motorcycle

Claims

What is claimed is:

1. A motorcycle comprising:

a frame;

front and rear wheels coupled to the frame for rotation with respect to the frame;

an engine including a housing, first and second cylinders having first and second combustion chambers, respectively, and first and second pistons reciprocating in the first and second chambers, respectively;

a spark generating circuit including a spark plug having a spark gap exposed to the first combustion chamber;

an ion sensing circuit including the spark plug and being operable to generate an ion signal indicative of an ion current generated across the spark gap; and

an analysis module coupled to the ion sensing circuit and being operable to receive the ion signal and to analyze the ion signal to determine whether a no-combustion event occurred in the first cylinder.

2. A motorcycle as set forth in claim 1 wherein the analysis module includes:

an integrator that receives the ion signal and produces a diagnostic voltage; and

a microprocessor and memory coupled to the filter, the microprocessor receiving the diagnostic voltage and executing a software program in the memory to analyze the diagnostic voltage, and to determine whether a no-combustion event occurred in the first cylinder.

3. A motorcycle as set forth in claim 2 wherein the microprocessor further executes the software program to determine whether the diagnostic voltage is greater than a diagnostic calibration value.

4. A motorcycle as set forth in claim 3 wherein the microprocessor further executes the software program to decrement a counter each time the diagnostic voltage is greater than the diagnostic calibration value, and to increment a counter each time the diagnostic voltage is less than the diagnostic calibration value.

5. A motorcycle as set forth in claim 4 wherein the microprocessor further executes the software program to generate a code when the counter is greater than a no-combustion parameter value.

6. A motorcycle as set forth in claim 5 wherein the analysis module includes a terminal for communicating with a technician, and wherein the analysis module is further operable to communicate the no-combustion code to the technician via the terminal.

7. A motorcycle as set forth in claim 1 wherein the motorcycle further comprises an output device, wherein the analysis module is further operable to generate an output signal signifying no combustion in the first cylinder, and wherein the output device receives the output signal and generates an output in response to the output signal.

8. A method of determining whether a no-combustion event occurred in a two-cylinder engine of a motorcycle, the method comprising the acts of:

providing a motorcycle including

a frame,

front and rear wheels coupled to the frame for rotation with respect to the frame,

an engine mounted to the frame, the engine including a housing, a crankshaft mounted for rotation within the housing, first and second cylinders having first and second combustion chambers, respectively, and first and second pistons reciprocating in the first and second cylinders, respectively, and

a spark generating circuit including a spark plug having a spark gap exposed to the first chamber;

applying a spark-inducing signal to the spark generating circuit;

obtaining an ion signal indicative of an ion current across the first spark plug gap; and

analyzing the ion signal of determine if no combustion resulted when applying the spark-inducing signal to the spark generating circuit.

9. A method as set forth in claim 8 wherein the act of analyzing the ion signal includes:

applying the ion signal to an integrator resulting in a diagnostic signal; and

analyzing the diagnostic signal to determine if no combustion resulted when applying the spark inducing signal to the spark generating circuit.

10. A method as set forth in claim 9 wherein the act of analyzing the diagnostic signal includes:

determining an analysis window;

determining a diagnostic voltage of the diagnostic signal during the analysis window; and

comparing the diagnostic voltage to a diagnostic calibration value.

11. A method as set forth in claim 10 wherein the act of analyzing the diagnostic signal farther includes the act of incrementing a counter when the diagnostic voltage is less than the diagnostic calibration value.

12. A method as set forth in claim 11 wherein the act of analyzing the diagnostic signal further includes the act of decrementing the counter when the diagnostic voltage is greater than the diagnostic calibration value.

13. A method as set forth in claim 11 wherein the act of analyzing the diagnostic signal further includes the act of generating a code when the counter is greater than a minimum number of events.

14. A method as set forth in claim 11, wherein the act of analyzing the diagnostic signal further includes the act of prior to the act of incrementing, determining if one or more predetermined conditions are met, and wherein the act of incrementing includes the act of incrementing the counter when the diagnostic voltage is less than the minimum calibration value and when the predetermined conditions are met.

15. A method as set forth in claim 14 wherein the act of determining if one or more predetermined conditions are met includes the act of determining if the engine speed is greater than a minimum engine speed.

16. A method as set forth in claim 14 wherein the act of determining if one or more predetermined conditions are met includes the act of determining if the engine load is greater than a minimum engine load.

17. A method as set forth in claim 8 and further comprising the act of analyzing the ion signal to determine if engine knock is present.

18. A method as set forth in claim 8 and further comprising the act of analyzing the ion signal to determine if an intermittent condition is present.

19. A method of determining whether a spark generating circuit of a motorcycle has an intermittent connection, the method comprising:

providing a motorcycle having a frame, an engine mounted to the frame, and a spark generating circuit mounted to the frame, the engine including a cylinder having a combustion chamber and a piston reciprocating in the first cylinder, and the spark generating circuit including a spark plug having a spark plug gap exposed to the first combustion chamber;

generating a spark in the combustion chamber with the first spark plug;

obtaining an ion signal indicative of an ion current across the spark plug gap; and

analyzing the ion signal to determine if the spark generating circuit has an intermittent connection.

20. A method as set forth in claim 19, wherein the act of analyzing the ion signal includes the acts of:

determining an analysis window;

filtering the ion signal during the analysis window to produce a knock signal;

obtaining a peak-value of the knock signal during the time window; and

comparing the peak-value to a maximum peak value.

21. A method as set forth in claim 20, wherein the act of filtering the ion signal includes the acts of:

applying the ion signal to a low-pass filter to produce a low-pass signal; and

applying the low-pass signal to a band-pass filter having a frequency range to produce the knock signal.

22. A method as set forth in claim 20, wherein the act of analyzing the ion signal further includes the act of incrementing a first counter at each occurrence of the act of comparing the peak-value, and wherein the act of comparing the peak value to a maximum peak value includes the act of incrementing a second counter if the peak-value is greater than the maximum peak value.

23. A method as set forth in claim 22, wherein the act of analyzing the ion signal further includes the act of, prior to the incrementing acts:

determining if one or more predetermined conditions are met, and

performing the incrementing acts if the predetermined conditions are met.

24. A method as set forth in claim 23 wherein the act of determining if one or more predetermined conditions are snot includes determining if the engine speed is greater than a minimum engine speed.

25. A method as set forth in claim 23 wherein the act of determining if one or more predetermined conditions are met includes the act of determining if the engine load is greater than a minimum engine load.

26. A method as set forth in claim 19 and further comprising the act of analyzing the ion signal to determine if engine knock is present.

27. A method as set forth in claim 19 and further comprising the act of analyzing the ion signal to determine if no combustion resulted in response to the spark-inducing signal.

28. A motorcycle comprising:

a frame;

at least two wheels coupled to the frame for rotation with respect to the frame;

an engine including a housing, a first cylinder having a first combustion chamber and a first piston reciprocating in the first chamber;

a spark generating circuit including the spark plug and being operable to generate an ion signal indicative of an ion current generated across the spark gap;

an ion sensing circuit including a spark plug and being operable to generate an ion signal indicative of an ion current generated across the spark gap; and

an analysis module coupled to the ion sensing circuit to receive the ion signal and to analyze the ion signal to determine if the spark generating circuit has an intermittent connection.

29. A motorcycle as set forth in claim 28 wherein the analysis module includes:

a filter tat receives the ion signal and produces a knock signal;

a peak hold detector that receives the ion signal and produces a peak knock value over an analysis period; and

a microprocessor and memory coupled to the peak hold filter, the microprocessor receiving the peak knock value and executing a software program to analyze the peak knock value to determine whether the spark generating circuit has an intermittent connection.

30. A motorcycle as set forth in claim 28 wherein the motorcycle further comprises an output device, and wherein the analysis module is further operable to generate an output signal signifying an intermittent connection in the cylinder to an operator.

31. A motorcycle as set forth in claim 29 wherein the microprocessor further executes the software program to determine whether the peak knock voltage is greater than a minimum diagnostic value.

32. A motorcycle as set forth in claim 29 wherein the microprocessor further executes the software program to determine whether the peak knock voltage is greater than a minimum diagnostic value for (n) spark-inducing events, to increment a counter (m) if one of the (n) spark-inducing events is greater than a minimum diagnostic value, and to generate a code if the counter (m) is greater than a parameter value.

33. A motorcycle as set forth in claim 28 wherein the analysis module includes a terminal for communicating with a technician, and wherein the analysis module is further operable to communicate the intermittent connection code to the technician.

In this segment, we'll attempt to explain the components and operation of the ESPFI systems offered on 2001 and later Softail®, 2002 and later Touring, 2004-2005 Dyna®, and 2002 and later V-Rod motorcycles. Ready? OK, let's start out with some terms.

The Harley-Davidson ESPFI system is known as a Speed/Density, Open Loop, Sequential Port Fuel Injection system, that controls both fuel flow, and spark timing. Let's further explain those three terms.

Speed/Density - An Electronic Control Module (ECM) monitors manifold air pressure, air temperature, throttle position and engine rpm to manage fuel delivery.

Open Loop - The ECM monitors sensors positioned on the intake side of the engine and does not monitor the end result of internal combustion at the exhaust.

Sequential Port Fuel Injection - Injector nozzles are positioned in the manifold near the intake valve and are precisely timed to deliver fuel to each cylinder.

Still with me? OK, let's dig into the components that make up the system, what they do, where they are, and what they are commonly called.

SYSTEM COMPONENTS

ECM - Electronic Control Module - Sometimes called an ECU, or Electronic Control Unit, is a small microprocessorcontrolled box, or "the brains" of the system that collects all of the input signals from the sensors, and makes decisions based on those sensor inputs, and then sends output signals to deliver fuel and spark to the engine. On Softails®, it's located under the seat, on Baggers it's under the side panel.

CKP - Crank Position Sensor - This sensor provides input signals to the ECM that indicate engine rpm. The ECM also uses these inputs to determine what stroke the engine is in so it can deliver the fuel and spark at the desired time. It's located on the front of the motor. It's that thing that's in the way when you change your oil filter.

MAP - Manifold Absolute Pressure - This sensor provides input signals to the ECM and reacts to intake manifold pressure and ambient barometric pressure. Intake manifold pressure reflects changes in engine speed and load. Ambient barometric pressure reflects changes in atmospheric pressure caused by weather conditions or changes in altitude. The ECM uses the inputs from this sensor to help calculate how much air is entering the engine. It's located in the intake manifold on top, just behind the throttle body.
IAT - Intake Air Temperature - This sensor provides input signals to the ECM as it reacts to the temperature of the air entering the engine. For example, hot air contains less oxygen than cool air. The ECM uses the inputs from this sensor to help calculate how much oxygen exists in a quantity of air. It's located in the throttle body.

ET - Engine Temperature - This sensor provides input signals to the ECM as it reacts to the engine temperature of the front cylinder head. The ECM uses the signals from this sensor to determine if the engine is at operating temperature, or still warming up. It's that probe in the front Cylinder head, on the left side.

TP - Throttle Position - This sensor provides input signals to the ECM as it reacts to throttle shaft rotation, telling the ECM where the throttle is, as well as if it's opening or closing, and how fast it's opening or closing. It is at the rear end of the throttle blade.

VSS - Vehicle Speed Sensor - This sensor provides input signals to the ECM to indicate if the bike is moving or sitting still. It is used mostly to assist the control of idle speed.

BAS - Bank Angle Sensor - This sensor is located in the turn signal module and it sends a signal to the ECM if the bike leans over more than 45 degrees. If the ECM gets this signal for more than one second it assumes that the bike fell over and it will immediately shut down both fuel and ignition.

Ion Sensing System - This system uses ion-sensing technology to detect detonation or engine misfire in either the front or rear cylinder by monitoring the electrical energy at the spark plug after every timed spark. If an abnormal level of energy is detected across 2 or 3 spark firings the ECM responds by retarding spark timing in that cylinder as needed to eliminate it.

Fuel Injectors - The fuel injectors are nothing more than electric valves that open and close to deliver a high-pressure spray of fuel pointed directly at the intake valve. They are controlled by output signals from the ECM to open at a precise moment. If more fuel is needed, the ECM will signal the injector to remain open longer. The period of time is known as the injector "pulse width" and is measured in milliseconds. (1/1000 of a second) They are in the intake manifold near each cylinder head.

Electric Fuel Pump - A 12-volt high-pressure fuel pump, (located in the fuel tank) supplies fuel under pressure to the fuel rail on the intake manifold. The fuel injectors will always have pressurized fuel ready and waiting for the ECM command to open.

Fuel Pressure Regulator - Also located in the fuel tank, the regulator controls fuel pressure between 55 and 62 PSI by returning excess fuel from the fuel pump back to the fuel tank. The return is also located in the tank, hence only one line (supply) coming out of the tank.

IAC - Idle Air Control - An electric valve that's threaded, one turn of the valve is called a "step." It's controlled by output signals from the ECM to open and close as needed to allow enough air into the engine for starting and idle operation. (Throttle closed) The more steps, the greater the amount of air enters the engine through the IAC passages. It's that ugly looking black thing you can see just inside and over the top of the air cleaner.

OK, so now that you know all of the players in the system, let's get it started. We'll go through a typical start-up, warm-up, and run. And all you carburetor guys try to keep up will ya?

As mentioned earlier, the ECM is the brain of the ESPFI system. And, like our own brain, it has memories and it makes decisions. "Last time I drank 22 beers, I had�" well, you get the idea. The ECM memories are located in "Look-up tables." There are several different Look-up tables, which allow the ECM to make decisions on fuel delivery and spark timing. For most of us, these are referred to as "Maps." The Maps that are more or less in continuous use by the ECM are the VE (Volumetric Efficiency) AFR (Air/Fuel Ratio) and the Spark Advance table. But there are ""others.""

