Needle valve retaining pin thingy

[justin]

I'm on my second bike. Sherpa Mtn bike with a "80cc" happy time. Long story short, I built one, loved it, and was stupid enough to let someone else ride it. He hit a rather high curb dead on at about 25mph and flipped the entire danged bike end over end through the air. When it landed, the frame was trashed, along with my panniers that I had made, but they (being made of steel) protected the engine from impacting with anything hard. Oh, the guy was fine. Split a helmet in half and busted up his elbow and hip pretty bad but otherwise he'll make it. I'm making him pay me for some of the damage, but ANYWAY... On to my problem.

Got a new bike (actually used, cause it was free). Spent all day today re-mounting the engine and such. Ran into a lot of problems, but nothing I couldn't fix. Didn't alter anything on the engine except for cutting off a little bit of the air cleaner housing on the carb. Finally got it ready and it runs great! Even better I think than before, but... It's totally gutless at high rpms and high load. It'll still go up hills, but not accelerating like it did. Thought maybe it was running a little rich because it didn't need any choke to start right up, so I went to move that little clip on the needle valve, and of course, the darned thing flew out of my hand as if possessed by a demon. I was outside, and it is GONE. Looked everywhere around and couldn't find it.

MBC EDIT: THIS THREAD HAS BEEN MOVED

So where do I find a new one? I'm dead in the water at this point, and do you think I was right to try to lean out my fuel mix, or is there something else that I might think about? Sorry for the long, meandering post... Anyway, if you know where I can buy one or order one, or if someone has a spare I could buy, I don't really care, I just need it!

 

[Abeagle]

You can get clips at most auto parts stores, In the mean time you could use a bread bag twisty and wrap it around and cut off the access. As far as if it needs to leaned or riched, what color is the spark plug. If you look near the bottom of the following link you find a great pictorial on reading spark plugs. http://motoredbikes.versionate.com/#/document/view/7743;Motored_bikes_manual_Happy_time_-_V1.0

 

[Butch]

If you can't find a clip at a hardware store, thatsdax.com sells the needle and clip for around $3.

 

[Large Filipino]

Check out your old cassette player. I bet that clip you need is in there...maybe.
If it's already broken...why not. And if it's not broken...cassettes are obsolete already.
Just do it!

 

[justin]

Didn't have a casette recorder. Busted up a car cd player but there wasn't one. Wen't to 3 hardware stores and 4 auto places and finally found one that worked. Came down here to tell you that, and my old clip was sitting in my basement. Must have been carrying it around on my shoe. Got her going again now. Almost done, just need the electronics! Still haven't taken any pictures, but I'm not loaning her out again, so I should be able to get some on eventually. Then I'm moving on to 4 stroke, I think.

 

[fetor56]

Don't like refusing requests BUT we can all learn from this......My bike,my ride.

 

[spad4me]

justin your statement is so true "I went to move that little clip on the needle valve, and of course, the darned thing flew out of my hand as if possessed by a demon. I was outside, and it is GONE. Looked everywhere around and couldn't find it."
I spent days adjusting my carb. The Jet needed tweaking and the needle was NOT tapered ,It is now. I was constantly losing the tiny clip that goes on the needle.
An old speaker magnet dragged through the dirt saved my clip over and over again.

 

[davidsis]

That wreck must have ben something else.

 

[justin]

Being as the guy is okay (even though the bike was not) I would have given a lot to have gotten that on video. It was amazing. He helped pay for my rebuild, so nothing was really lost but time, and a little $$$