MTSTE Blog
4/20/2011 - contact us
Is your winter racing season over? What are you going to do to be able to beat the competition next season? Some guys are starting on next winter right now by joining MTSTE and throwing around some ideas. Sometimes it just takes a small change to really dial things in. We'd love to help you with your racing engine!
1/1/2011 - contact us
Happy New Year!
For 2011 I want you to consider this -Tools are the devises we use to work on things. They are tough, not cheap and they usually last a long time. An education is like that too. I would like it if you would think of MacDizzy's Two Stroke Technology Exchange as a tool. What you can get from it will be valuable, it'll last a long time and it's just twenty bucks. Think about it - when was the last time you spent $20 on a tool for your machine that added performance too. MTSTE can do that!
<--- Update 2011 - Important updates!
Also, please see here to purchase the MacDizzy M.U.L.E. engine build articles!
11/28/2010 - email me
I've just completed the work of adding more than 100 new pages to the free part of the site. I hope you will enjoy reading them. If you like what you read please subscribe to MTSTE.
<--- Update 2011 - Important updates!
Also, please see here to purchase the MacDizzy M.U.L.E. engine build articles!
11/9/2010 - email me
I know what you're thinking... "I would like to ask a few questions on the message board, but I don't want to pay!" Well, you're in luck. Now, after you register on the board you can email or PM me for the password to the Open Topic forum. There, you can ask questions, and share information with MacDizzy subscribers. If you like what you see, I hope you will subscribe.
10/26/2010 - email me
Happy birthday MTSTE! You're ten years old. Ten years is a long time. MTSTE has its roots planted deeply and is here to stay! I invite you to stop procrastinating and join up today. Our membership is growing and the forum is better than ever! We're talking two stroke and you're missing it!
9/2/2010 - email me
Can you bolt on a bunch of parts to your engine and call yourself an engine builder? Can you have your engines built at a shop then turn around and call yourself an engine builder? What is an engine builder? If a guy bolts on a new head does't he qualify? What if he does his own piston swaps?
It's one thing to have a basic understanding of engines so that a guy can competently change out warn parts. It is another thing entirely to recut the ports, or to change the uncorrected compression ratio or squish velocity of the combustion chamber to better match it to run with different fuel octane. These are the kinds of things you can learn and understand as a reader of MacDizzy's Two Stroke Technology Exchange. Please visit here to get started.
8/3/2010 - email me
Reed valves - piston port. What does it all mean? Can old school engines be brought up to modern specification to run well? Vintage racing is taking off in several parts of the world. Come on in to MacDizzy's and see what all the fuss is about. MTSTE
7/8/2010 - email me
What are you going to do with that old 2 stroke you've got in the shed? Wouldn't it be cool if you could restore it and hop it up at the same time. You know, raise the compression and perform some porting. It costs so much money to have it done, and who could you trust to do the work anyway? What if you could do it yourself! What if you knew what you were doing and had the help of a ton of people. You could post pictures and write up a little description of what you're doing and get the opinion of people with the same kind of interest that you have. MTSTE is the place to come when you are sick and tired of all of the trolls and pop up ads and distractions. MTSTE is real 2 stroke tech. MTSTE
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6/5/2010 - email me
In case you're wondering - all message board threads don't have to disintegrate in 3 posts! Have you noticed that? A guy starts a new thread with a legitimate question on a topic, and within 3 posts someone has made fun of him or the question or has found a way to turn a good topic into more blurry forum noise. MacDizzy's Two Stroke Technology Exchange is not like that. We stay on topic. The reason it's true is simple. When someone pays for message board access they are not likely to make useless posts or say harmful things to others. I know it sounds corny, but really, when you respond to a topic on a message board don't you like to be taken seriously? Come on in to MTSTE. You'll be glad you did!
Come on in and read about my latest KTM RFS and RC4 four stroke engine rebuild projects. I've posted some really cool vintage 2 stroke dirt bike photo's too. MTSTE
5/3/2010 - email me
I might start to sound like a broken record, but I really love the way MTSTE is going right now! It is exciting! We have a bunch of new projects happening with tons of new information. Here's a clip from a recent post about piston seizures:
"The muriatic acid will dissolve any aluminum that is stuck. It happens really quickly so don't leave it on for very long. It is better to apply it several times and wipe it clean between each application, than to put it on once and let it sit for an hour. The stuff is pretty nasty so be sure to be careful. The pool cleaning guys can deal with it without too many problems, so I think we should be ok too. Maybe, use gloves.
