Installed 113" Ultima in my Heritage a couple of months back to match the 6 speed replaced 2 summers ago.

Did all the proper oil changes and and heat cycles and have put just over 1200 miles on it in the 6 weeks or so it has been running.

Yesterday I did a BB1500 (1500 miles/36 hours). The 113" rocked!

60-65 for for 4 hours on Friday night, then steady 70-80 MPH cruise all day/night and into the the wee hours of this AM. Engine never missed a beat. No leaks, no weird noises. Just smooth quiet and fast.

Not without minor issues though:
Fuel stand off (fuel bleeding back out of cleaner on decel) was bad enough to cover the oil tanks and rear header (and my right hamstring) with residue.

Looks like the front head gasket may have an issue. The top fin has picked up a tan color. No residue, it almost looks stained.

Biggest gripe is gas mileage.Got 27-30 regardless of speed. Ran a tank at 60-65 in 5th and almost got 30MPG. Lowest I saw was 27 when I did a tank at 75+ in 6th against a headwind. Don't think it is normal, but engine seems to run just fine. Insulators on the plugs are tan. Outer part of the plug is lightly sooted. Thinking it maybe tied to the stand off problem noted above, but mileage has sucked from day one. Have mucked around with jetting to no avail yet. Just feel like I am missing something.

Also realized that I need a VOES.

All in all, I'm a happy camper at this point, especially since I replaced the whole drivetrain myself (with some help from y'all) over the past year or two.

Thanks,

Deet

 

Congrats on the BB 1500!

Enough oil to cover the whole bike would never be missed out of the tank, but an unnoticable amount of fuel slobering from the accelerator pump will sure hurt your mileage, especially at long - high speed.

What carb are you running?

 

Congratulations!
About halfway through the Ironbutt ride Saturday I was thinking of getting up early Sunday to do 500 miles for the Bun Burner award. When we hit the rain coming back from Bristol I quickly dismissed that idea. I'll have to settle for my second Saddlesore 1000 ride and try the Bun Burner another time.
Wow man 30mpg, that thing must be a beast. I averaged 50mpg on the ride. We were going 75-80mph the whole way except after hitting the rain we slowed to about 60mph.

Congratulations my fellow 2 time world record setter!

 

What is a VOES?

 

Vacuum Operated Electrical Switch. works with the motor vacuum to advance the timing on a carbed bike. i think - I could be in error.

 

At RPMs over 3500, a VOES won't do much for you, but everything below that, it will make a substantial difference in mileage.

Also, you should call them and ask whether the engine was shipped with the ignition module set in "default mode" or whether they loaded the ignition module with a "break-in" curve. If that ignition is "loaded" with a curve via software and PC, the switches on the module are basically disabled.

 

carb is an hsr45. I have racheted down on the acceleator pump to see what effect taking it out of play may have.

ignition is single fire with no adjustment possible... haven't touched it.

No tach, but made a cheat sheet with speeds for each gear at 2500 and 3500 RPM. Kept it at around 3000 most of the time, which is a bit less than half throttle. Is "a substantial difference in MPG" with VOES better or worse?

Thanks,
Deet

 

The VOES will "tell" the ignition to advance whenever the engine vacuum is above approx. 5lb (partial throttle) and let it retard to a preset advance curve when the vacuum is low (wide open) thereby increasing power and improving fuel mileage.

I assumed they shipped them with programmable ignition modules, but I reckon not. If the module has a lead for a VOES, you should add one. But it might be best to check the paperwork that came with it to be certain beforehand. Last Mukini I messed with was on a Honda 305 back in the early 70's, so I can't help you there but documentation for their tuning shouldn't be too hard to find. Sorry I couldn't be more help.

 

The Voes would be a good idea as mentioned if the capability is there. Running it on my high performance engine with a Dyna 2000 ignition. Sounds a bit though like a possible carb reversion problem. Take off the AC, run the engine up and see if fuel is spitting out of the carb. Correct jetting and adjustments can cure that. If your ignition module is not adjustable then it has to go. It was my understanding the Ultima was using either a Dyna ot DTT module that was adjustable.

Have you had the engine dynoed yet? If not, it can tell you alot and possibly fix your problems all at once. A good dyno tuner like mine will have the laptop, software, cables, jets and so forth to set the engine up properly.

 

Reversion (stand off?) seemed the likely culprit for the gas dribbling out the air cleaner.

The manual states a couple of times that modifying or changing the ignition module voids the warranty. Kind of strange. Ultima also states that they do not recommend use of a VOES.

At this point, itmay be worth a call to their tech department if I can dig up the number.

I hadn't actually considered that the poor MPG and VOES could be related. My initial thought for VOES was the fact that it pings under load when it gets hot.

I appreciate the input and will advise as changes are made.