These "other" tables are for temporary conditions, like the motor is being cranked by the starter, (Cranking Fuel Table) or when the motor is colder than operating temperature, (Warm-Up Enrichment table) or when the throttle is closed and the motor is coming up to temperature (Idle RPM Table) and another one for throttle closed, the (Intake Air Table) to allow enough air into a cold motor to allow it to idle.

So the motor is cold, and you turn the ignition on, flip the start/run switch to run. The first thing you hear is the in-tank fuel pump pressurizing the fuel rail. If you listen real close, you'll hear the Idle Air Control (IAC) "stepping" into position. Even if you are real fast, the ECU already knows everything it needs to know from all of the sensors. You hit the starter button, the motor begins to crank over. The ECU sees the low RPM, and quickly goes to the Cranking fuel Table, increasing the Injector pulse width, allowing more fuel to get the motor started. At the same time, the ECU tells the IAC to open, allowing enough air into the motor for start and idle. (Throttle body blade is closed). The motor starts to run, and the ECU sees the higher RPM from the Crank Postition Sensor, and switches over to the Warm-Up Enrichment Table. This table eventually decays to nothing, as the motor comes up to full operating temperature.

"Yea, the light of the wicked shall be put out, and the spark of his fire shall not shine." Job 8:5

Well, if you are one of those wicked people who don't bother to maintain your points ignitioned bike you will find the spark of your fire does indeed go out. So what do we do to prevent this ?

Points Ignition is on it's way out, but there are still a lot of them out there. Most engines (but not all) made after 1980 have an electronic ignition and no points. Most engines (but not all) made before 1980 have points. To find out look under the points cover. this cover will usually have two or three screws holding it on. On most single and twin cylinder engines it is usually on the cylinder head, right or left side. On most four cylinder engines it is usually on the crank end and again it can be on either the right or left side but it seems mostly on the right. Three cylinder engines seem to be mostly on the left.

If there is any doubt as to the condition of the points, replace them. Sometimes a good looking set of points can cause a funny misfire that can only be cured by a new set. If the points are pitted badly you will not be able to get an accurate gap setting. Replace them. I have spent way too many hours trying to make a used set of points work, in vain hope of saving $10-$15. Save your time and nerves, buy a new set of points. Interestingly enough, it's been my experience that condensers almost never wear out. I have found maybe four or five bad condensers in the last 35 years. Everybody pushes you to buy them, but I never replace them unless they test bad. They make little cheap testers (at least they used too !) that work quite good. A rough and ready way to test them is to connect the pig tail to the positive terminal of a 12 volt battery and the body to the negative terminal. This charges them up. Now ground the pig tail to the body and, if it is good, you should see a nice fat spark. In some cases the condenser will have two leads. One goes to ground and one to the points hot wire. Connect them by the color coding of the wires. If both wires have the same color, they can be connected either way. Same way to test. One wire to positive and one wire to negative to charge and then touch them together. You should get a nice spark if they are good. The condenser keeps the points from arcing when they open. The condenser can be anywhere in the line (wire) going to the points. Sometimes this is quite a ways away from the points. Like under the gas tank. Condenser Capacity The capacity of a condenser is measured in microfarads (0.2 microfarads being the average capacity) and that capacity is matched to the points. If there is a big build up of material on one of the points it means the capacity of that condenser is too big or too small for that set of points. If the negative point (grounded or stationary point) loses material, with the build-up on the positive ( Moveable ) point. The condenser capacity is too low. If the build up is on the grounded point ( Stationary ) the capacity is too high. While you are replacing the points go ahead and take the points plate off and check out the automatic spark advance unit. It is usually attached to the point cam. Make sure it is working smoothly.

Set Point GapOk, we got a new set of points and we found where they go... now what ? When you connect the points wire to the points it must go to the movable point and that point is insulated from the stationary point. The little screw that holds the point wire MUST be insulated from grounded, stationary point. There are usually several little fiber washers and a fiber tube that keep the point spring and screw from grounding. Turn the engine over until the highest spot on the points cam aligns with the points heel. This is the spot where the points are at their maximum opening. Now use a feeler gauge, of the right thickness, and set the point gap. After you tighten the point screws, recheck the gap. Most times it changes a little and it may take several tries to get it right. Point gap can be as little as .010" or as much as .022". Look in your shop manual. Most Japanese bike have a gap of .012" to .016", so use .014" and you will be about right... at least for Japanese bikes.

Timing a CT90Now take a circuit tester light and ground one end to the engine and the other to the hot wire going to the points. Sometimes, it's easier to connect to the points spring. Turn on the ignition and turn the engine backwards with a wrench on the crankshaft nut or bolt. If the points are on the left side of the engine this would be clockwise. If the points are on the right side of the engine it would be counter-clockwise. Keep turning until the points close. Keep going till the flywheel mark, usually an "F", has moved well beyond the stationary mark on the crankcase. You go well beyond the crankcase mark so any play in the spark advance will be taken up when you turn the engine forward. Some European bikes use "O", Harleys use a vertical line for the front cylinder and a "O" for the rear, and sometimes a "O" and a "OO". Like always, check the manual.

Timing an EngineTiming Marks Now turn the engine in the direction of rotation slowly until the "F" mark and the crankcase mark line up. The light in the circuit tester should come on just as the two marks line up. If they don't, loosen the screws that hold the points carrier plate to the engine and turn it one way or the other till the marks line up. Tighten the screws and recheck. If the engine is fresh and strong, time it so the light comes on exactly when the marks match. If the engine is worn, you will want to advance the timing (See the Ignition timing page.). More wear, less compression, more advance. If in doubt, just use the stock timing marks. When you tighten the points and points plate screws, the points and plate will usually change just a little. Sometimes they change a lot. Recheck the timing after you tighten everything up. If the timing was right on and then advances when you tighten the screws, loosen the screws and set it a bit retarded. When you tighten the screws, it will advance a bit and be dead on. Do the opposite if the timing retards when you tighten the screws. You will also notice two marks on the flywheel that are before (Advanced from) the "F" mark. These marks are the full advance marks. If you shine a timing light at them with the engine running four or five thousand RPM you will see that they are supposed to line up with the stationary mark. You will also see lots of oil flying everywhere if the flywheel is the "wet" type like the Honda Trail 90s, 160s, 175s, 350s, 450s and others. Unless you want to make a special cover with a window in it, you don't really need to use a timing light. Bikes of this type seem to time just fine in the retarded spark position. If the bike is one of the Honda fours, the Yamaha 650 twin and others, you don't have to worry. You can use the timing light.

Timing Plugs Some bikes have a timing hole. This hole is covered with a plug. You remove the plug and replace it with a special clear timing plug. This keeps the oil in the engine and off you. Examples of this would be Honda Gold Wings and all Harley Davidsons. The plugs don't seem to work all that well unless you screw the plug in so it almost touches the flywheel. Then it works real good ! You can do this with the Harleys pretty easy, just screw it in a bit more. Others are harder, but you get the idea.

These points plates all have elongated holes in them allowing you to adjust the plate. Sometimes if you need more adjustment, you can take a small rat tailed file and file more length to the elongated hole.

Point gap is not supposed to be used for the adjustment of timing, but sometimes we can use it for that. Wear, on the different mechanical ignition parts, may require us to use it to adjust timing. Other times the manufacturer designs it that way, even though that is not a good thing to do ! The gap of the points is supposed to control how long the Ignition Coil(s) is charged by the battery. The time the points are closed is called the Dwell Angle. This angle is given in the shop manual. This can get complicated because some systems charge the coils when the points are open and others when they are closed. We won't worry about that and anyway most of the points we will be dealing with charge when the points are closed and fire the spark plug when the points open. Just be aware that you can vary timing a little with the point gap, but you want to stay within the maximum and minimum specs so the coil will charge right.

Twin Points PlateSome twin cylinder bikes, like the old 350cc Honda twins, have both points screwed to the points plate. On these bikes you must use the point gap to adjust at least on of the cylinders. Usually, you can set the gap on one point set, turn the point plate to set the timing and then use the point gap to adjust the timing on the second set of points. Now check the gap on the second set and if it is within spec you are done. If not, you will need to juggle settings on the other set of points and points plate to get everything within spec. To help things out, some manufacturers use an extra plate that holds one set of points and bolts to the main points plate. It is moveable, so you can keep the gap right and still adjust the timing for that point after you have adjusted the other set with the main points plate. Most four cylinder bikes that use points have this extra plate. Some twins use them too.

Points Pits Points tend to blacken with corrosion when left sitting for a long period of time. You can clean them with a points file. I don't use the metal ones that look like small files. I never could get them to work right, the metal used in points is just too hard to file good. It's also not a real good idea to file points if they are badly pitted because it cuts down on their contact area. If you do file badly pitted points you must file ALL the pits away. I use a flexible type that has grinding compound imbedded in it, or a piece of 100 grit sand paper folded back to back. This just cleans up the point surface. If the points are badly pitted, replace them. Now blow everything clean with compressed air and clean with some contact cleaner. Finally, clean the points with a 1/4 inch strip of paper cut from a 3 by 5 inch card and dipped in acetone. Also, put a bit of points grease on the points cam, points heel and the points lubricating felt. If the felt is old and dry, lube it with grease and put one drop of oil on it. If the felt is old and dry, and you only put grease on it, the dry center will pull the grease into the center and away from where you want it... on the points heel. The oil kinda "charges" the dry felt center, preventing this.

Vacuum AdvanceThe Yamaha XS1100 is the only bike engine I know of that has a vacuum spark advance. Why have vacuum advance ? Under part throttle, air intake into the intake manifold is restricted, so a vacuum develops in the manifold. Because of this vacuum less air/fuel mixture is drawn into the cylinder. This, in effect, lowers the engines compression and slows the burn rate of the fuel mix. To get the full power out of the engine under these conditions requires more Ignition advance. The Vacuum advance gives you this advance when there is vacuum in the intake manifold. Most car engines have a vacuum advance, but it just didn't catch on for motorcycles.

Spark Plug PolarityIf you reverse the low tension ignition coil connections it will reverse the polarity. It takes 40 % or so more voltage to fire the spark plugs on a ignition system with positive polarity. On most bikes you would have to really work at it to do this. However, some four cylinder bikes like the early Honda fours are designed this way with double ended ignition coils. One lead is positive and one lead is negative. This means two of the plugs will require a lot more voltage to fire than the other two. Not much you can do about it, but if two plugs start fouling out on these bikes, this might be the reason. To test polarity put a pencil lead between the high tension lead and the spark plug. If there is a flare from the pencil to the spark plug, the polarity is correct. If the flare is between the lead wire and the pencil the polarity is wrong.

I've found that a set of points seems to go out of time in about 2000 miles. If you are willing to live with lousy performance, they can go upwards of 8000 miles.

With the ignition on, you should have battery voltage going to the points. With the ignition on, if you take a screw driver and ground out the the moveable point, when you remove the screw diver from the ground, you should get a spark at the spark plug. With the ignition on and the points closed, open the points with a small screw driver. This, also should produce a spark at the spark plug. The spark should easily jump an air gap of 1/4" or more, to ground, outside the engine.

Most motorcycle coils are weak when compared to car coils. You can use car coils BUT you have to do a lot of modification to the points cam so you don't over charge the coils. Seems to me the old "CYCLE" magazine had quite a write up on how to do this but I guess now that ranks right up there with performance tweaks for a 486 computer !

I like points ignition systems. If they start to fail it always seems you can fiddle with them and limp home. If something needed replacing, you didn't have to get a loan from the bank to buy the part. Too bad they are fading away like old soldiers.

"But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world
to confound the wise..." First Corinthians 1:27

Trigger & Source Coils Electronic Ignition... so easy to get to, so easy to test... so easy ! I hate electronic ignition systems. At least, I hate to work on them. I wish I could tell you I know everything about motorcycle electronic ignitions, but, well, after working on these things since they first came out I can categorically state that I don't know 'nothing about them. So I'll just ramble on about them for a while, and if you read real carefully, you will know as little as I do !

Most Electronic Ignitions have four parts that can fail. trigger (pickup) coil, a source coil, a CDI unit (Black Box) and an ignition coil. The trigger coil tells the black box when to trigger the spark. It does this when a small magnet on the flywheel passes the trigger. The source coil produces the power. The black box coordinates everything and tells the ignition coil when to fire the spark plug. This is for a magneto and requires no battery, as the power comes from the source coil. Battery Ignition CDIs use the battery as a power source. The battery is then recharged by the charging system.

Now, when I say CDI I mean Capacitor Discharge Ignition, but I am also lumping in all types of ignitions that don't use points. Each manufacturer has their own design and way of thinking. However, they all seem to have those four parts. Trigger coil, source coil, black box, and ign coil. Usually, they give you specs on the trigger unit, source coil, and ignition coil. Sometimes, they give specs on the CDI box too. These specs are given as resistance values in Ohms. That means we can test them to see if they are good... sort of... most times... maybe ! Some manufacturers also give values for the black boxes too, and some don't. All this means these things are very hard to test accurately. Fortunately, most of the electronic ignition units are quite reliable and require no service, but this plus turns to a minus when they do go bad. They are very hard to trouble shoot. To top it off, most motorcycle CDIs are expensive to replace, and when they go out, the bikes are too old to justify the expense of replacement.

They say electronic ignition doesn't change once it is set. BUT, IT DOES ! Sometimes, it will change as it fails. This can give some pretty weird running. It can also cause the engine to overheat and seize. This is something to remember when you rebuild an engine that blew up for seemingly no reason.