As long as you cannot feel anything stuck to the bore after applying the muriatic acid, you are good to go without honing it. If there is still pieces of ring or piston, you will need to remove it, especially if it is in the area that the piston ring passes. NiCaSil is honed with diamond hones - normal stone will do nothing to actually cut it. You might be able to remove a piece of junk stuck to the bore with a regular hone, but you will not be able to improve the NiCaSil surface.
The vertical stripes you see that looks a little like a 4 corner seizure can sometimes happen just before the piston sticks. Sometimes you will see the stripe line up with the end gap of the ring. The too hot combustion will literally burn away the oil on the cylinder wall in that area. What can also happen is the combustion heat will force its way past the ring in other areas burning any lubrication away pretty much causing the seizure. At that point, a seizure was going to happen anyway. Something has to give it its roots, and the leanness will do it."
Once again, there are more reasons than ever to join MTSTE. We are going strong and more enthusiastic than ever! Oh yeah, the T-Shirts are still $12 shipped! MTSTE
4/18/2010 - email me
What's new at MacDizzy?
If you haven't been here for awhile you might find it interesting to know that since upgrading to the new board there have been more than 1100 image uploads. These images are almost all engine build related. Images make forum threads so much more interesting. I know you will enjoy them. Come on in and see what we're doing with the place. You know you want to! MTSTE
4/5/2010 - email me
Right now I'm having so much fun with 2 stroke talk on my message board! Here are some posts from the board lately. If you feel like talking 2 stroke, come on in! If you just feel like reading, that's OK too, but I'll probably try to get you to talk. :) MTSTE
On piston speed:
Let's put the math aside for a minute and talk about what it typically done. We start with an engine that spins 9500 rpm to keep it safely within the rev limit or 4000 feet per minute. We stroke it a few mm's, but we still spin it to 9500 rpm! What gives. Well, a smart ass would tell you that during a drag race situation he will only be running the engine for 4 seconds so he'll never approach the 4000 feet per minute rule! Realistically though, it is usually what is done. We bend the feet per minute rule and hope for the best. We change the piston out quickly so it doesn't grenade as soon or as often. We lighten it, flat top it, add oil holes, boost ports and put concentric rings into its surface. All in an attempt to keep the piston alive for its extended usage above the rev limit. I suppose this would be a good time to tell you that I like to use a high compression ratio to kind of limit rpm's. The advantage is more bottom end power, the disadvantage is it doesn't rev as high. Many racers will put on their most manly face and tell you that they can handle and use the high strung peaky revs the engine will make, but most really can't. The thing is, give the same guy an engine with more more bottom end and mid range and he'll usually not only become faster, he'll be less tired at the end. I'm thinking of flat track racers as I write this.
On undercut gears:
Yes, under cutting or back cutting is a really cool thing to do to a transmission. It makes it super smooth shifting. As a side effect it becomes more reliably shifting too. If you're doing it to a transmission that's already smooth, it just gets better. If you do it to one that is a little rough shifting, it'll probably smooth it out. Technically, removing material weakens the part, but since most gears break during a bad shift, the parts "acts" stronger because it shifts without problems.
On relocating the piston ring locating pin:
We used to be able to make a call to Wiseco and order a few ring locating pins. I'm not sure if they will still sell them like that. It might be worth a call to find out though. I have heard of guys using drills as pin material. So, drill the new hole a little smaller than you need and press in a larger, short piece of the drill shank you made from a drill bit. Then, go back and grind off the one that was there originally. You don't have to worry about removing it completely.
On combustion chamber shape and design:
You might need less squish velocity to make better power at high revs. If your squish velocity is too high you will be fighting detonation on two fronts with too much ignition advance. Then, if the engine started detonating you would dial back the ignition timing, but really you should be dialing back the squish velocity. All of the engine design parameters are put in to the squish program - including rpm. It seems to me that if you need more ignition advance to run well at high rpm the combustion chamber shape may be wrong.
