I made an order back then but my funds were running a little in the red after buying 4 new tires for it along with some other necessary stuff just to get it running safely on the local roads. The old points system was working as one would expect them to work so I thought I would just run with them until I could spend some more money on it without getting in trouble with the House Boss (my Wife).

Ural was purchased by an American company that kept the Ural factory in operation. When that happened production became Americanized with built in obsolescence and constant changes along with year model of production. That's the reason Ural dealers here in the USA no longer support Ural owners with Bikes earlier than 2010 year models. If you have an "old" Ural they expect you to buy a new Ural or at least one that's not more than 10 years old. Why? They don't want to stock parts for older bikes in addition to newer bikes.

My barn find MT-11 had some Harley Davidson mufflers that were on it that were simply too loud. I have ordered a 2 into 1 Dnepr stock type exhaust for it. I've gotten extremely tired of wearing ear plugs because those aftermarket Harley pipes not really mufflers. Just open pipes with fish tails fabricated on the ends. In frustration I fabricated an exhaust for it using 1 1/4" EMT conduit, a 1" NPT coupler cut in half and machined to fit the end of the pipes, 2 short 1" nipples, and 2 Briggs & Stratton part # 392989 mufflers. I had to expand the EMT conduit tubing about 1/32 of an inch so it would just slip over the muffler pipes that attach to the heads. I then tack welded the machined 1" NPT pipe couplers to the other ends of the conduit pipes. I then screwed the mufflers on the 1" short nipples and then screwed them into the adaptors on the pipes. I used 2 1 1/4" conduit hangers to support each of the the pipes where the large muffler loops would normally hang the stock mufflers. I was successful in that I can now ride my MT-11 without ear plugs. It's significantly quieter than it was. What was surprising was finding an improvement in engine operation. I guess the engine performs better with a little exhaust back pressure. I thought those 2 "Lawn Mower" type mufflers might decrease performance but they are working perfectly fine. They are rated for engines between 9 and 16 HP. My MT-11 is rated at 32 HP so one on each pipe equals 16 HP each. That's how I convinced myself using them would work, and they did. They cost $9 each at Tractor Supply. I kind of wish I had tried this out before ordering the Dnepr muffler. It's more than just satisfactory until I get the stock type muffler delivered.

I agree. If the Dnepr I found in a barn had been 2-wheel drive I would have left it there.

Never use those paper element type fuel filters in a gravity flow fuel system. They restrict fuel flow too much even when new. They are designed for use with fuel pumps in pressurized fuel systems. You can buy screen type in-line fuel filters in small engine shops that will work perfectly on Ural and Dnepr motorcycles. Briggs & Stratton Model #5018H is a good choice. It has a 150 micron screen inside and will not restrict fuel flow as long as it's not full of trash.

I'm in the process of building one of those for my old tractor. It's got an antique Kohler engine with points so there's no way to put an electronic ignition kit on it. It will incorporate an IGBT transistor designed to drive an ignition coil and with another small switching transistor along with a few resistors and a capacitor you can hook it up to the points and use those to trigger the transistor that drives the coil so the points will pretty much last forever. The transistor is a FGP3040G2-F085 which replaces the now obsolete IRGB14C40L.

Switches have contact 'points' just like the points in your points type ignition system. They do wear out and burn up over time. Of course no where near as fast as the ignition points seam to pit and wear out but it's good you solved that problem. As for the generator, you may want to open it up and check the commuter where the brushes ride. The copper lands can tarnish from disuse preventing the transfer of voltage and current to the field windings. If tarnished you can clean the copper with Emory cloth and make them shiny again and transfer power. Also look at the area between the little copper pads. Carbon can build up between them and cause problems. A thin blade flat screwdriver tip can be used to clean them out. Just drag the point of the screwdriver down the little slot and the carbon dust and dirt will come out. If they are badly scared or worn if you know someone with a metal lathe you can cut a few thousands off the surface to make the commuter like new again. When I was a kid auto parts stores had small lathes designed just for turning generator commuters to resurface them. Back then you would just take your armature shaft in and a few minutes later and your wallet a dollar lighter you had a nice fresh commuter again.