OK, we can use an ohm meter to check most things except the black box, and sometimes, even the black box... If we are lucky ! Well, maybe things tested Ok. You have to remember, on all electrical things, they test either bad or they might be good. There are a number of very expensive testers out there, and they all claim to work great. But do they ? Let me tell you a story. I once had a snowmobile come in which would die (no spark) after 5-6 minutes of running. I had factory specs on everything including the black box. Everything tested OK, even when hot. Long story short, I finally ended up talking to the owner of a business that made aftermarket, replacement, snowmobile CDI boxes. He told me all the factory specs were wrong, and gave me some new specs that he said sometimes worked and as he was very knowledgeable about electronic ignitions I asked him what tester he used. He told me he had tried them all and none of them worked. He said for each new CDI box design his company bought an engine, and modified it so they could run it with an electric motor. They could then test the black boxes by substitution. Customers could send in their factory CDI boxes and he could test them to see if they were good. He said they had a whole warehouse full of these modified engines. This was back in 1988-89. I like to think they have something better now... however, I still can't afford a tester other than an Ohm meter.

The reason I'm telling you all this, is to give you an idea of the amount of hassle these things can be. Many times I've read factory bulletins telling their people in the field to be more careful. They're sending back, under warranty, too many "bad" boxes that turn out to be good.

Some CDI Box SpecsAll right, we have no spark. Check the resistance, in Ohms, of the Trigger coil, Source coil and Ignition coil. If one is out of spec, replace it, but first check all the plug in connectors. Check and clean all the ground connections and make sure the kill button is working right too. Also, remember some bikes have safety kill switches at the clutch lever, the side stand, and who knows where. Look for them and make sure all of them are working right. Check each Ohm reading several times and remember most specs give a temperature to check at, usually 70 degrees. So don't leave the bike out overnight at 30 degrees and expect to get an accurate reading. Sometimes there will be a spec for the black box, and sometimes not. Here are the specs on a Kawasaki Vulcan. Others, if they give any, look similar. As you can see, there are a fair number of tests to perform. Maybe this is why a lot of manufacturers don't give any specs. Honda used to give specs, but it seems they don't anymore. Yamaha doesn't give any. Kawasaki and Suzuki both sometimes give specs and sometimes defer to special factory testers. Others ? You will have to look in the shop manual.

The shop manual will give you the color of the wires to test and the correct resistance too. If everything is within spec, recheck all the connectors and the grounds. If all is OK the only thing to do is replace the black box. Sometimes you can get the part off a working bike and substitute it for the part in question. Most times this can work pretty good. Other times the bad part can take out other good parts. The reason this can happen is because these systems produce very high voltages. That voltage has to go somewhere. Sometimes it can burn it's way through the side of the plastic case. The good news is that this is quite rare in most motorcycle systems. Don't you love the way I use most and sometimes and might and maybe ? There's good reasons why electrical parts are sold with no warranty.

Another thing to check is the air gap between the trigger and the magnet on the flywheel. Usually this is done with non-metallic, brass gauges. You can also use a piece of plastic of the right thickness. That thickness is usually .005" to .010". Try to get the parts as close as you can, without them hitting.

CoilsSometimes, there is no separate trigger unit. Everything is in the coils or the black box. The circuitry reads the voltage rise and triggers the spark at the right time. They do have little ignition units that are used on lawnmowers and small engines. They tell me some of these units can be used on motorcycles. I've never used them on a bike, but they do work on other small engines.

Most Dirt bikes are a CDI magneto, and do not require a battery. Most street bikes are a battery charged CDI, and need a fully charged battery. That battery also has to run the starter, lights, radio, and other stuff in addition to the ignition. Different things require different power requirements from the battery. We think of the battery as supplying a steady 12 volts and it should. But, things can vary. What does all this have to do with electronic ignition ? Most electronic ignitions require a full 12 volts to give out a good spark. If you let the bike sit a long time or the battery is weak, you may not get a full 12 volts. Now the starter may spin just fine, but the starter requires amps more than volts. Think of it like this. Amps are volume, volts are pressure. Amps won't jump a spark plug gap and volts won't spin that starter. At least they won't in the numbers that we deal with. Anyway, the starter is spinning but the ignition is not getting enough volts to fire the spark plug. The moral ? Make sure you have a good, fully charged battery in the machine before you start hunting for ignition problems.

Plug TesterDon't unplug anything while the engine is running. That includes the spark plug cap. These systems can produce a lot of volts, like 18,000-30,000 and more. It's got to go somewhere. Readers Digest magazine had a big expose' on bad auto mechanics. They pulled one spark plug cap loose and took it to a bunch of different mechanics. They complained that a lot of those mechanics did detailed, expensive tests, instead of just popping the plug cap back on. Those mechanics didn't do anything wrong. Pulling that plug could have fried the entire ignition system. I've seen it happen. When you check for spark, ground that plug to the engine. The spark should easily jump a 1/4" gap. If it won't jump 1/4", or more, outside the engine, it won't jump .030" inside the engine under compression. A handy tool is a spark tester. There are lots of different types. You can buy one or you can make one yourself real easy. Take a new spark plug and bend the side electrode out straight. Now solder a small clamp on the side and you are done. Clamp it to the cylinder head and hook up the spark plug cap. Crank the engine and you can easily see the spark. The engine can and will run if you connect the tester clamp to the end of the spark plug. Provided, of course, the plug is good and installed in the engine.
Remember, that spark is what sets the air/fuel mix burning. It can do the same outside the engine too.
Make sure there is no spilt gasoline or other flammable mixtures on or near that Spark Tester.
Keep a fire extinguisher handy !

Ignition TestWhat if there's a misfire at, say 1/2 throttle, but only under load ? Carburetion can cause a miss that looks, acts, and feels exactly like an ignition miss. How do you tell the difference ? Easy, Hook up a timing light. Use one of the types that does not have to be hooked to a battery for power, if possible. A lot of the old style lights were like this. Tape it to your handlebars and go for a ride. Look at the light. If the light looks bright and steady when the misfire occurs, then the problem is in carburetion. If it goes out when the misfire occurs, then the problem is with the ignition. There are all kinds of ways of doing this and you can use different tools, like plug caps with lights on them. The big thing is being able to see when the spark occurs... or doesn't occur.

Well, there you go. Hopefully all this will help. One thing for sure... you now know as little as I do !

What if there's a misfire at, say 1/2 throttle, but only under load ? Carburetion can cause a miss that looks, acts, and feels exactly like an ignition miss. How do you tell the difference ? Easy, Hook up a timing light. Use one of the types that does not have to be hooked to a battery for power, if possible. A lot of the old style lights were like this. Tape it to your handlebars and go for a ride. Look at the light. If the light looks bright and steady when the misfire occurs, then the problem is in carburetion. If it goes out when the misfire occurs, then the problem is with the ignition. There are all kinds of ways of doing this and you can use different tools, like plug caps with lights on them. The big thing is being able to see when the spark occurs... or doesn't occur.

Delphi's Ionization Current Sensing Ignition Subsystem (Ion Sense) is a technology based on the principle that electrical current flow in an ionized gas (e.g. during combustion) is proportional to the flame electrical conductivity. By placing a direct current bias on the spark plug electrodes, the conductivity can be measured.

Delphi's Ion Sense Subsystem consists of one ignition coil per cylinder and high-temperature-resistant electronics. Moving parts and high-voltage leads are eliminated to help provide maximum energy supply to the spark plug. In this design, the spark plug not only ignites the air⁄fuel mixture but also acts as an in-cylinder sensor to monitor the combustion process. The resulting Ion Sense signal contains combustion information. Processing of the signal allows it to be used for engine control features that require knowledge of combustion characteristics.

Features of production Delphi Ion Sense Subsystems have included coil per plug ignition, all speeds and loads-compliant generation two on-board diagnostics (OBD-II) misfire detection and direct in-cylinder knock detection. Delphi's Ion Sense technology has also been used in motorcycle applications for knock detection and control.

Benefits

* Ion Sense signals provide direct, in-cylinder combustion information to the engine controller. Processing of this information can enable engine control features that require knowledge of combustion characteristics. In addition to improved engine control, development time may be reduced.
* Ion Sense knock detection eliminates vibration-based knock sensors for lower system cost and improved knock sensitivity and detection. Knock detection is robust to valve train and other mechanical noises.
* Ion Sense OBD II misfire detection improves misfire detection capability.
* Direct in-cylinder measurement of the combustion process provides the ability to compensate combustion due to fuel variation and, thus, helps to reduce cold-start hydrocarbon (HC) tailpipe emissions to help meet PZEV requirements.
* Ramp and fire electronics provide decreased power dissipation and greater efficiency. The igniter, bias, and buffer circuits are fully integrated and encapsulated in the coil as one unit.

Typical Applications

Delphi's Ionization Current Sensing Ignition Subsystem can be used in all current and future two-valve and multi-valve engine programs, including passenger vehicles and small gasoline engine applications such as motorcycles.

Spark Event—Spark Current Flow and Measurement Period—Ion Current Flow

In the configurations shown, the spark current is used to create a bias voltage, eliminating the need for an additional voltage source. The measured spark gap current after the spark event reflects the combustion process. Related parameters are extracted through signal processing.

Ion Current Waveforms

Normal Combustion

Misfire in one cylinder

Knock

In addition to the described system performances, Ion Sense systems enable continued development of future functionality and advanced features such as:

* Location of peak pressure (LLP)
* Cold start compensation
* Dilution control
* Pre-ignition detection

Subsystem Mechanization

This chart demonstrates a potential in-vehicle application of Delphi's Ion Sense Subsystem.

Typical Plug Top Ion Sense Coil Performance Specifications (Engine dependent)

Energy (800 V zener) 40 mJ
Peak secondary current (800 V zener) 175 mA
Secondary voltage available (25 pF) 37 kV, primary clamped
Spark duration (800 V zener) 0.6 ms
Secondary resistance 3.0 kΩ
Primary resistance 0.4 Ω
Primary charge time 1.4 ms
Weight 200 g
Notes 10 A @ 14 V, 23o C

These are example values for a typical package. Other performance levels are available.

Performance Advantages

With Delphi's Ion Sense technology, the conventional spark plug acts as an intrusive sensor in the cylinder to obtain information about each combustion event with minimal influence due to environmental conditions such as vibration, mechanical noise, and temperature. Optimized individual cylinder knock control helps increase engine efficiency and reduce fuel consumption. Through Delphi's Ion Sense technology, misfire detection is OBD II capable and provides very high reliability and robustness compared to many other detection methods. Advanced features of Delphi's Ion Sense Subsystem, such as compensation of combustion due to fuel variation, are also available to help reduce cold-start HC tailpipe emissions.

The Delphi Advantage

Delphi has more than 100 years experience in ignition systems and builds more than 23 million ignition coils and systems each year. With a global network of engineering centers and low-cost ignition systems manufacturing facilities in Europe, Asia, North America, and South America, Delphi can provide just-in-time delivery to support manufacturers around the world.

Delphi has a long history of supplying gasoline engine management systems and components that have helped manufacturers overcome market and regulatory challenges around the world. That experience provides manufacturers with unique systems-level knowledge and analysis capabilities. Only Delphi offers a complete engine management systems product portfolio, including:

* Fuel injection systems
* Ignition systems
* Air and fuel management
* Electronics
* Sensors and actuators
* Valve train systems
* Fuel handling systems
* Evaporative emissions systems

BKM has developed and demonstrated a prototype single cylinder engine based on a novel Electronic Direct Fue l Injection (EDFI) system tailored to small, low cost and high production volume two -stroke engines. By offering non-exclusive license options to several engine builders as well as attracting some public funding through the California Air Resources Board (CARB), BKM formed a funding consortium to develop and demonstrate this system. The recipients of this report are the consortium members who assisted with the funding and who have secured non- exclusive technology license options. We have demonstrated exhaust emissions compliance with CARB tier II regulations for the year 2000 and beyond for handheld utility engines. We have also completed preliminary testing on a 50cc moped installation. Suzuki Corporation in Japan is currently conduction additional testing on this 50cc engine. In another program, our license option holder in China, Honglin, is currently operating the system on a 125cc Nanfang motorcycle for demonstration to engine manufacturers within their country. Five samples of this 125cc motorcycle have been manufactured. Photographs of this accomplishment are included in Appendix A.

This report will provide license and license option holders who participated in the consortium program with detailed results of the design and development activity. While the contents of this report may be considered as technology transfer material, BKM acknowledges that true technology transfer must involve ongoing communication and cooperation for the benefit of all stakeholders in the technology.

Background
Due to the high power density and simple construction of the two -stroke cycle gasoline engine, it has been instrumental in the development of the two-wheeler transportation market, the outboard marine engine market and the handheld power equipment industry. However, the exhaust emissions from conventional two-stroke engines are very high due to the basic design and operating principles of the engine. These engines produce from 10 to 15 times the levels of unburned hydrocarbons compared to four-cycle engines.

In a conventional, carbureted two -stroke engine, the fuel air mixture is pumped into the cylinder during a portion of the cycle in which both the intake and exhaust ports are open. The primary activity during this portion of the engine cycle is the scavenging, or removal of combustion byproducts from the previous engine cycle. This process results in the loss of approximately 30% of the fuel, which escapes out the exhaust port prior to ignition. This loss of both fuel and fresh air is referred to as "scavenge loss". Figure 1 illustrates the scavenge loss of a contemporary two-stroke utility engine.

Figure 1. Two-stroke Engine Scavenging Loss

The high level of exhaust emissions and poor fuel economy typical of small piston ported two-stroke spark ignited engines mandates the need for improved combustion over the operating range of the engine. Direct, in-cylinder injection has been demonstrated to significantly reduce unburned hydrocarbon emissions by timing the injection of fuel in such a way as to prevent the escape of unburned fuel from the exhaust port during the scavenging process.