Oh yeah, the T-Shirts are still $12 shipped! MTSTE
3/6/2010 - email me
I just love the way MTSTE is going right now! We have snowmobile guys, motorcyclists, ATVers, scooter enthusiasts, guys that run personal watercraft and even a few guys working on other things like chain saws and giant scale aircraft. I've been spending a lot more time on the boards and working on engines lately. Here is some text from some of the posts.
On short circuiting:
The definition of pipey I'm talking about here is the effect of the power falling off badly at some rpm and coming on hard at another rpm. That, is the true meaning of pipey.
The pipe, or how well a pipe works, is affected by many things. One of them is the mixture strength. Mixture strength is affected by short circuiting. Short circuiting causes a condition away from the perfect stoichiometric condition. As that happens, the pipe still expects the mixture to be perfect, but it's not. It doesn't know the mixture has changed. As a result, the power falls off, then back on again as the mixture comes into perfect harmony again. Even when the pipe is not in the sweet spot of its range it would work much better if the mixture was perfect.
This may be easier to think of if you think that we're trying to achieve stoichiometry of about 14.x:1 (air to fuel), or a little richer. There can be many factors that will affect this so as to make the mixture different. One of them is short circuiting. Though short circuiting is typically thought to occur at low rpm's only it can occur at almost any rpm. The tune of the engine is dependent on so many things. What I'm talking about is that through the rev range the engine comes into and falls out of perfect tune over and over again as rpms and load changes. We have to consider the jetting, reeds, compression ratio, squish velocity, porting, all of it. Any engine, will be the most perfectly tuned for perhaps 30-40% of its rev range. The other 60-70% can be considered to be a compromise. In the range where the most short circuiting occurs we try to compensate for the engine falling off the power by revving it higher or twisting the throttle farther. The fact is, the fresh mixture is going right out the exhaust. It feels pipey.
On the uncorrected compression ratio:
My thinking on all of this stuff is really simple. It is best to actually test things than to calculate them. When I say simple, I mean it too. When I'm building an engine I test its actual volume at TDC by putting the piston at TDC and sealing off the lower end by using grease around its top. I then install the head and pour oil into the combustion chamber and chart its volume. That's pretty simple. The only variable here is the volume of the spark plug hole - whether you fill to the top of the hole or not. I have learned to not fill to the top of the spark plug hole when in the middle of the build due to the fact the its depth is not yet cut. The grease around the piston does seal off a small amount of volume, but since that amount would lower the compression ratio a tad, it's ok not to consider it. If you are working on an engine that already has its plug depth cut you can fill it to the top of the hole. A standard E series spark plug hole holds 1.8 cc's of volume, so it's easy to subtract that volume.
So, the only volume I deal with is the volume above the piston when the piston is at TDC. Aside from that the flat plate volume is tested only as a reference. With that information I could raise or lower the compression ratio of an engine without testing it again. So, if an engine has 20.2 cc's at TDC, its dome might typically be labelled as 23.3 cc's, or something like that to record its flat plate volume. If I needed to raise the compression ratio I could cut a 22.3 cc flat plate volume dome to reduce its trapped volume by 1 cc.
On leak down pressure testing:
I ran into the same thing a long time ago relating to pressure testing - most people don't know what it is. If they search around they might find some 4 stroke information, but not much 2 stroke stuff. Unfortunately, pressure testing a 2 stroke will not give you any information about its rings but we don't really care about them anyway because our pistons will probably wear out before them anyway! Most end users will not be very interested in a pressure tester because it does not directly add power. They only have money for go-fast items and this falls into the tool category. Don't get me wrong, I'm with you because it really is a go-fast item, but it's disguised as a tool.
Here we are again talking about preventative maintenance. A leak down pressure test is something a person should do on a regular basis. How often it is performed is something only an owner can decide based upon the machines usage. Testing the engine this way will reveal problems that usually cost more money to fix later.
For road going mopeds and scooters I would guess it would be a good idea to test the engine every few thousand miles. For atv's I would test them every few hundred miles. You can always adjust the test interval based upon your own results - obviously, a guy that sucks at putting an engine together will probable discover more leaks that a guy that is good at it!