I put Walbro needles in my K65 carbs but still had a float problem with one of them. I got out a magnifying glass and looked carefully at the hole where the needle seats to shut off fuel flow. It was just a flat surface around the hole, which had a sharp, 90 degree edge at the hole. That sort of works with the original needle that just has a flat washer on it's tip. The Walbro needles have a 35 degree V shape that should sit on another 35 degree surface to seal properly. I machined a 35 degree point on my lathe on an old 1/4-20 bolt and then turned it down so it would just fit in the pocket where the needle sits ( .175 inch OD ). I then put it in the needle pocket point end down and taped it with a hammer. That left a nice 35 degree V surface where the needle sits. My leaky needle problem was immediately cured. I went ahead and did the same thing to the other carburetor. I was having problems with both my carburetors running rich and lean randomly and was never able to get them properly adjusted until I "stamped" that 35 degree corner where the needles sit in the carburetors. After getting that done the engine drops to the exact same rpm at idle every time and I was able to set the idle mixture needle jet on both carburetors at idle without it changing randomly even as I was attempting to adjust them. I was also able to set the long needles for a proper mixture ratio at speed. Before I could feel the engine running too rich and then too lean randomly at speed. No matter where I set them the plugs were always black from running too rich but the engine would also run too lean as well at times because I had the needles in the upper clip slots trying to fix the running too rich problem. It's like I put two new carburetors that actually work properly on my Dnepr MT-11.

Russians don't use year of construction for consideration of anything. They don't make changes until they build an entirely new model. Ural or Dnepr models are all the same from production start until the end. That said you can get an approximation of the year it was built by looking at the date code on the tires if they are original or on some other small part on it. I found by accident the reflectors have a date code stamped on the back of them on my Dnepr MT-11. Your Ural my be different but from what I understand all reflectors for all vehicles were made in one factory. Reflectors do degrade over time so it makes sense they would put a date code on them like tires. Most people leave reflectors alone or they discard them so there's a pretty good chance all the reflectors are original on the bike. They could still be from a prior year of production having been warehoused before shipment to the factory where they are installed. After removing my left front side reflector on the headlight bracket to mount it in a different location so I could mount a fairing is when I found the date code. I then removed all the other reflectors just to check them and they all had the same date code. Other than registering your Bike in a country where they care about the production year there's really no other reason to know that. The paperwork that came with my bike for registration purposes that included the "year of production" is not in the range of actual years of production. No one cared about or knew that where I registered my bike and I didn’t say anything not wanting to cause problems as registration was going so smoothly. Even my vehicle insurance company was OK with the obviously ( to me ) incorrect year on the paperwork. If possible just pick out a year that lies in the period of production years for that model. There's nothing on the Bike that's going to say it's not the year you chose.

Found a fix for the occasional float needles leaking on my stock Pekar K65 Carburetors. The Wallbaro needles helped but they still leaked every now and then. After looking at the base of the port where the needles stop fuel flowing I noticed it's just a flat surface and a hole with a sharp edge where the needle tip sits when the bowl is full. I made a tool to fix that. It's just a 1/4-20 bolt I cut the hex head off. Then I chucked it up in my Lathe and turned a 35 degree point on the end. That's the same angle at the tip of the needle. Then I turned it back about a 1/2 inch so it just slides into the needle port. I put it in the port and taped the end of it with a small hammer that left a 35 degree cone where the needle seals off the fuel. Now it works perfectly every time!

I went ahead and ordered the Microprocessor controlled electronic ignition unit with coil. It should arrive in a couple of weeks like the order I made from the same place back in February ( 2020 ). I went ahead and ordered it due to a problem with the points ignition system I'm currently using. It was problem I've never seen on any other bike or any of my own. My MT-11 engine started running poorly and was hard to start. It acted like the ignition coil was going bad. I put it on my red neck coil tester and found it was working perfectly. Out came the points, condensor, and advance cam box and found the problem. The condensor was covered in wax that had melted and leaked out of it. I've never seen one do that before. I've seen them burn up or swell up and stop working quickly but never slowly leak wax and pit the points in the process. I put a new, non Russian condensor in the ignition system, cleaned up the points, and all is well once again. I'm still going to keep the points system as back up and ordered a new set of points for it just in case of the electronic ignition system fails at some point in the future.

I can't imagine not having a Lathe and Mill! My school system offered free Trade School along with 10, 11, and 12th grade high school education. We went to High School for half the day and trade school the other half. I took Machine Shop for those 3 years. I purchased my Lathe and Mill while still in school. They have paid for themselves many times over during my lifetime. Having them was like job insurance for lean years.

Yep! I would rather have the Type with the windowed steel cup but after finding those not in stock everywhere I looked I started checking the manufacturers websites and discovered they are no longer in production. Just the Type III with that pot metal rotor. I may end up making one out of aluminium if I have mounting issues with the one that comes with the kit. I'm tempted to home brew my own electronic ignition system but I can't build one myself for less money than the Type III they sell now. I have a metal lathe and mill so making a new rotor would not be a problem for me.