Figure 2 illustrates the typical relationship between exhaust emissions and the air/fuel ratio, defined by the excess air factor lambda. Lambda is the ratio between actual air/fuel ratio and stoichiometric air/fuel ratio. Stoichiometric air/fuel ratio is the theoretically perfect ratio for most efficient and complete burning. Lambda less than 1.0 is a rich mixture and lambda greater than 1.0 is a lean mixture.

In a naturally aspirated engine such as the low cost two -stroke, air supply is dependent on the piston motion and engine power is proportional to the amount of fuel burned. Therefore, a rich mixture increases power and a lean mixture reduces power.

As shown in Figure 2, many contemporary two -stroke engines operate in the range of 0.70 to 0.75 lambda in order to optimize power and reduce combustion temperature. Unfortunately, this condition results in very high CO emissions as well as adding to the already high unburned HC emissions. The Oxides of Nitrogen (NOx) emissions however, are very low due to the low temperature of this rich combustion mixture.

Figure 2. Influence of Excess Air Factor, Lambda, on Emissions
Exhaust emissions can be minimized if lambda is very lean (greater than approximately 1.5). Such lean air/fuel ratios may be achievable using direct injection of fuel as proposed. However, without additional air charge boosting, maximum engine power is reduced to an unacceptable level. In the range of lambda 0.85 to 0.95, emissions can be minimized without significant power loss. It has been demonstrated that the combination of in-cylinder fuel injection (reduced scavenge loss) and operation in this air/fuel ratio range (=0.85-0.95) results in significantly reduced emissions levels.

Compounding the basic two-stroke inefficiencies described above, it is normal for crankcase scavenged two-stroke engines to misfire at part load. Part load operation of spark ignited engines involves reducing both the fuel flow and throttling the airflow through the engine in an attempt to maintain an ignitable, stoichiometric air/fuel mixture. Misfire at part load in a two-stroke engine is caused by the presence of residual exhaust gas, degraded scavenge efficiency and the resulting degraded air/fuel ratio control. This part load misfire contributes greatly to added unburned fuel emissions and increased fuel consumption. Direct in-cylinder injection alone does not solve this part load misfire problem.

The dynamic fueling range is another challenge for fuel injection equipment. The fuel injector must accommodate both the full load fueling rate, as well as the minimum fueling rate required to idle the engine. A major difficulty with conventional fuel injection concepts for small two-stroke engines is the inability to provide precise well-atomized fuel sprays at these very small fuel deliveries, particularly as fuel consumption and emissions are reduced.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to an engine misfire detection method that detects misfiring from the fluctuation of engine rotation.

PRIOR ART

In general, to achieve stable output in a multiple cylinder engine, combustion should ideally occur if air-fuel mixture is ignited at the same point in each cycle, but, since structural variations such as complications in the shape of the manifolds, unevenness in the intake air distribution ratio due to interference in the intake between cylinders, small differences in combustion temperature between cylinders caused by coolant paths, the volume of the combustion chamber of each cylinder, and piston shape can act together in a multiplicative manner, variations in combustion can easily occur in a multiple cylinder engine.

Up to now, these fluctuations in combustion between cylinders have been minimized by controlling the air-fuel ratio for each cylinder and controlling ignition timing. However, with recent high performance engines that tend to have higher output powers and practice fuel economy, if a component such as an injector or spark plug should deteriorate or a fault should occur, this could lead to the occurrence of intermittent or continuous misfire.

In general, whether or not a cylinder is in a misfire status can be detected by detecting a fluctuating component in the engine speed caused by misfiring, and comparing this fluctuating engine speed component with a prescribed identification level. For example, Japanese Patent Laid Open No. 1987-118031 discloses a technique of measuring the spacing of a plurality of pulse signals generated once every rotation of the crank shaft, identifying the maximum value of the fluctuations in engine speed from timing changes in the pulse spacing, and identifying which cylinder is subject to abnormal combustion, based on a value calculated from this maximum value and the pulse signals.

Japanese Patent Laid Open No. 1990-112646 discloses a technique of detecting a plurality of angular positions through one revolution of a multiple cylinder internal combustion engine, detecting the instantaneous engine speed of a specific rotational position of each cylinder from the detected angular positional spacing, then detecting abnormal cylinders from a fluctuating component of this instantaneous engine speed.

However, continuous rotation fluctuations can be generated in an engine by factors other than misfiring, such as acceleration, and, once misfiring has occurred, it often occur continuously between cylinders. In such a case, there is a fear that identifying misfire by simply comparing the fluctuating rotation component with a misfire identification level could lead to mistaken identification of misfiring if continuous rotation fluctuations are caused by something other than misfiring, or conversely, continuous misfiring could be mistakenly identified as simply being continuing rotation fluctuation.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention has been devised with the aim of solving the above described problems and has as its objective the provision of a misfire detection method that is not affected by fluctuations in engine rotation caused by factors other than misfiring, and that can accurately detect misfiring even if such misfiring occurs continuously.

The misfire detection method of the present invention is characterized in that it obtains a difference in engine speed obtained between two cylinders that are consecutive in the combustion sequence, and it identifies a continuous misfiring status as being a period after the difference in engine speed has changed beyond the width of a misfire identification level that has been set based on the operating status of the engine and has fallen below a negative value that is less than the misfire identification level, until it rises to a prescribed level.

With the misfire detection method for an engine in accordance with the present invention, a continuous misfiring status is identified as being a period after a difference in engine speed between the two cylinders that are consecutive in the combustion sequence has changed beyond the width of a misfire identification level and has fallen below a negative value that is less than the misfire identification level, until it rises to a prescribed level.

The misfire identification method of the present invention concerns a method of detecting misfiring which uses a difference in engine speed between two cylinders that are consecutive in the combustion sequence, and which is characterized in setting an identification level for identifying engine rotation fluctuations due to an external disturbance, based on the engine's operating status, and, if the difference in engine speed-has risen to greater than or equal to an identification level, in halting misfiring detection until a prescribed period of time has expired after the difference in engine speed has intersected the identification level in the downward direction.

When the misfire identification method of the present invention has detected that large engine rotation fluctuations have occurred, by determining that a difference in engine speed between two cylinders that are consecutive in the combustion sequence has risen above an identification level for identifying engine rotation fluctuations due to an external disturbance and, in order to wait for the engine rotation fluctuations to settle down, it halts a diagnosis procedure intended to detect misfiring until a prescribed period of time has expired after the difference in engine speed has intersected the identification level in the downward direction.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a flowchart of a continuous misfire diagnosis subroutine, in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 2 is the first part of a flowchart of a misfire diagnosis routine;

FIG. 3 is the second part of the flowchart of a misfire diagnosis routine shown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a flowchart of a misfire identification subroutine;

FIG. 5 is an abbreviated structural diagram of an engine control system;

FIG. 6 is a front elevation of a crank rotor and a crank angle sensor;

FIG. 7 is a front elevation of a cam rotor and a cam angle sensor;

FIG. 8 is a circuit diagram of an electronic control system;

FIG. 9 is a timing chart showing the various relationships between crank pulses, cam pulses, combustion stroke cylinder, and ignition timing;

FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating differential rotation before compensation;

FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating differential rotation after compensation;

FIG. 12 is a graph of misfire identification levels;

FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating differential rotation while continuous misfiring is occurring;

FIG. 14 is a flowchart of a snatch identification diagnosis subroutine;

FIG. 15 is the first part of a flowchart of a misfire diagnosis routine;

FIG. 16 is a flowchart of a continuous misfire diagnosis subroutine; and

FIG. 17 is a timing chart showing various fluctuations in an engine.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying figures. These figures illustrate one embodiment of the present invention, wherein a flowchart of a continuous misfire diagnosis subroutine is shown in FIG. 1; the first part of a flowchart of a misfire diagnosis routine is shown in FIG. 2; the second part of the flowchart of the misfire diagnosis routine is shown in FIG. 3; a flowchart of a misfire identification subroutine is shown in FIG. 4; an abbreviated structural diagram of an engine control system is shown in FIG. 5; a front elevation of a crank rotor and a crank angle sensor is shown in FIG.. 6; a front elevation of a cam rotor and a cam angle sensor is shown in FIG. 7; a circuit diagram of an electronic control system is shown in FIG. 8; a timing chart showing the various relationships between crank pulses, cam pulses, combustion stroke cylinder, and ignition timing is shown in FIG. 9; a diagram illustrating differential rotation before compensation is shown in FIG. 10; a diagram illustrating differential rotation after compensation is shown in FIG. 11; a graph of misfire identification levels is shown in FIG. 12; and a diagram illustrating differential rotation while continuous misfiring is occurring is shown in FIG. 13.

In FIG. 5, reference number 1 denotes an engine which, in this figure, is a horizontally aligned four-cylinder engine. An intake manifold 3 communicates with each of a number of intake ports 2a that are formed in a cylinder head 2 of the engine 1, a throttle chamber 5 communicates with the intake manifold 3 through an air chamber 4, and an air cleaner is mounted on the upstream side of the throttle chamber 5 with an intake pipe 6 therebetween.

An intake air flow sensor 8 (which, in this figure, is a hot-wire type of intake air flow sensor) is inserted directly downstream of the air cleaner 7 of the intake pipe 6, and a throttle sensor 9 is provided linked to a throttle valve 5a provided in the throttle chamber 5.

An idle speed control (ISC) valve 11 is inserted partway along a bypass passage 10 that communicates between the upstream and downstream sides of the throttle valve 5a, and an injector 12 faces into the directly upstream side of the intake ports 2a of the intake manifold 3.

A spark plug 13a with an end that faces into a combustion chamber is mounted in each of the cylinders of the cylinder head 2, and an igniter 14 is connected to an ignition coil 13b that is linked to the spark plug 13a.

The injector 12 communicates with a fuel tank 16 through a fuel supply line 15 and an in-tank type of fuel pump 17 is provided in the fuel tank 16. Fuel from the fuel pump 17 is supplied in a pressure regulator 19 under pressure. And the fuel is injected into the intake port 2a from the injector 12 through a fuel filter 18 mounted in the fuel supply line 15, and returns from the pressure regulator 19 to the fuel tank 16 to maintain the pressure therein at a prescribed value.

A knock sensor 25 is installed in a cylinder block la of the engine 1 and a coolant temperature sensor 27 faces into a coolant water passageway 26 communicating with left and right banks of the cylinder block 1a. In addition, an O.sub.2 sensor 29 faces into a collective portion of an exhaust manifold 28 that communicates with exhaust ports 2b of the cylinder head 2. Reference number 30 denotes a catalytic converter.

A crank rotor 31 is mounted so as to be free to rotate on the axis of a crank shaft 1b that is removably supported in the cylinder block 1a, and a crank angle sensor 32 comprising a sensor such as an optical sensor or a magnetic sensor that is a magnetic pickup is provided facing the outer periphery of the crank motor 31, to form a rotation detection means that detects the rotation of the engine. A cam rotor 33 is mounted in linkage with a cam shaft 1c of the cylinder head 2, and a cam angle sensor 34 comprising a sensor such as an optical sensor or a magnetic sensor that is a magnetic pickup is provided facing the outer periphery of the cam rotor 33, to identify the cylinders.

Protrusions (or they could be slots) 31a, 31b, and 1c are formed around the outer periphery of the crank rotor 31, as shown in FIG. 6. The protrusions 31a, 31b, and 31c are formed at angular positions .theta.1, .theta.2, and .theta.3 before top dead center (BTDC) of each of the cylinders, and detection signals that are output from the crank angle sensor 32 in correspondence with the protrusions 31a, 31b, and 31c have their waveforms shaped and are input to an electronic control unit (ECU) 41 as .theta.1, .theta.2, and .theta.3 crank pulses. Thus not only can the speed of the engine be calculated, but also timing for ignition timing control and fuel injection control can be obtained.

Cylinder identification protrusions (or they could be slots) 33a, 33b, and 33c are formed around the outer periphery of the cam rotor 33, as shown in FIG. 7. The protrusion 33a is formed at a position .theta.4 after top dead center (ATDC) of cylinders 3 and 4. The protrusion 33b is actually configured as a train of three protrusions, the first of which being formed at a position .theta.5 after top dead center (ATDC) of cylinder 1. The protrusion 33c is configured as a train of two protrusions, the first of which being formed at a position .theta.6 after top dead center (ATDC) of cylinder 2.

The protrusions 33a, 33b, and 33c of the cam rotor 33 are detected by the cam angle sensor 34, and the resultant waveform is shaped and then input to the ECU 41 as .theta.4, .theta.5, and .theta.6 cam pulses for cylinder identification.

With the above configuration, cam pulses are generated at positions superimposed on crank pulses as the engine operates, as shown in FIG. 9, and each cylinder can be identified from the numbers of these cam pulses and their generation status.

Note that, in the embodiment shown in these figures, .theta.1=97.degree.CA, .theta.2=65.degree.CA, .theta.3=10.degree.CA, .theta.4=20.degree.CA, .theta.5=5.degree.CA, and .theta.6=20.degree.CA.

A reference number 41 in FIG. 8 denotes an electronic control unit (ECU) such as a microcontroller in which a CPU 42, a ROM 43, a RAM 44, a backup RAM 44a, and an I/O interface 45 are mutually connected by a bus line 46, and which is supplied a prescribed stabilized voltage from a fixed-voltage circuit 47.

The fixed-voltage circuit 47 is connected to a battery 49 by relay connections of an ECU relay 48 and it is also connected directly to the battery 49. Therefore, when an ignition switch 50 connected between a relay coil of the ECU relay 48 and the battery 49 is turned on and the relay connections of the ECU relay 48 are closed, power for control is supplied to all the parts of the ECU. When the ignition switch 50 is turned off, backup power is supplied to the backup RAM 44a.

