Man_Named_Dave, short answer to second question is yes. One nut holds the stud and insulator at the starter motor case then the power cable ring connector is placed onto the stud followed by the second nut.

magg wrote:Man_Named_Dave, short answer to second question is yes. One nut holds the stud and insulator at the starter motor case then the power cable ring connector is placed onto the stud followed by the second nut.

Cheers Magg,
I've got that all connected up now. Now I may as well check the solenoid, which isn't covered by Haynes. Can someone tell me, please?

Easy, press start button and solenoid should go click and 12 volts appears at the terminal feeding the starter motor. But seriously, big question is how good the switching contacts are. A load test would be to measure voltage drop from solenoid input to output terminals when starter motor is cranking the engine. Voltage drop should not be more than 2 volts IMO, the smaller the better.

I've got my arse in gear to try and get the bike sorted:
Today I wanted to follow Neo's electrical checks but couldn't start the bike at all:-

Brand new (bigger) battery from RickO, reading 13.3v off the charger (12.86v after beeping off the immobiliser).
Killswitch set to 'Run' and fuel pipe (thicker one also from RickO) on the correct horizontal spigot.
Full choke, no throttle, 5 second bursts at 2-minute intervals. Did that 5 times after which the battery was reading 12.6v. It was cranking nice and strong but gave no sign that it wanted to fire with a good splosh of fuel in the tank (tried the tap on 'On' and 'Reserve').

Any ideas for what I should try tomorrow? Worth getting the battery back to full charge overnight?
Cheers,
David

Take off 1 rear plug cap and fit spare or original plug and check for a spark.
Remove fuel tap hose and sit a tray beneath, then spin motor on starter for 3 secs with kill switch set to off to see if fuel flows.
Try a squirt of easy start 2 or 3 times, but don't bother to keep trying any more, look again for the fault.

If bike has been laid up, worth cleaning and heating the plugs on the gas ring before fitting them.

Cheers Dave. I'll check for fuel flow. I assume you mean disconnect the fuel hose at the spigot on the tank rather than on cylinder No. 3?

I'm confident the plugs are ok as they're dry and haven't been sitting in the cold over the winter.

The carbs were completely dry as they've been off the bike all winter.

No, not the vacuum hose or fuel will NOT flow.
Take fuel pipe off tap, switch to on, then spin over the engine to check flow.
Should flow near full bore, if a trickle then diaphragm faulty or vacuum pipe split.

arsey30 wrote:No, not the vacuum hose or fuel will NOT flow.
Take fuel pipe off tap, switch to on, then spin over the engine to check flow.
Should flow near full bore, if a trickle then diaphragm faulty or vacuum pipe split.

Killswitch 'OFF,' fuel line disconnected at Y-piece, tap set to 'ON.' There is plenty of fuel flow, a good amount and not a trickle.

Have you checked for spark, as suggested in an earlier post.

magg wrote:Have you checked for spark, as suggested in an earlier post.

I'll do that but I really need to be told baby-steps as I don't know how to do it safely.

Yank a rear plug cap, put a plug in there and then hit the ignition for 1 sec?