Suzuki TS/TM 400 help

[350Xrider]

Hey,I have about a 73 TS 400 air cooled 2 stroke. I have been messing with it for a while and it has a big fat blue spark and I am quite sure it is in time,however it is a little low on compression also it has a little less than my 91 rm 250 prolly. But I have had a KDX 400 once with less than that and it started. Anyhow it will fire off of starting fluid but it seems to flood quick also. It doesn't have the exhaust on right now either,but I wouldn't think it should have to have one to start for a few seconds because I have seen it done before,any suggestions? I would like to get it to run for just a little while to see if it is worth doing anything with. I have tried to roll start it before to but it doesn't hit. Thanks

[TimSr]

Its difficult to judge compression by feel unless it happens to be a model you are very familiar with, because the kickstarter gearing makes a great deal of difference as to what it feels like. If it has very low compression, the symptoms you describe fit, and they are extremely difficult to kickstart. You can try push starting it, but that can be difficult without weight on it. Make sure youre in like 3rd gear or youll never turn it over. A better way is to have somebody pull you with a strap while you are on it and throw it in gear (2nd or 3rd).

The exhaust missing will have no effect on whether it starts but dont run it long, as it will be running extremely lean without it.

[KASEY]

Is it a ts or a tm,,,??? the old tm 400 was a real trailprotrailprotrailprotrailprotrailpro to start they were very high compression and very high geared kicker too,,, if you can kick it over easy i would say its very low on compression,,,, i wore a cast for 8 weeks from an ole tm 400!!!! those 400's were one of the worst mx bike ever known to man!!!!!

[const42]

pit the pipe on it check the jets to make sure they are open and not clogged,also a tm 400 is a tank as I had 1 but they are very sought after by vintage racers (hence the high compression)they put out alot of power. also check to see that there is no leaky gaskets on the carb,carb boot, head,and cylinder,etc. you need the pipe on it to run it without spitting gas everywhere and stalling.you really need to learn how a 2 stroke works and you will find they are easy to work on hope this helps. if you have any questions holler at me and I will help you as I used to have 1 of these bikes

[Eric]

do the 400s have a flywheel over the stator? mine doesnt(that could be a little bit of a problem)lol

[KASEY]

the tm 400 had a button rotor,, there was a flywheel weight kit made for them to help the terribly explosive power,,,,,