The battery 49 is also connected to a relay coil of a fuel pump relay 51 and to the fuel pump 17 through the relay connections of the fuel pump relay 51.

Various sensors such as the intake air flow sensor 8, the throttle sensor 9, the knock sensor 25, the coolant temperature sensor 27, the O.sub.2 sensor 29, the crank angle sensor 32, the cam angle sensor 34, and a vehicle speed sensor 35 are connected to input ports of the I/O interface 45, and the battery 49 is also connected to enable monitoring of the battery voltage.

The igniter 14 is connected to an output port of the I/O interface 45, and the ISC valve 11, injector 12, the relay coil of the fuel pump relay 51, and an electronic control system (ECS) indicator 53 provided in an instrument panel (not shown in the figures) are also connected to output ports of the I/O interface 45 through a drive circuit 52.

A control program and various items of fixed control data are permanently stored in the ROM 43, and output signals from the various sensors and switches after data processing, as well as calculated data from the CPU 42, are temporarily stored in the RAM 44. Power is always supplied to the backup RAM 44a, regardless of the position of the ignition switch 50, so that even when the ignition switch 50 is off and the engine's operation is halted, the contents of the backup RAM 44a are not erased and thus its various contents such as error codes corresponding to problems detected by a self-diagnosis function can be stored therein.

Note that these error codes can be read out to an external device by connecting a serial monitor 54 to the ECU 41 by a connector 55. The serial monitor 54 is described in Japanese Patent Laid Open No. 1990-73131, a previous application by the present applicant.

The CPU 42 calculates quantities such as fuel injection amount, ignition timing, and the duty ratio of a drive signal for the ISC valve 11 in accordance with the control program stored in the ROM 43, to provide various types of control such fuel-air ratio control, ignition timing control, and idle engine speed control, and it also identifies misfiring in all of the cylinders n (where n=1 to 4).

The procedure of detecting misfiring, as performed by the ECU 41, will now be described below, with reference to the flowcharts of FIG. 1 to FIG. 4.

The flowchart of FIG. 2 and FIG. 3 shows a misfire diagnosis routine which is executed at an interrupt that is synchronized with the .theta.3 crank pulses from the crank angle sensor 32. First of all, a step S101 stores various items of data obtained by the previous execution of this routine in a work area. A step S102 calculates an engine speed MNXn corresponding to a cylinder n (where n=1, 3, 2, or 4 in sequence) from an input spacing timing T.theta.23 between the crank pulses .theta.2 and .theta.3 and from an included angle (.theta.2-.theta.3) of the crank rotor 31, to consider misfiring in an engine low-speed region such as 150 rpm or above.

Note that, in the description below, the suffixes n, n-1, n-2, etc., of the parameters and flags refer to cylinder numbers.

Next, the flow proceeds to a step S103 which calculates the difference between the engine speed MNXn corresponding to cylinder n (calculated in step S102) and the engine speed MNXn-1 corresponding to cylinder n-1 which was the previously fired cylinder (the result calculated by the previous execution of this routine), to give a differential rotation DELNEn corresponding to cylinder n (i.e., DELNEn.rarw.MNXn-MNXn-1).

A step S104 identifies cylinder n (where n=1, 3, 2, or 4) fired this time, based on crank pulses output from the crank angle sensor 32 and cam pulses output from the cam angle sensor 34, and a step S105 identifies cylinder n-1 that fired previously.

For example, when crank pulses are input from the crank angle sensor 32 after the .theta.5 cam pulse train is input from cam angle sensor 34, it can be determined that those crank pulses are a signal indicating the crank angle of cylinder 3, as shown in FIG. 9. Similarly, if the .theta.4 cam pulse has been input after the .theta.5 cam pulse train, the subsequent crank pulses can be determined to be those indicating the crank angle of cylinder 2.

In the same way, the crank pulses after the .theta.6 cam pulse train is input are those indicating the crank angle for cylinder 4. If the .theta.4 cam pulse has been input after the .theta.6 cam pulse train, it can be determined that the subsequent crank pulses are those indicating the crank angle for cylinder 1.

Further, after cam pulses have been input from the cam angle sensor 34, the next crank pulse input from the crank angle sensor 32 can be determined to be that indicating the reference crank angle (.theta.1) of the corresponding cylinder.

In this embodiment of .the present invention, the firing sequence is cylinder 1, cylinder 3, cylinder 2, then cylinder 4. Therefore, if, for example, the misfire diagnosis routine is executed in synchronization with the .theta.3 crank pulse at BTDC .theta.3 for cylinder 3, the combustion stroke cylinder n is cylinder 1, the previous combustion stroke cylinder n-1 is cylinder 4, and the combustion stroke cylinder n-2 before that is cylinder 2.

In this case, the position at which the crank angle is detected by the crank angle sensor 32 is affected by permissible structural errors in the positions and shapes of the protrusions 31a, 31b, and 31c of the crank rotor 31, as well as permissible errors in the mounting position within the engine 1 of the crank angle sensor 32, which are specific to that engine.

Consequently, variations due to these errors will be included in the value of the differential rotation DELNE calculated based on the crank pulses from the crank angle sensor 32. In particular, when the engine speed is high, this effect will give the apparent result that large uniform engine speed changes are generated, as can be seen from FIG. 10.

Therefore, as the procedure goes from step S105 to step S106, a compensated differential rotation DELNAn is calculated by subtracting from the differential rotation DELNEn calculated in step S103 a differential rotation compensation value AVEDNOn for cylinder n up until the previous execution, obtained by statistical processing on this differential rotation DELNEn (i.e., DELNAn.rarw.DELNEn -AVEDNOn).

This ensures that the correct differential rotation between cylinder n and cylinder n-1 (in other words, the compensated differential rotation DELNAn) can be obtained from the pre-compensation differential rotation DELNEn (into which are mixed fluctuations in rotation due to misfiring as well as apparent fluctuations due to permissible structural errors in the positions and shapes of the protrusions 31a, 31b, and 31c of the crank rotor 31 and permissible mounting errors of the crank angle sensor 32 on the engine 1, as shown in FIG. 10), and thus the fluctuations in rotation due to misfiring can be accurately extracted, as shown in FIG. 11.

Note that one tick along the vertical axis in each of FIG. 10, FIG. 11, and FIG. 13 (to be described later) represents an engine speed of 50 rpm, and one tick (1 div) along the horizontal axis represents 720.degree.CA, and the differential rotation data calculated by the ECU 41 are expressed as the above described figures.

As described above, if, for example, the misfire diagnosis routine is executed in synchronization with the BTDC .theta.3 crank pulse of cylinder 3, the cylinder that is subjected to the present misfire diagnosis is cylinder 4 as cylinder n-1 that was the cylinder that was previously undergoing the combustion stroke. The misfire diagnosis of subsequent processing is performed on that cylinder 4 (cylinder n-1), from the change status of the compensated differential rotation DELNA4 (=DELNAn-1) for cylinder 4 and the compensated differential rotation DELNA1 (=DELNAn) for cylinder 1. The compensated differential rotation DELNA4 (=DELNAn-1) for cylinder 4 is obtained by the current execution of the routine by statistical processing after subtracting the engine speed MNX2 (=MNXn-2) for cylinder 2 (the cylinder that was in the combustion stroke before the previous one), based on the input spacing timing between the BTDC .theta.2 and .theta.3 crank pulses of cylinder 4, from the engine speed MNX4 (=MNXn-1) for cylinder 4 (the cylinder that was in the combustion stroke previously), calculated based on the input spacing timing between the BTDC .theta.2 and .theta.3 crank pulses of cylinder 1. The compensated differential rotation DELNA1 (=DELNAn) for cylinder 1 is obtained by the previous execution of the routine by statistical processing after subtracting the engine speed MNX4 (=MNXn-1), based on the input spacing timing between the BTDC .theta.2 and .theta.3 crank pulses of cylinder 1, from the engine speed MNX1 (=MNXn), based on the input spacing timing between the BTDC .theta.2 and .theta.3 crank pulses of cylinder 3.

Next, the flow proceeds from step S106 to a step S107 which calculates a compensated differential rotation change DDNEAn from the difference between the compensated differential rotation DELNAn for cylinder n and the compensated differential rotation DELNAn-1 for cylinder n-1 calculated by the previous execution of the routine (i.e., DDNEAn+DELNAn-DELNAn-1). In other words, comparatively small fluctuations in engine speed generated by factors other than misfiring can be excluded by extracting the change in the compensated differential rotation DELNA, and thus accurate misfire detection is enabled.

The flow then proceeds from step S107 to steps S108, S109, and S110 which determine whether or not misfire diagnosis conditions set in each of steps S108, S109, and S110 are true. In other words, step S108 checks whether or not the fuel has been cut, step S109 checks whether or not a basic fuel injection pulse width Tp is less than a set value TpLWER, and step S110 checks whether or not the engine speed NE is greater than or equal to a set engine speed NEUPER.

If each of steps S108, S109, and S110 is passed (i.e., if the fuel has not been cut, Tp.gtoreq.TpLWER, and NE <NEUPER), a step S111 acts as a diagnosis condition true step that sets a diagnosis authorization flag FLGDIAG (FLGDIAG=1). On the other hand, if step S108 detects that fuel has been cut, or step S109 detects that Tp<TpLWER, or step S110 detects that NE.gtoreq.NEUPER, each of these steps branches to a step S112 which is a diagnosis condition false step that clears the diagnosis authorization flag FLGDIAG (i.e., FLGDIAG.rarw.0).

Then the flow proceeds from either step S111 or S112 to a step S113 in which the previously mentioned continuous misfire diagnosis subroutine is executed, to detect the start and end of continuously generated misfiring. In a step S114 (shown in FIG. 3), the value of a misfire flag FLGMISn-1 for the previous combustion stroke cylinder, cylinder n-1, is referenced.

If misfiring has been identified by the misfire diagnosis of step S113, this misfire flag FLGMISn-1 is already set to 1. If it is cleared to 0, meaning that misfiring was not generated in cylinder n-1, the flow proceeds from step S114 to a step S115 which checks whether the difference .DELTA. between the differential rotation DELNEn-1 for cylinder n-1 and the weighted mean differential rotation AVEDNO for all cylinders up until the previous execution (i.e., .DELTA..rarw.DELNEn-1-AVEDNO) lies within a prescribed range set by minimum (MINDN) and maximum (MAXDN) values (i.e., MINDN<.DELTA.<MAXDN).

If step S115 determines that .DELTA. does lie within this set range, the flow proceeds to steps S119 and S120 which identify that the differential rotation DELNEn is varying due to an error relating to the crank rotor 31 or the crank angle sensor 32, for statistical processing of the differential rotation DELNEn-1, then to a step S121.

Could be "everything" far as I can see:
Norton Commando? '7x ... - Guess so. Does it misfire when idling (too)? Also I am sure you are familiar with the choke/airslide function of the Commando... (pulling/lifting choke/airslide to let the air in for them Amals(?) to breath).

Most often it is a trivial reason
- loose wiring
- bad / rotten plugs
(once I had one of the Boyer cable shoes bent right into the cover - fired once in a while...)

Most common misfire reasons(under load):
I. Electric disturbancies
II. Bad valve operation
III. Carburation (make it idle! Pilot level)

In this priority. A timing lamp is necessary in concidering if regular spark (if firing uneven, it will show on the grade scale - flashing).

I would begin with plug condition - is it (the left one if dead sure left is the culprit)
1. oily black? Maybe valve fault, blown head gasket
2. dry but soothed? Maybe airslides down (choking)
3. wet of unburnt gas but not that oily? Maybe lack of spark/ignition fault/short circuiting/bad earth
4. dark brown (eg. perfect)? Then its no faulting.

Coil is a very robust device - works or works not.
Elect' (tronic) eg. Boyer Bransden(?):
- If battery voltage below 9V ignition could be suffering (but most often compensates by the charging)
- If charging too bad (cables loose on battery f.ex), ignition could be suffering.

Exotic reasons:
1. Cams worn down (valve gear malfunction)
2. Blown head gasket (different symptoms, often not that obvious except for killing plugs)
3. Cracked cyl and other unspoken reasons

We are all assuming this bike was ridden recently by you, that you have personally witnessed this bike run, that the high-test fuel in the tank is less than 4 weeks old, that the spark plugs are new, and that the plug wires have been replaced in the last 5 years with METAL core wires.

Good. Then...
Turn your headlamp ON for 2 minutes. Then after 2 minutes with the lamp still ON, measure the battery voltage with a good voltmeter. If your battery voltage is not AT LEAST 12.0V then you need a new battery. Period.

Low voltage, especially right at 12.1V will make a Boyer misfire so that the engine sputters. It sounds so much like a carb problem that most people jump right into the carbs, but it's the Boyer misfiring for lack of operating voltage.

Highly suggest you read my articles on the subject at the GABMA web page.... http://gabma.no-ip.org/

The following information is presented for the use of MASTERTECH'S customers as a courtesy by CDI Electronics. This ignition system produces very high voltages and due care and caution must be practiced in working with it.

The timing wheel cover is a machinery guard. Use care and caution when working on a running engine. MASTERTECH MARINE, CDI Electronics and their respective employees cannot be held responsible for any injuries or damage resulting from the use of, or application of the following data. Please read the final paragraph below.

We have chosen to narrow this troubleshooting guide to the Johnson/Evinrude 60° 6-cylinder ignition (OIS 2000) 1991-2003 model years.

Due to the differences in this ignition system, troubleshooting can be somewhat difficult if you are not familiar with the design. The other Johnson/Evinrude QuikStart ignitions use stator charge coils and a power coil to provide high voltage and power for the QuikStart and rev limiter circuits. They require a timer base for triggering and use separate magnets for the high voltage and triggering the timer base.

