Decompression cable, 85 350x

[TrailerRider]

So trying to adjust the decompression cable and max play should be 1.5mm. If you look close i have play between the bracket and the lead end of cable which messes with the adjustment. The cable is not frozen and moves freely. Bad cable? Also is there a default measurement? If you remove the cable from the bracket the bracket springs all the way forward to the head. So there has to be a default position to start from and adjust from there. The manual just says between 0.5 and 1.5mm but no mention of a default position?https://youtu.be/gqfUyp5mM1w?feature=shared

[ATC King]

What about the kicker mech? Is it something there that's throwing the specified adjustment off?
Have you removed the cable and checked it doesn't have a burr that's causing friction during travel? You said it moves freely, but is that with both end disconnected or just by watching it?

I can't say about the 350X but I've had Honda motorcycles with dual decompression systems. The auto worked off the kicker and there was a manual lever on the handlebars. I always misadjust the kicker activated one so it doesn't engage and just use the manual lever. That worked better for me and I can easily clear a flooded engine with the manual. I guess the 350X never came with a manual lever? That's not helping you any, just sharing that those systems may not always adjust how the book says, or so I've found.

If you remove the valve inspection cover (noticed you have in the video) you may be able to work it and see when it contacts the rocker arm, making adjustment more certain. Leaving enough slack so it's not interfering with normal valve operation, but taking enough slack out so it fully engages. Of course, done at TDC on compression. All that stuff flexes during activation, regardless, even when using a manual bar mounted lever. You are slightly compressing a valve spring, or in the case of the 350X, two valve springs, because of the splayed rockers. Technically, it's just kind of holding them open, but you probably get the idea.


The odd ones were the XL/XR bikes that had an extra chamber on the head, sized to bleed off half the compression, and an extra valve. Five valves in the head, with the tiny one only being for decompression, which was linked to the decompression chamber on the side of the cylinder head. The manual lever works the rocker arm, similar to the 350X. Later ones done away with the kicker cable activated system entirely and used a auto decompression/anti-kickback mech directly on camshaft, but kept the manual bar lever, which is so valuable to clear out a flooded engine. So, as they progressed/improved, those kicker cable systems went to the wayside.

Those kicker cable activated systems always seemed finicky to me and I've had ones that were in fine working condition. It's a bit of a thin line to get the travel down so it fully engages then fully disengages, and having an external cable (susceptible to contamination and wear) link the parts just added another variable.

I watched your video a few times, and that's the best I've got. Looks pretty normal to me, with the slack. Don't know if or what I'm missing.

Edit: Just realized what you're calling the bracket is what I'd call the lever. The bracket would be the anchor, or what holds the cable housing. It's normal for the lever to fully rotate and contact a fin or some other part of the head when the cable isn't attached. If it didn't, the spring on it is broken.

[Dirtcrasher]

It's usually that people messed up the cam on the kicker shaft under the clutch cover. Believe me, although it should only go on one way, I have seen many of them forced on.

Always set your valves first, then set that decomp measurement, which equates to about .060 "thousandths".

Nothing in the head can be wrong aside from the valve adjustment, or the pin is missing that keeps the decompression cam in the valve cover.

Remove the cable from the head and just verify that the arm moves a bit when you kick it over, that may help tell you if that portion is set up correctly.