Today, there are more reasons than ever to join MTSTE. We are going strong and more enthusiastic than ever! Oh yeah, the T-Shirts are now $12 shipped! MTSTE
1/20/2010 - email me
Lately, there seem to be a lot of talk about connecting rods and stroker crankshafts and case/barrel alignment. Here's a clip from a recent post:
[snip]If you look at the stock barrel you will notice that the original ports seem to have had their transfer port bevels recessed, in such a way that they have not been touched by a hand bevel grinder. It is always best to leave as little work, especially hand work, to workers. Unfortunately, workers are subject to things like day to day emotion, hang-overs and ski trips that end early due to sprained or broken appendages. Is the OEM going to leave the product end warranty and final company reputation on a worker that got drunk last Saturday night, tagged a tree and got a DUI? Absolutely not! They will cast the part as close to the finished product as possible. The mold for the liner will have its port bevels roughed-in in such a way that they just have to perform a bore job and finish hone to one of 2 final ID dimensions. There will be an "A" and "B" cylinder and "A" and "B" pistons. Since this tolerance and area of the part is more important than the outer diameter they consider it after the rest of the dimensions. Have you ever looked at a finished barrel and notice the unevenness of the transfer ports? Like they are not straight across the top? If you knew how it was made you would not wonder how they became crooked. To think of this you have to know that all of the liner parts were assembled from other parts in a reverse fashion to be able to cast the part. Someone had to assemble them from little foam pieces. These foam or plastic pieces burn out when put in an oven. When they are gone the molten material flows in. Whether it's the liner or the aluminum cylinder itself, it started life as a reverse part made of some sort of plastic that was placed in another fixture then put in an oven to burn out, heat up and be cast. How well will your engine run? That pretty much depends on how much partying the production staff did the other night.[snip]
If you would like to read my posts on a site with no ads, popups or annoying animated graphics please register and subscribe. I look forward to it. MTSTE
1/7/2010 - email me
Happy New Year!
The holidays are over. Things are getting back to normal - what ever that means :) Around here, it means talking about 2 stroke engines and working out problems. For 2010 I want to stress more than ever the importance of fundamentals. The basics.
When building or rebuilding an engine it is important to know what you have. Preventative maintenance is replacing the parts before they fail, not afterwards. You need to know that a part won't fail upstream taking out other parts downstream (of it). That means checking everything and changing out old parts. Get yourself a service manual and sit down and read it. Everything you need to know to make your machine last a long time is right there. Some of these engines are approaching 20 or 30 or 40 years old so don't overlook anything since finding replacement parts can prove to be nearly impossible.
A connecting rod bearing can fail in such a way as to ruin other parts, including the engine cases. Have you priced them lately? Are they even still available for your machine? Just because the engine still turns it does not mean it is still in good condition. A new rod kit is about $120 and labor to replace it is about the same. Engine cases? Who knows. Maybe it would be best to spend the time to rebuild the crankshaft now, while it's still in serviceable condition.
Bad main bearings typically ruin the crankshaft main journals. Does the OEM still make a new crankshaft for your engine? Main bearings are very inexpensive but the labor to replace them is not. Whether you replace them before a failure or after a failure the amount of work to do it is about the same. Doesn't it make more sense to replace them before they fail so you know exactly what it will cost to replace them?
When taking apart your engine, be sure to remove all of the old gasket material from the engine cases and parts. A small piece there can cause a fluid leak or even an air leak which could, at the very least, cause a difficult jetting problem, and in the worst case scenario, cause a seized piston or worse. Small things matter. Spending time on the care and preventative maintenance of your machine can seem extreme, but you will be rewarded with extra service life. You will be riding while the guy who didn't do a thing may be trying to unlock an engine whose connecting rod is sticking through the cases.
MacDizzy's Two Stroke Technology Exchange is a great place to come to enjoy the benefits of a private message forum. You can talk about your restoration project, or bounce some new or old ideas around. There are no annoying ads or popups or distracting animated graphics to make your reading experience feel hurried or rushed. The site is completely funded by your subscriptions. I enjoy reading and giving my opinion of topics raised, and I really enjoy photo's of you and your discoveries. Please come to my message board to talk about your 2 stroke engine projects. MTSTE
12/21/2009 - Questions? Comments? email me
If you're wondering if MacDizzy.com has T-Shirts available, the answer is yes! We do! Here's what they look like:
The price is $12 each shipped. Large and X-Large. To purchase this item please register on MTSTE then select from the pull down menu for the one you want. If you have any problems, please let me know.