The OIS 2000 optical system uses the stator charge coils to provide high voltage for the firing of the ignition coils and a power coil to provide power for the electronics both inside the power pack and inside the sensor. The other QuickStart models will run the engine without the power coil being connected (of course this will burn out the control circuits inside the power pack).

The OIS 2000 ignition has to have the power coil supplying power in order to operate the QuickStart, S.L.O.W., rev limiter, and fire the coils beyond cranking speed. The optical sensor located on the top is fed power from the power pack and sends crankshaft position, cylinder location and direction of rotation back to the power pack.

The pack is smart enough to know not to fire if the engine is not turning in the right direction. S.L.O.W. functions to reduce the engine RPM to approximately 2,500 when the engine overheats. QuikStart (a 10° timing advance) activates as long as the engine RPM is below 1,100, the engine temperature is below 105 F and the yellow/red wire from the starter solenoid is not feeding 12 volts DC to the power pack all of the time. QuikStart also will activate for five to 10 seconds each time the engine is started regardless of engine temperature.

At cranking speed the voltage from the stator may not be enough to operate the circuits inside the power pack, therefore there is battery voltage supplied from the starter solenoid via the yellow/red striped wire. The extra voltage is needed in order for the optical sensor to operate correctly as low voltage from the battery and/or stator can cause intermittent or no fire at all.

There are a couple of critical items you need to be aware of on these engines. First, the spark plug wires need to be the gray inductive resistor wires - these are not automotive wires. Secondly, the spark plugs should be the factory recommended QL78YC. Use of other spark plugs or wires can cause problems inside the power pack from RFI and MFI noise. CDI Electronics has the spark plug wires available as a set P/N: 931-4921.

A breakthrough at CDI Electronics has allowed the use of microprocessor digital control circuits to handle the timing, QuikStart, S.L.O.W., rev limiter and data logging inside the power pack. This allows the timing to be set using a timing light, remote starter, spark gap tester, piston stop tool and a jumper wire.

With these new digital power packs, you disconnect the port temperature switch/sensor leads and use a jumper wire to short the tan temperature sensor wire to engine ground. Once you have verified the timing pointer using a piston stop tool (or a dial indicator), connect all spark plug wires to a spark gap tester, and connect a remote starter to the engine and a timing light to the No.1 spark plug wire.

When you crank the engine over with the remote starter and check the timing, you will notice the timing is set to approximately 4°- 6° ATDC (after top dead center). By advancing the throttle all the way and rechecking the timing for WOT (wide open throttle), you should see approximately 19° - 20° BTDC (before top dead center). Without this timing feature built into the power pack, you would not be able to easily set the timing for idle or WOT without the Johnson/Evinrude optical diagnostic tool.

Another nice features allowed by the digital circuitry include the ability to compensate for a bad temperature switch, a smoother rev limit, customized rev limiters and special timing curves.
Additional items to be aware of:

1.

Early 150 and 175 HP engines did not have the tension washer on top of the sensor encoder wheel. This washer is necessary to keep the encoder locked in place. If it is not on the engine, you may experience erratic firing of the cylinders or no fire at all. If it is missing, please install the correct washer.
2.

1991 and 1992 engines did not have a shift interrupter switch. This resulted in hard shifting and required a conversion to fix.
3.

The shift interrupter switch killed the fire on the starboard bank of cylinders from 1993 through mid 1990s. By 1998, a change was made for the shift interrupter switch to kill the fire on the port bank.
4.

1991 through late 1990s engines sometimes developed a crack in the water jacket allowing water into the intake at high speed. This typically resulted in #1 cylinder-ingesting water. You can usually see signs of the head looking like it has been steam-cleaned inside the combustion chamber.
5.

1991 and 1992 engines came out with a black-sleeved power pack (P/N 584122) and stator (P/N 584109) and used a P/N 584265 sensor. In 1993 the power packs were changed to a gray sleeve (production) power pack (P/N 584910). The stator was changed to a gray sleeve (P/N 584981) and the sensor was changed to P/N 584914. Engines with ignition problems had a service replacement power pack with a blue sleeve and a replacement sensor installed as a set. The blue-sleeved power pack was only available as a service replacement. The gray-sleeved stator could be used with all of the power packs, but the black-sleeved stator was to be used only with a black-sleeved power pack. The sensor P/N changed to 586343 in the late 1990s.
6.

Some engines do not have the RFI/MFI noise shield between the ignition coils and the power pack. If it is missing, replace it!
7.

The gray inductive spark plug wires replace the black copper spark plug wires that were used on the early 1990s engines.

Originally the spark plugs were the QL82YC, but that recommendation was changed to the QL78YC for improved performance. CDI Electronics furnished tools used by the author in troubleshooting these engines:

The following workshop topics are currently scheduled for the 2006 “Gathering”:

Agricultural Machinery Lubricants - Bob Shorter & Forest Graber -- Do you have questions about modern lubricants as compared to oils, gear lubes and grease available when our tractors were built? What do you do if those early lubricants are no longer available? Bob and Forest of ChevronTexaco will answer those questions and any other related ones you have.

Anatomy of the John Deere 2004/1837 Replica Plow - Rick Trahan -- Learn about the conception, research, building and field testing of the replica of John Deere’s original 1837 plow that changed the world of agriculture. Rick Trahan was the leader of the building team from start to finish.

The Art of Fine Tuning a Two-Cylinder Engine – Cork Groth – If you’ve ever heard one of his tractors run, including his 1937 unstyled “B” which runs like the celebrated “Singer Sewing Machine,” you’ll know why Cork is leading this workshop. Link up with Cork as he gets out his “doctor’s bag” and discusses carburetion, ignition, timing, valve adjustment, compression and much more.

A Wrenching Experience Part Two – John Grant – In addition to John Deere wrenches, take advantage of John Grant’s in-depth knowledge about oil cans, tire pumps, and other small tools. Join John for this most interesting presentation including photos and examples.

Check-row Planting with a John Deere 290 Planter - Dick Morrow -- Most folks from the Midwest have heard of check-row planting from their fathers, grandfathers and uncles, but there are many misconceptions about how it is done. Dick Morrow, talented and meticulous restorer, knows every aspect of check-row planting and will explain and show you the process.

Clutch Rebuilding and Repair - Mike Williams – Clutches on two-cylinder tractors always need attention so join this well-known expert as he discusses troubleshooting, repair, rebuilding and adjustment of clutches as well as the principles of operation.

Custom Harvesting in the Plains with John Deere Combines – From Texas to Canada – Ron Misener – Join Ron Misener, operator of a custom harvesting company for thirty-five years, as he discusses all aspects of his interesting business including how and why the profession began. Ron, his wife, Kristy, their family and crew begin harvesting crops in Texas in May and work their way north, ending the season near the Canadian border in November. His stories of this nomadic life of moving, combining, moving and starting the process over and over will keep you interested throughout the session.

Did You Say, “Two Silly Tractors?” ( a workshop for the ladies) – Cork & Eileen Groth -- Ladies, when you talk to your spouse about tractors does it sound like he’s speaking a foreign language? Would you like to learn about all of those mysterious parts and how a two-cylinder engine operates? Then attend this workshop where Cork and Eileen will use their lighthearted humor to help you understand these venerable old machines so you can “talk tractors” with the Mr.

Electrical Charging Systems, Theory of Operation, Troubleshooting and Repair – John “T” Nordhoff – John Deere tractors have used several types of generators through the years. This workshop will help you understand charging systems and how to properly maintain your generating system including diagnosing problems and performing minor repairs.

Everything You Wanted to Know About Radiator Shutters – Tim Sieren – Prior to the introduction of water pumps in the late 1950s, the temperature of John Deere tractors was maintained through the use of shutters of many types. Tim Sieren will discuss the function, identification, availability of original and reproduction shutters, and which two-cylinder models came from the factory equipped with shutters.

Farming with Two-Cylinder Tractors in the 21st Century – Don and Dan Dufner – Farming is hard work, and tractors play a big role in getting crops in the ground and harvested. Don and son, Dan are uncommon in that they still farm with two-cylinder tractors and they have done so for two generations. If you want to learn what it’s like farming with antique John Deere equipment join Dan, a Deere engineer, and Don, a farmer-engineer, for a most interesting session.

Fine Points of Quality Implement Restoration – Don McKinley & Marvin Huber – The restoration of implements is rapidly gaining popularity among two-cylinder enthusiasts, and Don McKinley and Marvin Huber are acknowledged experts who have been working on implements for some years. These gentlemen will discuss the topics of finding implements, obtaining manuals, uncovering the history of these old machines, and the restoration process. Implement folks shouldn’t miss this one!

From Rust to Riches: The Rusty Acres Approach to Basic Tractor Restoration – Dan Peterman – Planning to tackle a major tractor project? Then plan to attend this session where Dan Peterman will address restoration from beginning to end, focusing on a project tractor that is to be turned into a show-quality machine. Dan operates his own full-restoration business and is a regular writer of articles for Two-Cylinder magazine.

Grapes into Wine on an Illinois Farm – (another workshop the ladies will enjoy) - Terrie & Alexia Tuntland -- Many have said that you can’t grow grapes in corn and soybean country; well you can and they are! Join this entertaining couple who will inform you about the wine industry in Illinois as well as their farm and wine operation in Waterman, Illinois. Like a taste of their wine? Don’t miss this one!

Grille Screen Repair, Removal and Installation – Richard Duane – Grille screens on John Deere two-cylinder tractors seem to be a problem with every restoration. Invariably they are bent or torn and in need of repair or replacement. What better way to learn more about the process of removal and replacement than by attending this session led by Richard Duane who designs, manufactures and sells grille screens.

Harvest in the Heartland in Miniature – Bill Proft – Learn about all aspects of the John Deere toy collecting hobby including implements as well as tractors. Bill Proft, a regular contributor to Green Magazine, is a well-known expert who will cover farm toy history, construction of toys, scales, packaging and a discussion of what’s new. Supporting the conference theme, Bill will offer interesting information on John Deere implements. This is a “must” workshop for anyone interested in toys.

History of Combines - John Ruff – Join this gentleman who may know more about combines than anyone in the USA as he takes you through the history of combines, how they revolutionized farming, how they operate, and how, where and why they were developed. Covering the decades from the 1830s through today’s modern machines, John Ruff’s fifty-year love of combines will set the stage for an outstanding workshop. He will continue with a later drop-in session.

History of John Deere Shellers – John Rowe – John has been collecting corn shellers for 30 years. Join this expert as he discusses shellers, their history and how they work. Mr. Corn Man, as he is known, will take you through the interesting history of shellers from the 1870 era to present, including Deere’s purchase of the Marseilles Company.

JD Antiques Roadshow – Dave McEachren – Every John Deere enthusiast has at least one JD collectable someplace, somewhere. This long-time collector will talk about collectables, how to identify them, how to determine if they are genuine and whether they have value. Dave has collected over 3000 John Deere items over a fifteen year period so he comes to the Gathering with considerable experience from his farm/home in Glencoe, Ontario Canada.

John Deere DLTX Carburetors – Robert Beaver -- The focus of this workshop will be DLTX single barrel and two barrel duplex carburetors installed on all John Deere two-cylinder tractors. Join this well-known and respected carburetor expert as he addresses the operation, maintenance, repair and problem solving using a cut-away carb and transparencies. Don’t miss this opportunity to further understand the DLTX carburetor and have your questions answered.

John Deere Lawn and Garden Literature and its Recorded History – Wally Miller – Many John Deere enthusiasts collect lawn and garden tractors, others collect implements, some collect memorabilia and yet others collect literature. JD lawn and garden literature records much information about these products and has become a valuable source of historical data. Much is known and more is coming, so join this expert who has been collecting literature for 30 years for a real insight into this segment of collecting.

John Deere Moldboard Plows – David Wolfe -- This workshop will cover the history of John Deere plows starting with the first plows made in Grand Detour, the move to Moline, the introduction of plows with wheels and on to tractor-drawn plows including twelve-bottom gang plows and modern plows used on the last two-cylinder tractors. In addition, expert collector, restorer and plow technician, Dave Wolfe will address the technical aspects of plows including set-up and adjustment.

Lawn and Garden Tractors – Mary and Rick Herbers -- Restoring and collecting lawn and garden tractors is an increasingly popular activity. Plan to join Mary Herbers, Ertl employee and writer for Green Magazine, and husband, Rick, as they give an overview of the hobby and how it has evolved in the eight years they’ve been collecting tractors. Topics include serial number lists, part suppliers, paint code data, repair, restoration, and technical questions.

New Generation Tractor Collecting – Dan Brotzman – New generation tractor collecting may well be the fastest growing segment of John Deere antique tractor collecting, and Dan Brotzman is an avid new generation guy. Learn about all aspects of new generation collecting including accessibility, investment opportunities and availability of parts. Dan is a certified mechanic, businessman and extremely knowledgeable writer for Green Magazine on countless subjects. This is Dan’s first time at the Gathering so don’t miss it.

Picking Through John Deere Pickers: Finding the Best of What’s Left Out There – Bob Johnson – This gentleman likes to pick corn and his collection of twenty-five corn pickers certainly supports this statement. We don’t know anyone better qualified to lead this session, so implement enthusiasts should put it on their list. Bob has researched John Deere and other brands for many years and he will cover all aspects of corn pickers including history, development, operation, types, and restoration.

