The Hodaka Club Forum

Let's talk about fuel and oils and Hodaka muffler parts.

First, the holy water discussion: my Wombat 94 came with a partial tank of pre-mix fuel, and I've decided to eliminate one variable and mix up fresh fuel since I'm getting ready to finish my tinkering with it and ride. Stock Type 94 engine, freshly rebuilt with new piston and honed cylinder. The engine has 50-100 miles on it, just a few heating-cooling cycles. Break-in will be my task. The PO recommended (and supplied) Blendzall Green (Racing Castor) and both he and Blendzall say to mix 4 oz/gallon, which is 5% or 1:32. I think.

This is puzzling-- Hodaka recommends a mix of 1:16 (6.25%) for "break-in" and 1:20 (5.0%) thereafter, using "2-cycle oil". I imagine that I should follow Blendzall's mix recommendation. But should I "fatten" the oil mix for breakin, as Hodaka suggests?

Hmmm, I see an oddity in the % up there. Ignore that, I'll refigure it later-- mix ratios are easier. And here is where we get to the Holy Water part: is there an oil that is preferable to the Blendzall? I liker castor, from my RC airplane days.


And mufflers: The bike came with a Hodaka spark arrestor insert (#949161) in the box. On the bike (rather in the stock Wombat muffler) was a cut-off end cap to an old spark arrestor (no "guts" of the arrestor), along with an Inner Pipe (#929191A). Yep, the exhaust note was a bit throaty. It's been decades since I've "pulled the baffles" from my motorbikes and my inclination, at least during break-in, is to go stock and quiet on the muffler. Hmmm, this might 'splain why the needle was raised all the way UP to the 5th notch ( I reset the needle to #3, per specs). And it might might be a good idea run that main jet to the shop and see if the jet size is as-marked.

Per usual. comments are appreciated.

--Bill

I would steer clear of castor oils unless you like carbon build up. 32 to 1 with Yamalube R or Golden Spectro a better choice IMO. Those old mixing recommendations are from way back when oil was not as good as today's lubricants.
Terry

I'm a Yamalube 2R guy also (partly because of my model airplane days . . . dang that castor oil was sticky/messy stuff). I'm partial to 32:1 with non-ethanol premium pump gas. So there is the "holy water" input I have.

NOTE: The 16:1 AND the 20:1 oil mix recommendations come from an era when you used the same oil in the crankcase of the family's Nash Rambler and the pre-mix for your two stroke engines. Follow the mix recommendations of the oil manufacturer.

Along the lines of the "holy water" concept . . . it sounds to me like your engine IS "broken in". With half a dozen full heat cycles and 50-100 miles on it . . . you are good to go. (Opinions may - will? - vary on this. ) But you do need to confirm that your jetting is correct.

Ed

Back in my four-cycle RC plane days we'd get the best synthetic-oil glo-fuel and spike that with a few percent SIG castor oil. Best of both worlds. The smell of castor in the morning was better than even napalm.

I'll "baby" the engine for a while longer til _I_ used to it. I'll double check the jetting (slide, needle and needle jet are new) just to be sure. And "jetting" is one reason to use the standard muffler innards-- that affects the mixture and since we have a new-ish engine and a new-er owner that will eliminate on variable. Muffler is coked-up on teh inside, so I've removed it and we're doing bonfire this afternoon.

Should have this finished up an a day or so and then we get into a rainy spell. Now that I've got a freshly resto'd bike I need to take pix of it, then go find the biggest mudhole and _properly_ annoint the bike.

--Bill

I like Danny Cooke's method. Go richer than 32:1 and do two warm up cycles. Let the motor heat up and when it reaches operating temp turn it off. After it cools, bring it to operating temp again and turn it off. I think Danny said a mix ratio of 28:1 for the first mix for break in. Then go to 32:1 after. That's the way I'm going to break in the RT after I finish putting it back together. I used the castor oil for my Wombat, but it fouled out 4-5 plugs in less than 2 weeks! Switch over to the Yamaha R2 and I haven't fouled a plug since! ; D Victor