Hard Starting Cured

[Scott Curtis]

I have a 1963 Panhead with a rebuilt everything. Top End, Bottom End, Carb Etc. It has always been hard to start. About 2 weeks ago after kicking the bike 20 times I took off the K & N air filter and the bike fired the next kick. Considering this I bought a foam filter (UNI Filter) and the bike starts very easily now! Obviously the bike needed more air than the K & N allowed. I am posting this hoping it may help someone else.

[duffeycycles]

My advice is,throw that foam filter as far as you can.They tend to burn if it ever backfires.I have said many times a linkert does not like air restrictions.Even many aftermarket copper filters have so many wraps they can resrict.If I can't see light thru them I take a couple wraps off.Many think a fine filter is better ,but a fine starting & running motor will outlast one with restricted air,running poorly/lean.

[exeric]

Scott, I'm not saying this to be a smart-ass, but I had the same problem with our Honda lawn mower. Put a new air filter in it, and voila, starts every time. . . . I had a B&S that worked great, but our fat neighbor gave us the Honda so I feel obliged to use it

[Scott Curtis]

The K & N was virtually new.

[T. Cotten]

The K & N was virtually new.

I've had exactly the same issue, Scott!

But it wasn't a K&N, just an Onan or something.
(I've an Old Iron "Raceway" K&N in inventory, with the fancy spring plate. But then I also have "brillo pads"!)

Customer's issues with foamy filters was P4gas eventually ate them.

Anyone with a tweak for zero reversion out the carb,.. Nevermind. I'll bet its a secret.

....Cotten

[BigLakeBob]

I agree with Roger. I also had the same problem with a K&N on my '69FL and I've also taken the foam filter out on a linkert only to see melted areas from where it had backfired. I got lucky. And to add, I have a friend that put too many copper mesh wraps on his '48 and it was too restricted to run.

[Omarttentmaker]

Yeah, I second the K&N restriction. They also were too fat to fit in a stock air cleaner cover, and I ended up shaving off some of the side rubber to get them to fit. Hard starting after I installed them. I put the crummy old copper mesh filter back in and solved the dilemma.

[Lyle Manheimer]

I bought a K&N knock off for my '64 Pan, I think it was a Drag Specialties, at a swap meet about ten years ago, I removed the Brillo pad and replaced it with the knock off, three kicks and away I went. Never had a problem. Looked at the plugs yesterday they were light tan, I put them right back in.
I just serviced my niece's 2003 XR80R. It had the stock foam filter, probably original. It had deteriorated so bad from the out side just handling it caused the foam to "pill" and fall apart. I have seen this many times. Because they seem to break down from the outside I can't help but wonder if it is not the oil that breaks down the foam and not the fuel. The new one from Honda came pre oiled. No fan of foam here.

[T. Cotten]

Just some notes, Folks,...

This K&N's box says is it only needs cleaning every 50,000 to 100,000 miles (except under extreme conditions, etc.)
Considering how much grunge washes out of an electrostatic copper mesh element after a thousand miles, that's a pretty bodacious claim.

And if you 'alter' it, such as razor-blading off the rubber sealing lips to make them skinny enough to fit OEM HD or Indian covers, it voids all warranty.

The guts of cheap foam filters make a great support for mesh if you can find it.
I collected old meshes when they were not only worthless, there was still commercial cleaners that would return them to bright copper.
Even wrapping remnants to where they completely filled the cover never choked my 86"er.

Now Tedd's suggested retail is $41.97 for just a mesh.

....Cotten

[K. Felt]

You can still buy stainless pot cleaners at the grocery store. Same as the copper stuff but stainless.

[T. Cotten]

You can still buy stainless pot cleaners at the grocery store. Same as the copper stuff but stainless.

We wish they were the same, K!

Stainless has neither the affinity for oils, nor the electrostatic properties of pure copper.

Copper mesh literally pulls dirt out of the air, and traps it on its oily surface, with far less restriction than any other filter design.

....Cotten
PS: If you want the ultimate clinging oil, a whale must die.
PPS: Only $5 an ounce,.. in 1957
PPPS: I'm figuring by ebay that it would take a couple of hundred dollars to thoroughly sperm oil an element, without an appropriate thinner.
That's got to be just a drop in the budget bucket for serious competitors.