Power Blocks & Other Aftermarket Equipment – Duane Larson – The popularity of John Deere two-cylinder tractors over the years attracted manufacturers of aftermarket equipment, among them being the Tractor Supply Company. Among other products, Tractor Supply developed and sold power blocks to meet a perceived need of farmers for more power in their tractors. Join this recognized authority as he shares the history, development, application and sale of power blocks and several other aftermarket products from the 1930s to the 1960s. Restorers who are looking for something different to add to their tractors will not want to miss this workshop.

Restoration for Beginners – Don Ward – The undisputed expert of experts is unquestionably our own Don Ward, so all conference attendants who are restoring their first tractor, about to buy one or just want a refresher, should plan to attend. Don will lead this most interesting and informative workshop on ways to acquire a tractor and things to check when making that first purchase. In addition, he’ll talk about a wide range of subject matter related to first-time restoration including use of parts manuals, degrees of restoration and essential tips to complete your project. Tools and supplies needed for the project, as well as Don’s personal helpful hints, will be a part of the session.

Theory, Adjustment & Troubleshooting of John Deere Two-Cylinder Distributor Ignitions – Tom Donahy – If you want to learn about distributor-type ignition systems used on two-cylinder tractors, put this session on your list. Tom Donahy brings with him more than forty-five years of experience working on John Deere equipment, and he will discuss the theory of operation, use of various electrical meters, point and condenser installation and adjustment including timing and troubleshooting. Distributor ignition problems are frequently the cause of engine troubles so don’t miss this opportunity to learn how to diagnose and make the repairs yourself.

Tractor Maintenance and Repair Using Loctite Adhesives and Sealants – Brad Perkins – They say it isn’t a John Deere two-cylinder tractor if it doesn’t have a leak! Do you agree? Then this session is a must as Brad Perkins, an adhesive and sealant specialist from Henkel Loctite Corporation, who works directly with Deere & Company product engineers, discusses product types, selection and proper use of gasket sealants, other sealants and threadlockers on your two-cylinder and new generation tractors. In addition to currently-used products, Brad will share some new twists on old favorites. Come with questions.

Tractor Sheet Metal Restoration, Prep and Painting – Dave Nelson -- The first thing we see when we amble down rows of nicely restored tractors is the sheet metal and paint. Like first impressions, the quality of the restoration is often judged by the quality of the sheet metal repair and finishing. Join this long-time two-cylinder restorer and auto body professional as he takes you through the process of restoring and refinishing John Deere hoods, grilles and other sheet metal parts including assessment, straightening and repair, metal finishing, rust treatment, filling, priming and painting. Dave will share helpful hints, dos and don’ts, important tools, types of paint, painting equipment and techniques. View a hood and grille in various stages of reconditioning and a demonstration.

What’s New from Jorde’s Decals – Travis Jorde -- The application of decals is usually the final task in the restoration process and very important in giving the tractor a distinctive finished appearance. Travis has thoroughly researched decals used on John Deere tractors and implements and has manufactured them under license since 1972. The workshop will include detailed demonstrations, actual hands on experiences, lots of photos along with Travis’s subtle humor.

Wheels Used on John Deere Tractors – Duane Larson – Here’s your chance to learn about what wheel is appropriate and correct for your tractor in this workshop led by the “guru” of wheels, Duane Larson. He has spent hundred of hours researching wheels used on John Deere tractors so don’t let the opportunity pass to attend this workshop. Duane has been collecting, cataloging and studying wheel information from John Deere catalogs, tire companies, French & Hecht publications, and from observations of tractors at Two-Cylinder Expos and other shows. His presentation will begin with unstyled tractors and progress as far as time permits.

Wico C & X Magnetos, Electrical Troubleshooting and Repair – John “T” Nordhoff – Join retired electrical engineer and country lawyer, John “T” as he covers the installation, timing, operation and electrical troubleshooting of magnetos including diagnosis and repair of most common problems. Wico C and X magnetos were widely used on John Deere tractors, and it’s important that this vital part of the two-cylinder engine be understood and properly maintained. In addition to an engineering background, John “T” is an author and long-time restorer of old John Deere tractors.

Lincolnshire, March 24, 2000 -- In 1960 the motorcycle industry was turned on its head. The car had gone from a
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being a luxury item to a cheap-to-manufacture mass produced commodity that became more and more accessible to ordinary people in Europe and the USA. This fundamental change effected the European motorcycle manufacturers the most. They had outdated designs, outdated manufacturing processes and, frankly, outdated management mindsets. The Japanese, while ridiculed when they first showed up on the scene, were ready to exploit this weakness, both in the market and in racing.

1960
Honda returned to racing in 1960 with two new bikes: a new from-the-ground-up 125 and a four-cylinder 250. Other manufacturers had presented fours before, and the Italians were still racing them, but this bike, more than any other, was the future of motorcycling. Many of Honda's later models, both production and race-bikes, can trace their lineage right back to the fours of the early sixties. The Europeans didn't give up without a fight and MV Augusta in particular showed that they weren't yet beaten by taking every single 500 cc crown for the entire decade. But they couldn't have done it without a little help from the genius of two riders, Hailwood and Agostini, who between them took eight 500 cc titles that decade. Indeed, it took the Japanese until 1975 to win the blue ribbon Grand Prix class when Agostini won on a Yamaha.

The first year of the decade also marked the end of another brilliant motorcycle racing career when John Surtees hung up his one-piece leathers to concentrate on car racing. He left MV Augusta at the end of the 1960 season, having won both the 350 and 500 cc classes, going on to become a World Champion in the four-wheeled GPs, a feat never yet matched by any other man. The same year also saw the retirement of Ubbiali, the winner of a record nine World Championships. He also won two World Titles in his last year in 125 and 250 classes, giving MV Augusta all four crowns in 1960.

The glory may have been all MV Augusta's but the times were changing. MZ and Ernst Degner had taken third place in the 125 series on a two-stroke and the Honda four ridden by Jim Redman had run fourth in the 250s. Hailwood was a lowly sixth in the 500s on a Norton, fifth in the 250s, on both Ducati and Mondial and 10th in the 125s on a Ducati.

1961
As the harsh realities of the new economic order began to bite deep, the racing world was shocked by the departure of the factory-supported MV Augusta team. Benelli and Morini followed suit, although both u-turned and returned to the fray later that season. In their place the FIM saw the participation of Honda, Yamaha and Suzuki, both entering the 125 and 250 classes that year. Honda led the Japanese charge with six 250 cc four-cylinder machines, some on loan to privateers and others fully factory supported. Meanwhile, MZ continued to lead the two-stroke advance with the Kaaden machine being ridden by the talented Degner.

However, the strictures of the Communism were too much for Degner and he plotted to defect to the West. At the Swedish Grand Prix he made plans to leave the Soviet-supported system. While traveling to the race his wife and children were smuggled across the border into West Germany. His plan was to win the round, and thus the title on the MZ125, and then slip away on the 'wind-down' lap into a waiting car. However, the machine let him down, leaving him without a bike for the last, crucial round in Argentina. Degner decided to ride an EMC and had one shipped to Argentina for the race and he lead the Honda mounted Phillis by only two points. Unfortunately the EMC was 'lost' by the Argentinian customs and poor Degner had to sit out the race and watch Phillis take Honda's first ever 125cc GP title. Degner did defect, however.

It wasn't Honda's only title that year. Hailwood had already clinched the 250 title aboard a four that wasn't one of the full factory bikes. Instead it had been lent to him by the British Honda importer who had also supported Bob McIntyre and John Hartle. Honda's official team consisted of Redman, Phillis and the Japanese rider Kunimitsu Takahashi, who became the first Japanese rider to win a World Championship race with a victory at Hockenheim.

However, Count Augusta had also changed his mind about racing, allowing Rhodesian talent Gary Hocking to ride various 1960 bikes. Hocking was clearly outpaced by the Hondas in the lower capacities so he concentrated his firepower on the 350 and 500 classes, winning both titles. Hailwood's rides on the smaller Hondas had so impressed Count Augusta that he signed the young Brit for the last few rounds in the 500 class. Hailwood responded with some class rides, fighting Hocking all the way in some memorable battles and he won on his first time out on the mighty four, at Monza, disproving the theory of the time that it took several rides to master the Italian fours.

1962
If anyone still doubted that Honda had truly arrived in GP racing their doubts must have been dispelled in 1962 when Honda clinched three World Crowns in the 125, 250 and 350 classes. Redman took the 350 and 250 titles, while the Swiss rider Luigi Taveri romped away with the 125 title after six wins in eleven rounds.

A new class was added to the roster in 1962: The 50cc tiddlers had moved up to World Championship status. It was a move, that, with the help of the defecting engineer and rider Degner, took Suzuki to their first ever World Championship. It was more than just a first for Suzuki as it marked the first Championship by a Japanese factory two-stroke. This was maybe even more of a sign of things to come than the domination of the middle capacities by their rival Japanese factory, Honda. Degner had taken the hard-earned technology developed by the MZ factory with him to Suzuki, who had the budget and the R&D facilities to fully exploit his ideas. If any one event can be pointed to as a seminal event in the history of Grand Prix motorcycling, it is
this one. Degner's defection and his subsequent move to Suzuki handed the Japanese the technology that would eventually dominate Grand Prix racing in all classes. It was Kaaden's brilliance in devising an exhaust port of an appropriate shape to separate the intake and exhaust functions of the two-stroke motor that led to the huge increases in horsepower and fuel efficiency, turning the strokers from smoky no-hopers to the screaming machines we know today.

Hailwood's defection to MV Augusta hurt Honda, but not too much. They still managed to field a world class team as Hailwood romped off to his second title, this time in the 500 class. In the 125 class Takahashi looked set to become the first ever Japanese World Champion. Unfortunately, a horrific near-fatal crash at the Isle of Man put an end to his career. The TT also claimed the life of the popular Honda rider Tom Phillis who was killed after crashing his 350 Honda. Gary Hocking, a close friend of Phillis, won the 500 TT but was so shocked by his friend's death that he quit motorcycle racing, handing the 500 title to Hailwood. Ironically, Hocking died a year later while racing cars.

1963
Honda started the 1963 season with a feeling of superiority. They felt that they had the 125, 250 and 350 classes tied up before the season began. However, it was to prove more difficult than they expected. Suzuki, Morini and Yamaha all had plans of their own and they almost proved too much for the mighty Honda effort.

In 125s Suzuki started the year with a new from-the-ground-up 125 cc two-stroke twin. It proved to be a little cracker, so fast was the new bike that Hugh Anderson, from New Zealand, rode the bike to a 16-point victory that season. With only eight points per race for a win and results from only seven of the twelve rounds counting, his margin of victory was massive. Honda was totally outpaced, so much so that they went back to the drawing board and returned with a four-cylinder, 125 at the last race of the season at Suzuka. Redman, riding the fantastic new Honda, was still beaten by Frank Perris riding a Suzuki.

In the 250s things were even hotter. Tarquino Provini entered the season racing for Morini on the Lambertini designed 125 DOHC single. While outpaced by the four-cylinder Honda, the Italian bike was lighter and leaner, an advantage that Provini was to use to maximum effect. It wasn't all down to the machine though, as Provini also managed to beat the Hondas at the fast Hockenheim circuit with an average speed of 116.26 mph (187.10 kmh). Morini missed the TT, which was won by the Honda-mounted Redman. The London-born Rhodesian had a battle on his hands all the way though, being pressed hard by the new Yamaha 250 twin -- another two-stroke -- ridden by Japanese newcomer Fumio Ito. The amazing Yamaha shocked the gathered motorcycle press by clocking 141 mph (227kmh), 10 mph (16 kmh) faster than the Honda along the Highlander stretch. Only a bungled fuel stop, lasting 55 seconds versus a more-usual 30 seconds, cost the Yamaha rider the race by only 27 seconds.

The next round, the Dutch TT, was again won by Redman. Ito then responded with a victory at Spa-Fracorchamps, with the Morini-mounted Provini second. Redman failed to score. The Championship moved onto Ulster with Redman leading Provini by two points, 26 to 24. Ito was third with 20 points. Redman responded to the challenge with a decisive win over Provini. Ito failed to score another point until Suzuka, the final race of the season, handling over the Championship battle to Redman and Provini. It was a battle they were to fight to the very end.

Unfortunately nationalism reared its ugly head, this time in the form of the East German authorities inexplicably refusing a visa to Provini. The race was won by Hailwood on a one-off ride for MZ. Alan Shepherd, also MZ-mounted, came in second, ahead of Redman. But Provini wasn't finished, and although he found himself eight points behind, he won both the Italian and Argentinean rounds while Redman finished second. His win at Monza was a particularly popular won for the fanatical home crowd who cheered the Italian rider and his Italian bike every centimeter of the way as he battled with Redman on his screaming four-cylinder Honda.

Politics again played a part at the final round at Suzuka, where the two rivals lined up at the grid with an equal point total. Provini, suffering from ear-problems after the flight, had his Morini impounded by customs for several days. Then Suzuka officials a refused to allow the Italian out to learn the circuit before official practice unless he paid a hefty circuit rental.

The race was one of the best of the sixties. Redman was on a new lightweight four and beat the Yamaha-mounted Ito by inches after a three-way battle between Ito, Redman and Read, riding for the first time on a works Yamaha. The hapless Provini could only manage fourth and Redman took the title, leaving the Morini team wishing they hadn't missed the Isle of Man TT. Suzuki was less lucky. The factory fielded an impressive team mounted on 'square-four' two-strokes, but the machines proved unwieldy, with Degner crashing out on lap one and getting badly burned when his bike burst into flames.

Redman had also carried off the 350 title, this time after a season long battle with the MV-mounted Hailwood. It was the second of Redman's four consecutive 350 titles.