I'm going to order a Type III electronic ignition system but I've found there are two versions. The cheaper of the two uses resistors and capacitors to accomplish ignition timing control. For another $10 you can have a microprocessor accomplish the same function. I think the cheaper one would actually be more robust as the heat inside the timing cover could kill the microprocessor chip in the slightly higher cost one. I didn’t say the timing advance system because none of them actually advance the timing when operating. They actually retard the timing to control the "advance" curve. That's the reason the sensor is set at maximum advance when static timing these systems. At lower RPM timing is retarded by the system until RPM increases to the maximum design setting. I don't see any advantage to having a microprocessor adding complications when resistors and capacitors can do the same job and possibility adding to reliability. Am I wrong? Anyone have experience with these units that can suggest which to order.

Here in the USA Zinc (ZDDP) is no longer in off-the-shelf motor oils as it was in the past. Zinc in oil is needed for flat tappet lifters and the cam lobes to prevent rubbing wear. The zinc coats the surfaces to prevent metal to metal contact. The main reason for removing zinc from oil was the zinc clogging up the catalytic converter in the exhaust system. STP makes an oil additive with ZDDP for older engines with flat tappet lifters and cam shafts. You can go on-line and order motor oil with zinc in it for now vintage vehicles but it's cost is excessive in my opinion when the STP product accomplishes the same thing by just adding it to your favourite oil.

After 6 years in the U.S. Navy as a Gas Turbine System Tech (GS1) I switched over to the U.S. Army's M1 Abrams Tank rebuild program at the Anniston Army Depot. Not only was I sort of a Tech Rep for M1 Abrams maintenance crews I ended up working on captured or otherwise randomly acquired (stolen) Russian Military Equipment for the Apposing Forces "Army" at 29 Palms training Base in California. I already had lots of experience with Ural and Dnepr Motorcycles. We found 22 Iraqi Dnepr MT-16's abandoned in Kuwait after Desert Storm, which I ended up working on. I was shocked to find a MT-11 in a barn about 20 miles from my home. I was informed about it by a friend that thought I was just the person to buy it and fix it. I assumed it would be a civilian Ural Sidecar Motorcycle.

I ordered from Russian Garage last year (2019) in December. Got everything I ordered in the box they sent that was inside a U.S. Customs box about a month later when it arrived. No telling how long U.S.Customs had it before they sent it to me. No issues with Russian Garage at all. I guess my box got randomly checked for AK-47 parts or something like that.

When I was a kid my Mom would let us sleep on a camping air mattress under a wet sheet in the summer. The evaporating water in the sheet would cool you down. Sometimes depending on the humidity we would feel like it was freezing cold.

I only buy non-ethanol gasoline for all my vehicles. Back when ethanol was first mandated they did not let any service stations sell non-ethanol gasoline. After so many people started complaining about ethanol destroying their small engine equipment the EPA relented and allowed non-ethanol sales at service stations. I get better fuel mileage running the non-ethanol fuel so the added cost for that fuel is not really more expensive than that cheaper fuel and it's resulting lower fuel mileage and the damage done to the engine from something it was not designed to burn. I fabricated some equipment to remove ethanol from gasoline for some lawn service people back then after they saw the rig I built for myself for doing that. Running ethanol gasoline in their lawn mowers and other equipment was costing them a fortune and voiding their warranties.

Just joined a couple of days ago. Been lurking for a while and thought it was time to join and make my presence known. Back in 2019 just before Thanksgiving in November I found a Dnepr MT-11 in a barn with just 194 Km on it. It was in poor shape being exposed to the elements beside a hole in the barn wall. The engine was stuck of course but that never dissuaded my interest. I purchased it and got it home on a trailer. A little Marvel Mystery in the spark plug holes allowed to work it's magic overnight and the engine broke free from rocking it in 4th gear back and fourth a few times. I did a compression check and found none on the right side and only about 60 psi on the left. Little wonder it only had 194 Km showing as it was obviously a poorly running 325cc engine instead of the 650cc engine it should be. I pulled the right valve cover and found one of the four nuts and washers loose in the valve cover. The other three had been started but never torqued down. No wonder there was no compression! I went ahead and pulled the engine apart so I could order parts for it. I also checked out the gearbox and final drive as well. All showed signs of Soviet Union Slave Labour assembly. Things like all four valves leaking because no one lapped them and all the piston ring gaps all lined up straight on the pistons because it's easier to slip the cylinder over them like that. After getting it put back together and getting 2,500 Km on it I removed the engine, gearbox, and final drive so I could washout any metal made during break-in. Everything looked fine so I put it back together again. It runs great (for what it is) and the only trouble I've had was that USSR red ignition coil going bad. I replaced that with a Harley Davidson coil until I order an electronic ignition unit that comes with a coil. Currently I'm running the original points ignition, which works fine but I do want to switch to electronic ignition but keep the points stuff as backup in the took box I keep in the sidecar trunk just in case of Nuclear war, Zombie Apocalypse, or the Electronic Ignition dies from Alabama heat. I currently have 3,500 Km on the bike.