Douglas MK5

[digcot65]

Hello, I bought my MK5 yesterday and brought it home last night.It had been standing for 7 months at a M/C repair shop, where some work had been done.  I tried to start it today with no luck, checked spark and there was none and when I checked the plug leads both were open circuit.I found they had corroded where they screw into the plug cap so I made a temp repair. Then I had a spark but still no luck in starting I removed the N/S carb and stripped and cleaned it and now the bike starts but doesn`t run as smoothly as I would hope.So the next job is to clean the L/H carb, this I found isn`t the easiest job considering how simple they seem. Silly question, but what is the tall spring-loaded plunger for. Len

[Ian]

Its the choke !

[eddie]

And those chokes have just 2 positions - which makes them virtually useless. On my bikes, I have swapped the carb tops for ones that take 2 cables and then screwed plugs in where the choke cable adjuster would normally go. This makes the carbs more watertight, and reduces air leaks - thus making the mixture strength more consistent. And the bike still starts first or second kick from cold (with light tickling of the floats).

  Regards,
                Eddie.

[digcot65]

When you push them down, are they supposed to lock down till released.This is the first bike I have owned for 60 years and I forgotten more than I knew. Len

[digcot65]

Where did you find the replacement carb tops and do the new cables connect to the choke slider Len

[eddie]

Len,
       I don't use any chokes at all. As I said previously, the standard set up is virtually useless - I remove all the choke components, then use tops for use with a cable choke but with a screwed plug blanking the hole for the choke cable adjuster.
   Like I said in a previous posting, you just need to tickle the carbs when starting the engine from cold - once there is some temperature in the engine, you just kick it and it starts! (providing you have the carburation sorted correctly).
  274 carbs with cable choke were fitted to machines like the BSA C11, so you could try Hitchcock's or C&D Autos for the carb tops.

  Regards,
               Eddie.