Spark plug alright? *PIC HEAVY*

Hi all! Today i done some bits on my Speedfight 2 (New front brake pads ect) and decided to check out the spark plug to see how it was doing since the new cylinder kit was fitted. I have also Included a pics of the state of the front pads and the colour of spark plug, Lucky I'm not dead lol
Could anyone tell me how the plugs doing? Cheers Dan!

 

How could you even brake without any pads left? Might want to look at the condition of the disk as well.

Plug pictures not clear enough. Is that oil?

From what I see it looks rich.

 

I have no idea how i was still able to brake. I noticed that the disk did have a little bit of rust on it due to the worn pad, I best get some sand paper or better still a new disk. The thread on the plug did have a little bit of oil, It currently has a 74 jet.

 

looks a little rich but not bad, could be cheap oil maybe? i have seen brakes worse than that, i have seen them go through the pads and into the piston itself, both front and back! but we dont have any kind of MOT over here.

 

I use castrol 2t oil.

 

yeah bit rich then, how does it ride? does it feel a bit slow at full throttle?

 

It does a little bit but start to pick up speed

 

try riding on full throttle, then letting off a tiny bit, if it picks up speed, your main jet is too big

 

ill give it a try

 

Going right through the pad and halfway through the caliper piston to the point it pops out the caliper itself, is a regular occurrence round here.
Kids don't listen to their bikes. If it goes, they ride it.

 

Would the breaks even work without the pads? Surely if you were rubbing steel on steel you would see sparks and a LOUD scrapping sound every time thbreaks depressed along with a very very very poor braking time. How could anyone miss that?

 

yes the brakes would still work, the caliper piston isn't steel these days, it's alloy, a softer compound than the disc.
And yes there is a loud scraping noise, but as I said above, as long as the bike starts, they'll ride it, and only bring it in when it fails completely. By then, it's too late to save anything. Most times it's new disc, pads, and a new caliper as well. Plus a big bill, which most of them bitch about.
Kids have no idea of their bikes, what sounds right and what sounds wrong, and trying to educate some of them is a waste of time. I have one customer who has done the exact same thing with his rear brake 3 times so far. Gone through the pads, through the caliper piston, to such an extent that the piston has worn down so far that it pops out the caliper. Piaggio/Gilera don't do a repair kit for it so it's a new caliper every time.

I really must either buy a lathe, or have some pistons turned.

 

i remember one guy came into work on a TZR, saying it was making some bad noises at 70kmh.... the bad noises where a whole heap of things: the front brake pads where gone and it was on the pistons, the rear pistons had seized up after getting too hot (no pads again) the cahin and spocket was totally worn it was skipping (no teeth on rear sprocket, evidence of it falling off previously) exhaust leaking bad, no compression, no coolant and ancient gear oil.... oh and bald tyres......

 

Looks like the material has separated from the pad would have still stopped but felt spongy and made a squealing noise