Joe's 252 Colt Trail Machine "Gadget"

[JoeMeg]

OK,here is what I did. First I googled "Test Kohler M18 Magneto" and read a half a dozen threads on the subject. Didn't really get anything "conclusive" but gleaned a little more info on a few things that make sense and I never thought about. One of which being related to cranking speed as a result of the condition of the starter motor (interesting),battery,etc. Keeping the megohm meter as a last resort,I sanded the "face" of the magneto poles nice and clean,did the same thing to the magnet on flywheel. Manual has illustration of gap being .008-.012" but if one reads,it says to set the gap at .014" claiming there is enough deflection from the pull of the magnet for the actual final gap to be correct,OK,so I gaped it at .014". I clamped the spark plugs to the engine and connected the leads (both of them!). I then hit the (new)starter w/12V and man did that baby begin crankin' and spitting fire at the plugs! Then I installed spare set of plugs in engine to add compression to the mix and slow the crank speed. Still sparking real nice. Began heating the magneto til it was pretty darn warm and still sparking real nice. Put the covers back on and started the engine,fired rite up! Ran it for about an hour total,shutting off,letting sit 2-3,5-10 mins at times and no issues. The thing fires in what seems to be about one rev,seriously,the key needs only to be "bumped" and we are up and running. So,my conclusion of the whole ordeal,nothing real substantial,just think it was accumulated small issues that just added up to one big one. The only things I really "did" were cleaning the faces of the magnet and magneto,setting the gap at .014" and (what I thinking was the biggie) replaced the starter motor.

[JoeMeg]

Lance,yes I have access to a 500/1000V MegOhm meter. The svc man say's the resistance between the two plug leads should be 22-42K. I'm getting aprox 36K with a high impeadence VOM. Seems ok. Wasn't sure if megging it to ground was a good idea but I guess it's just a couple balls of wire in there,correct? Manual also show very sketchy pic of testing the primary but fails to offer any values or a specific connection to perform this test. I would think lead to ground but I have plenty of other problems w/o adding assuming to the mix. Thanks for the input. I'll let ya know what I find.

[liflod]

Joe, Do you have a Megger that you can borrow from work? It will tell you if the insulation is breaking down in the coils. Also try a resistance check from your spark plug lead to ground. Should be 4-6 kohms on a good coil. Less resistance on a shorted coil.

[JoeMeg]

I have installed a new starter motor on the Kohler. Next I'm going to rig the plugs to check the spark. If I get good spark I'm going to begin heating up the magneto slowly to about 200/250 deg. F. all the while checking the intensity of the spark. If,upon heating,the intensity of the spark begins decreasing I will swap out with a spare and perform the same test. If heating does not affect the spark then I will and very reluctantly assemble and re-install it. I will then test it out with all the same stuff expecting a different result. I'm pretty sure that's one of the symptoms of insanity. To be continued.........

[JoeMeg]

As per my last post,Ashtabula was the focus and Gadget made her debut there. Now it's time to figure what sort of devil got into my Kohler M-18. Here is the scoop. About 20-30 min into the "Maiden Voyage" at Ash in June,began experiencing what seemed like a fuel problem. I know the carb is less than perfect and has some issues in the low idle circuit which would support this. I made the decision to park it and just use my Argo for duration of the weekend. Having just put 2-3 of the 5 gallons of fuel I brought in the Attex,I figured I would just drain it back out and put all in the Argo. Pulled fuel line from pump and could not get a flow out of the line. Once home and aided by 150 psi in the compressor,still couldn't get any flow. Blew through backwards and shazam now things are happening. Plugged fuel line?!? No way,brand new everything,first time running,no way but ,yes it was blocked and I don't know how or why but now have flow. This further reinforces the fuel delivery problem thought to be occuring. However,machine still won't idle. Installed my spare carb (that I didn't have at Pine Lake) and she fires up and idles like a champ. I'm happy. Make trip to my property (with my very critical quadding friends) get out in the woods and 10-15 min of riding begin getting what seem to be the exact same symptoms,hobble back to camp. Try to start to drive on trailer (using winch for this is getting old) and won't even fire w/ether. Put spark tester on and see I now have very little,very weak spark on both cyl's. So,out it comes tonight for some disassembly,to be continued....

[JoeMeg]

Thanks Larry! We'll get out soon. My focus now is Ash. coming up in about two weeks!

[LarryW]

Nice work Joe. Hope you get to test it out soon.

[JoeMeg]

Tow vehicle has not been roadworthy thus far in 2014. Rear brake lines rotted during the winter layover at my camp in Andover,OH. If anyone is wondering why they charge so much for this type of repair,please see me,I can explain it very accurately,lol. So,this is all the further Gadget has made it from the build shop since completion.

,,

[JoeMeg]

Thanks Larry. It would be interesting to learn some history on it. Factory,aftermarket,made by owner,etc.

[LarryW]

Looks Good! That is a neat rack.

[JoeMeg]

This is the rack that I wanted to salvage and reuse. Made new mounting "pins" from 5/8 dia. aluminum.

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Painted it with Rustoleum Grill paint,why,it was free

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Now,we are ready to ride!

[JoeMeg]

Bench seat and back. Had 3/4 plywood at home. Foam was "samples" for being good customer (I buy from them for work). Marine grade vinyl was leftover from project years ago (re-covered my quads seat with it as well). My Brother gave me the velcro. So,the cost was minimal to say the least.
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Did the electrical installation during the build,needed only to fab and install a mount for the winch. There is an equally sized plate inside the nose.

[LarryW]

Thanks for by he update Joe! Look forward to the pictures.

[JoeMeg]

It's about time for an update here. I'm bad with taking and posting photos but I promise I will get some current ones up soon. Made and installed a bench type seat and back. Used 2" wide adhesive backed velco strips further enhanced with a dash of Gorilla glue as a means of fastening. First time I ever "monkeyed around" with it. Pretty amazing stuff. Also,got my winch installed. Just want to add an eyebolt as an extra attachment point. IDK,maybe it's just me but,when I get an old machine there is usually at least one thing that say's "re-use me,re-use me". On my "PA" colt,one of those things was the rear rack that seemed to be OEM or otherwise just a real nice unit.



It was pitted and caked with rust so I just knocked of the loose stuff with some 100 grit cloth and am prepping it with Kleen-Strip Rust Converter (Duro "Extend"). Once finished prepping,I will paint it black with something.

[JoeMeg]

Adondo,thanks for the compliments,you got it with 1.5 million man hrs Do you self (and your engine) a huge favor and give it a fresh air intake duct asap. Don't worry so much about the hot air,it will find it's own way out. Shoehorning a big v-twin into a confined engine bay is a recipe for disaster,how do I know? Paragraph 1 of post 1 of this thread I am convinced that lack of this duct had a big part in the demise of my 23hp Kohler (suspect other issues too but overheating did not do any good). This was in the green one in my signature photo. Here is the duct I made for the 20hp replacement

Bridget,thank you for the compliment. Yes,to do a through job one must completely disassemble the machine. It's so much easier to access everything and get into the corners of the lower tub that seem to take a beating over the years. The empty tub is so light weight and easy to move around,flip over,etc. Turning it over to wire it was one of the bigger favors I did myself recently. I later had to redo the GPS power supply tucked up under the dash due to a pulled off connection from an overzelous tape job. It was while lying on my back reaching up that I realised just how nice it was to wire upside down I'm so pleased with the outcome of this build that old Gizmo is going to receive the same tlc. I didn't strip it down completely during the first build and have been getting nickel and dimed with minor issues since. So,a complete tear down is coming for her. I'll start a thread on it,stay tuned.

Joe.