The 500s belonged to Hailwood. On an MV Augusta Hailwood snubbed the threat of rival Gilera with wins at the IOM TT, the opening 500 race, a retirement at the Dutch TT followed by six wins at the last six races. Matchless-mounted Alan Shepherd rubbed salt into the Gilera wounds by beating Gilera rider Hartle as he took the runner-up spot on a bike that differed little from the British firm's production racer. The 500 class was suffering from a lack of modern machinery: The Italians and British teams soldiered on with five- or even ten-year-old designs, still unaffected by the Japanese technology seen in the other classes.

Tire technology also significant advances in 1963. So called high-hysteresis rubber had been adopted, a carry-over from car racing. While this high-grip compound increased cornering grip for cars at the cost of straight-line speed, on bikes -- with less rubber in contact with the road -- the drag on top speed was negligible but the gains in the cornering came at a time when the higher performance of the new engine designs made more demands of the chassis and tire technology. Dunlop also introduced a new range of triangular tires. With more rigid tread patterns that resisted flex better than the ribbed predecessors these tires had much bigger contact areas when leaned over, improving the available grip and allowing riders to open the throttle earlier through the turns. However suspension technology still lagged, and most bikes of the day, even Japanese factory bikes, still relied on British-made suspension units.

1964
The 1964 season started with an even stronger effort from the Japanese. Phil Read, riding the new RD56 Yamaha, became team leader when Ito injured himself in a crash at a Malaysian non-championship race. There was to be another Honda versus Yamaha battle of titanic proportions, this time between Read and Redman. Provini left Morini to race on Benelli's new four. Provini's gamble fell on rocky ground as the four showed its lack of development despite a win at his first race in Spain.

While Read and Redman swapped wins all season long, Read wrapped it up at Monza despite Honda fielding a new six-cylinder 250 for Redman. Honda's gamble attempt almost paid off as Redman lead the race from the start, only to slow near the end and ensuring that the title went to Yamaha and Read. Of note was a young Italian, riding for Morini, who finished fourth. His name: Giacomo Agostini.

However, Redman and Honda made it three in a row after being practically unchallenged for the 350 Championship.

In 125s the four-cylinder Honda proved too much for the Suzukis. Swiss rider Taveri beat the determined efforts of Redman (also on a Honda) and Anderson (Suzuki) to wrap up the title. Anderson consoled himself, and Suzuki, for that matter, with another 50 cc title, beating the Irishman Ralph Bryans aboard his 19,000 rpm Honda twin.

In the 500 class history continued to stand still, with Hailwood and MV Augusta taking yet another title. Incredibly Norton came second, ridden by Jack Ahearn with Matchless filling out the next five places. Both bikes were fifties throw-backs and, in marked contrast to the high-tech multis of the smaller bikes, sported only one piston each. Hailwood won seven races and missed the other two.

1965
By 1965 it had become obvious to Honda that the 250-class two-strokes were proving too much for their four-stroke multis. The Japanese two-strokes had improved by leaps and bounds: They were fast and nimble and attracted top riding talent. Honda concentrated their firepower and R&D budget on the 125 and 50 cc classes. All the same, it was Suzuki that stole the march in the 125s that year, with Anderson winning the first four races aboard the much-improved 125 cc twin. Teammate Perris was not far behind, scoring two firsts and enough second and third places to clinch the runner-up spot. Read, on a Yamaha water-cooled twin that was similar to the 250 RD56 he also raced for Yamaha, had a moment of glory, winning at the TT but failed to score in any other round. Meanwhile, the Honda team led by Taveri went nowhere until the appearance of a five-cylinder bike in the season finale at Suzuka.

Consolation for Honda came in the shape of the 50cc title, won by Bryans on the 20,000 rpm RC115 twin. In the 250 class Honda's decision to run only one rider cost them dearly. Redman missed the first two rounds, suffered a mechanical DNF at the third and could only watch as Read ran away with a season opening four wins in a row. Even Honda's six-cylinder magic was no match for the ascendant two-stroke twins. Mike Duff on his Yamaha backed Read all the way, finishing second. Yamaha also showed their future hand by debuting a four-cylinder two-stroke 250 at Monza. Only a misfire prevented Read from winning the race, handing victory instead to the Provini's four-cylinder four-stroke Benelli, much to the obvious delight of the local crowd.

In the 350 class MV's answer to the multi-cylinder threat from Honda was simple. They presented a bike with one less cylinder -- the new three-pot DOHC 350 -- and equipped themselves with two of the best riders of the decade, Mike Hailwood and the new-kid-on-the-block, Agostini. The young Italian was a formidable force from the start of the season, winning his first GP of the season at Germany on the triple. The stunned Redman fell off his Honda trying to catch the ultra-rapid Italian, but ignition trouble, resulting from the failure of the contact-breaker spring in the Japanese round handed the title to Redman. The two had entered the round on equal points, Redman's second behind Read was enough to clinch his fourth and final 350cc World Championship.

Mike Hailwood won the 500s yet again for the MV Augusta team but had grown restless and accepted a Honda ride for the next season. Agostini took the runner-up spot, also on an MV. The 500s still lagged behind the other classes in terms of technology and competition, the bikes that followed the Augustas around the tracks were still a bunch of privately entered British singles. They were state-of-the-art singles, but way off the pace, relying on superior handling to stay close to the powerful Augustas. Third place that season found Paddy Driver on his own Matchless-powered special. The lack of development suffered by the British racing bikes was mirrored throughout the entire industry, where the consumer was still offered the same diet of underdeveloped singles and twins that had been around for too long. The management of these once-proud British companies failed to realize the very real threat that the multi-cylinder Hondas and two-stroke Yamaha and Suzuki racers presented -- not just on the track but also on the showroom floors. These Japanese race bikes were merely precursors of the machines that were to swamp the market and all but destroy the European manufacturers.

1966
This was the year that Honda entered the 500 fray with a four-cylinder four-stroke. Riding the new 500 was Hailwood, an established 500 cc Champion, along with long-time Honda stalwart Redman. The bike was fast but not enough development had been put into the chassis to exploit the power advantage that the Honda enjoyed over MV, ridden again this year by Agostini. The three diced for the wins until Redman fell during the rain at Spa, breaking his wrist while chasing Agostini. Hailwood battled with the conditions and his ill-handling Honda until gearbox problems ended his challenge. It was said that the bike handled so badly that Hailwood would get off the bike after a race in a furious mood. Agostini was now so far ahead of Hailwood for the Championship that even Hailwood's three wins at the last six rounds failed to do the trick for Honda. Agostini held on for his first 500 cc title and MV's incredible ninth successive 500 cc World Championship. Agostini would go on to win the 500 title seven times in a row.

In the smaller classes Honda faced even stiffer competition from Yamaha, Suzuki, MV Augusta and, in the 350 class, Aermacchi. They had an ace card, however, in the form of Hailwood. His battle with Agostini in the 500s was mirrored in the 350s, but this time it was the Honda-mounted Briton who prevailed, with Ago having to settle for second on his MV Augusta triple. Italian Renzo Pasolini came in third.

Hailwood also dominated the 250cc class as reigning champion Read struggled with an ill-handling, four-cylinder, two-stroke Yamaha. Despite missing the best part of the season through injury and subsequent retirement, Redman clinched third for Honda. Yamaha's new RA97 water-cooled twin ridden by Bill Ivy seemed a match for the five-cylinder four-stroke Honda ridden by Taveri, but Taveri prevailed to finish the season with a narrow points lead. Suzuki made it four championships in five season when Hans- Georg Anscheidt switched from Kreidler to Suzuki for his first World Championship in the 50cc class.

1967
Honda realized the inevitability of the advance of two-stroke racing in 1967. They knew they simply couldn't continue trying to match the obvious power to weight advantages of the nimble two-strokes simply by adding cylinders to their four-stroke machines. They dropped out of the 50cc and 125cc events and concentrated on the three bigger classes. In the 250 series Honda ran a six-cylinder bike ridden by Hailwood and Bryans. The pair also rode Honda sixes in the 350 series. For 500s Honda fielded Hailwood on a four, meaning that Mike had to ride an incredible 31 Grands Prixes that season, of which he won 16, including three at the Dutch TT in a day and three at the IOM TT in a week.

In the absence of Honda the 50cc class was dominated by Suzuki. With Anscheidt taking his second World Championship in the class, Suzuki's filled the top three places. Meanwhile Suzuki in the 125 class proved no match for the rapidly improving Yamahas ridden by Bill Ivy and Phil Read. Ivy beat his teammate Read by scoring an impressive tally of eight wins out of twelve races. Read took two of the remaining victories, the other two fell to factory Suzuki riders Yoshimi Katayama and Stuart Graham, who finished fourth and fifth respectively in the 125s. Graham was third behind teammate and runner-up Katayama in the 50cc class.

The 250s again provided breathtaking racing with Hailwood and Read battling it out during the entire 13 race season. By now Yamaha had made significant chassis improvements to the 'square-four' two-stroke, allowing Read to exploit the power advantage the Yamaha had over the sixes from Honda. The pair finished on an equal tally of 50 points at the end of the season, with Hailwood shading Read into second place only because he had five wins to Read's four. In the 350 series life was a little easier for Hailwood, as Agostini's MV Triple was simply no match for the mighty six-cylinder, DOHC Honda. By midway through the season Hailwood had won six of the eight rounds to take an unbeatable lead.

The 500s proved another tough battle for Hailwood. This time he fought with Italian superstar Agostini and his 500 cc Augusta triple. Like the 250 series, this also went to the wire at the last round in Canada and again like the 250s ended with the two rivals tied for points. Both had five wins each season so the Championship was decided on seconds, but this time it was Hailwood who had to settle for the runner-up trophy -- Ago's three seconds beat Hailwood's two. The pair were again followed by a British single in a distant third, and this time it was Hailwood who had proved his endurance just as much as the endurance of the 80 hp Honda engines but riding the 500 took its toll on the easy going Brit. He was never happy with its wild handling. The chassis balance put too little weight on the front tire, leading it to understeer coming out of corners and weave violently. Even Hailwood was unable to master the traits of the chassis and was often foul tempered after wrestling with the machines for the duration of a race. Races were still largely held on road circuits so imagine the stress endured as riders fought with both rivals and their own machines around circuits lined with curbs, trees, stone walls and lamp posts.

1968
Honda shocked the racing world by announcing they had turned their backs on Grand Prix Racing. A winter studded with tantalizing rumors of six-cylinder 125s, V-8 250s and six-cylinder 500s came to an abrupt end on February 21 with a headline on the front page of Motor Cycle that read simply "HONDA QUITS". A press release spoke of a stringent economy drive caused by worse than expected profits the year before. Cynics claimed Honda quit because they were finding it harder to win, others later suggested the company had quit in preparation for the launch of some of their most important road bikes ever to be released, notably the CB750 four. Whatever the reason, the sixties had brought Honda great success. They may have failed to win the 500 class but they did gather up 140 Grands Prix wins and 16 World Championships in the years 1961 - 1967.

To say that the 350 and 500 classes were decimated by Honda's announcement is an understatement. The series was left with the almost farcical spectacle of Agostini winning by margins of one minute and 20 seconds ahead of the pursuing packs of British singles. MV regained supremacy in the 350 class with ease and the 500 class belonged also to Agostini and the MV. Over the next four years Ago won every 350 and 500 race he finished and in 1968 Ago won every single 350 and 500 race of the season. The effect must have been demoralizing for the other riders. At the start of the season it seemed that the four-stroke Benelli four and the four-cylinder Jawa two-stroke might at least give the MV a run in the 350s. Alas, the apparent threat proved to be nothing of the sort and both bikes played a distinctive second fiddle to the MV.

For the promoters and track owners, this could have spelled the end of the FIM GPs. They were saved by the fierce competition that arose between teammates Ivy and Read at the 250 and 125 level. The 250s were incredibly close, so close that at the end of the season Ivy and Read couldn't be separated by points, positions or even number of races finished with points. To decide a winner the total time taken in the four races in which both riders had finished -- the Dutch, East German, Czech and Italian rounds -- was calculated. This gave the win to Read by just two minutes and 5.3 seconds.

Read beat Ivy by a far wider margin in the 125 Championship, with a six point advantage when the results of the rider's best five rounds were calculated. In the 50 cc class, the title again went to Suzuki and Anscheidt.

1969
The decade drew to a close with yet more glory for Augusta and Agostini. He easily won the 500 title, though he may have had more of a fight for the 350 crown had it not been for the untimely death of Bill Ivy. While practicing at East Germany the Jawa engine seized, killing the talented and respected rider. Ivy had finished behind Agostini at Hockenheim and Assen and looked like he might be able to threaten the supremacy of the MV.

In the absence of a factory-team effort from either Honda or Yamaha, Benelli, with the help of the talented Australian Kel Carruthers, won the 250 class, the last time a four-stroke motorcycle claimed the crown. The season followed the by-now-regular-flavor of the quarter-liter class by going to the wire. Carruthers had to finish ahead of Championship leader and factory Ossa-mounted Santiago Herrero to clinch the title. Carruthers rode a perfect race to win both the day and the year at the dangerous Yugoslavian Opatija circuit on the Benelli.

In the 125 class the absence of the mighty Honda and Yamaha factories threw the series open to some new names. This time it was the turn of another Japanese factory, Kawasaki, to put their name on the GP silverware. Englishman Dave Simmonds beat Bultaco, Suzukis, MZ, Aermacchi and even Maico to win the title. The 50 cc series had also been thrown open after the departure to car racing by the three-time Champion Anscheidt. His place was taken by a new name -- Angel Nieto on the Spanish-made Derbi. Nieto was to continue winning Championships for many years to come.

The sixties had changed the face of motorcycle racing. The two-strokes that had dominated the smaller capacity classes were to rise to even greater heights in the next ten years. The sixties were over and the seventies were coming and the sport would make another quantum shift as bikes got more powerful and riders even more professional.

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