BSA Owners' Club Forum

The BSA Workshop => Twins => Topic started by: CROFTY1984 on 11 January, 2018, 13:09:19

Title: Starting help on '71 A65 Lightning
Post by: CROFTY1984 on 11 January, 2018, 13:09:19
Hello,
I have an A65 lightning, OIF. I'm having real trouble trying to start it. When running it pulls well and idles easily.
I can just about get it to fire up with full choke, tickle and no throttle, but that still takes a good minute or two of kicking.
I tend to get it on compression and then hoof it.
The bike's seen better days, one of those "barn find American imports" with a possibly genuine 5k miles on the clock. And flames painted on the tank. I think someone in the 70s bought it, painted it and put short exhausts on, chucked it down the road (it had a bent yoke among other damage!) Then threw it in the back of a shed for decades.
It did have no filters or connections to the air box at all, just the bare back of the carb, I've added some cone filters for now, but they may have made it a bit worse. I'm going to try taking them off this weekend. See if that helps.
Any advice would be welcome.
Thanks, Dan
Video of me trying to start it:
https://youtu.be/hLfBCtNWbn0

Definitely a work in progress!

Title: Re: Starting help on '71 A65 Lightning
Post by: DerekAnderson8 on 11 January, 2018, 17:19:28
it looks to have plenty of compression anyway! are plugs wet when you are trying to start it? i would start with carb and check pilot jet to see if its getting fuel at startup.

It seems to rev ok when its running.  ;)

cheers

derek
Title: Re: Starting help on '71 A65 Lightning
Post by: A10 JWO on 11 January, 2018, 18:08:03
Don't let the chequered history put you off. Go back to basics. Spark- Fuel- Compression. Clean carb, change plugs, check points and condensers . You will get plenty of help here.  ;D
Title: Re: Starting help on '71 A65 Lightning
Post by: JOHNSTONE on 12 January, 2018, 12:09:47
I had the same problem with my A10. I took the carb off,  stripped it down completely and then cleaned all the components in an ultrasonic bath.If you don't know anybody that you can borrow one from you can buy them from Amazon for £52.99. When clean I rebuilt the carb using a genuine amal refurb gasket set that I sourced on Ebay. I then refitted the carb making sure I used the correct manifold gaskets and the bike fired up first kick. Hope this helps.

Regards Rich.
Title: Re: Starting help on '71 A65 Lightning
Post by: CROFTY1984 on 12 January, 2018, 12:40:09
Thanks for the advice all, I think I'll have to take the carbs off again.

I stripped them down and gave them a blow through with an air line and some carb cleaner when I first got it, but I've since bought an ultrasonic bath so I'll hit them with that.

Seemed to start a bit easier last night, but not great. Incidentally, I thought I'd give the Starfire in the vid a prod seeing as it's sat unloved for a few weeks over Christmas with no tickle charge, fuel stabiliser or anything. Started first kick, so it can be done!

Really pleased with the lightning though, it's pretty damn rough, but that's what I was after, something I could bring back to life and do my own thing with. I also have a Bonneville, but it's in such good condition I'm scared to use it too much or do anything too obvious, apart from sensible upgrades to clutch and brake, etc.

I'll put a bit of a build thread up if anyone's interested. Hoping to get to my local meeting too (Norfolk).
Title: Re: Starting help on '71 A65 Lightning
Post by: Mike Farmer on 12 January, 2018, 19:56:20
 :) :)

What type of ignition do you have. If its points etc condensers would be a reasonable place to look.

Mike 8) 8)
Title: Re: Starting help on '71 A65 Lightning
Post by: Mike Farmer on 13 January, 2018, 09:46:07
 :) :)

Hi This is part of the post that didn't send yesterday.

Give it a whiff of "easy start". If it then starts easily your problem is probably fuel. If it still doesn't start then suspect your ignition system.

If you have electronic ignition look to your battery. Is this only a cold start problem (Does it re-start ok when its been run for a while?

Hope it all goes OK

Mike 8) 8)