Tuning my 2006 big bore Ruckus --- journal

[Blackruk]

Sanjuro62 said:

We both weigh the same and I can easily hit 49 mph and 52 isn't far off.

You know, I was thinking mine was underperforming, but I didn't want to whine. Chanito said his hits 40-45 mph so I figured who am I to ""edit profanity""?

I have the standard shiny pod filter from BSS. When I cleaned it performance went up so I'm thinking that may be my bottleneck I know you said the K&N is much better for performance, so I guess I'll have to try it.

PS - You know what's funny? If I use quotes I can say ""edit profanity"", but if I don't, I get "edit profanity". Anyway, when used in the above context ""edit profanity"" isn't a profanity (i.e, to "gripe" or complain).

[chanito]

Maybe is because English is my second language, but i try to avoid using bad language unless i REALLY mean it. well back to your problem, maybe you need to gap your spark plug smaller, probably the extra compression is taxing your ignition, i have a modiry spark plug on Katrina (the side electrode is filed to a point that ends at the top of the center electrode) also to compensate for the extra compresion i reduced the gap from .9mm to .8mm and it works great

[Dandy Dan]

What's the theory behind spark plug gapping? Too big and the spark won't jump whereas too small and it won't ignite the fuel as well because it doesn't contact as much of it

[chanito]

Very good, you want the biggest gap you can get away with, but too big and the spark will not be able to jump across or the duration will be way too small (which looks like blackruck case),
the reason you want a big gap is so more mixture will be expose to the spark and the ignition front will be bigger

[Dandy Dan]

Cool...so does the strength of the spark basically determine how big you can go? If you get a higher amperage capacitor can you increase the gap?

[chanito]

Yes the better the capacitor the wider the gap, the more power potential the higher you can rev the engine

[Dandy Dan]

Hmm....very cool. Thanks!