Pinking/engine knock?

[nickphipps]

Hi all, on the way home yesterday after the first ride of my VB, i noticed a noise that sounded a little like a loose primary or timing chain...but having checked both of these previously was a bit baffled.....it came to me that the noise may have been pinking/engine knock......i am now panicking that serious damage will occur if left..........I have read that it is more common in sidevalve engines, and a cure is to enrichen the fuel/air mix.....trouble is the fuel/air seems to be pretty much spot on according to the plug.......the noise was like a metallic ping, and seemed to be more pronounced when slow riding........any ideas or thoughts much appreciated.....Nick

[dave.owen]

You may be running with too much advance on the ignition, play with the lever and you woill find the right setting

dave

[brenton.roy]

Nick, pinking sounds like a handful of beer caps rattling in a bag. If it doesn't cure with Dave's remedy, which is the most likely, it might be something else quite simple.
If it is pinking, it doesn't necessarily mean that the timing is wrong, just that the automatic advance (you) isn't working properly. You'd notice it most if you were coming out of a slow corner or accelerating up a hill.
Brenton

[robin.parker]

Hello Nick. First of all, (How much?) Do you need to retard the ignition when starting to avoid "kickback"? It's easier said than done, but, you will acquire a "feel" for the correct use of the ignition lever. Second although your fuel/air mixture may appear to be spot-on, sidevalves do like to be just a little bit over-rich.
Good luck.
Robin.

[nickphipps]

Many thanks, the automatic advance/retard certainly wasn't working as it should.....lol, I went out on it yesterday and covered about 50 miles...using the manual advance/retard in the correct manner seems to have improved the knocking sound hugely...also engine appeared to be running a fair bit cooler as well..I checked the plug condition when home and showed a more rich condition.....which i am happy about.....on a slightly different note i was getting some hesitation when going up hill at times, maybe more adjustment needed.....i also blew one of the oil seals in the forks as one side is leaking very badly...........i dont appear to get much in the way of kick back when kicking the engine over......will also look into how to richen the carb settings slightly.................Nick