11/24/2009 - Questions? Comments? email me
The holidays are coming quickly! After dinner on Thursday, I hope you can get out and ride something two stroke powered! Either way, come on in to MTSTE.
10/14/2009 - Questions? Comments? email me
The date has come and gone - MacDizzy The Enthusiast website is more than a decade old and MacDizzy's Two Stroke Technology Exchange, the message forum, is starting its 10th year. Today we're talking about an RZ500 rebuild and a CR250 top end replacement. The new message board software makes uploading photo's quicker so the posts are much more interesting. Come on in. Let's see your project! MTSTE
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9/22/2009 - Questions? Comments? email me
In a few days MacDizzy's Two Stroke Technology Exchange will start its 10th year online! Thanks you. Think about it - what were you doing in October of 2000? What did you know about 2 strokes and how much are you learning today? I've learned so much! If you haven't been here for awhile I would like to invite you to give it a try. Come on in with your latest project and talk about your ideas. It'll be worth it. MTSTE
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8/29/2009 - Questions? Comments? email me
Here's a question and part of my response from a post recently. This is typical of the posts on MTSTE. Won't you join today?
Question - Is there a certain width that you keep your sub ports from the main?
The main consideration is probably the piston because if you make the auxiliary exhaust ports too large you will connect the crankcase to the atmosphere when the piston is at TDC. It's probably OK for a small amount of bleed there, but if you make the amount of bleed too much you will hurt performance. I'd say the maximum amount of bleed allowable is probably about 40-50 mm's total combined between both auxiliary ports - on a full tilt drag engine. That's about 20-25 square mm's per side. Any more than that and your build might suffer from problems relating to jetting that are all but impossible to figure out. Motocross engine should probably have none for good bottom end. Dune motors can have some but bottom end will suffer if the amount becomes too great. The most typical fix to the jetting is to reduce the size of the pilot jet, which is kind of the same thing you do when you change to a fresh set of reeds (notice the similarity?). The problem with changing to a smaller pilot jet is that peak power suffers a lot due to the effect the small jet fogging a lot of mixture throughout the whole power band.
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8/24/2009 - Questions? email me
Thinking about porting a cylinder with an exhaust power valve? You can read this, and more as a subscriber to MTSTE
"You can tune the characteristic of the engine by changing the tension of the exhaust valve spring or by resizing the hole in the blade or barrel, this is really easy to do. Porting, like the top photo in this thread has to be done if you want the power valve to have any effect at all. If you simply open the exhaust port to a big oval port, all of the (let's say most) advantage of having a power valve cylinder is lost. Keep in mind that porting like I've shown will give up top end power, as you can see, due to the port size being restricted, but it won't give up a ton of bottom end. I can't remember if I ever got around to installing the larger Rotax power valve blade in one of the Pro-X cylinders. I know if was just a matter of opening up the slot in the barrel to accept the wider blade. That would allow a wider port overall, so that the power valve would have more effect when up and when down, and it would allow more power to be made due to a larger port."
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8/14/2009 - Questions? email me
What kind of machinery does a do-it-yourselfer have to have to be able to do his own engine work? Here's a clip:
"For most of this machine work the Chinese lathes and other machinery that you can buy from Enco and Rultand and Jet, will work well. Some of these can be found on Craigslist very cheaply second hand. Perhaps the best thing about them is that they are all pretty much the same machine - just badged differently, from the different suppliers. If you need a part it probably won't matter which company you get it through, but the color might be different. That seems to be the biggest difference between them."
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8/11/2009 - Questions? email me
Have you ever thought about replacing the cylinder head studs with bolts? Read this, from a recent post:
"It's a little tough to say without seeing the top of the barrel, but in most cases the bolts will need to be replaced with studs. Bolts just do not have the holding strength of studs. A stud more of less becomes part of the barrel. It is much stronger because it is tightened against its shoulder. A bolt relies too heavily on the quality of the threads in the barrel. I'd take the head off and inspect it. There's a good chance the guy that did the work simply did not understand mechanical engineering very well. He could have thought the bolts looked better or something like that. Expect to pay about $4.25 each for the studs from Honda. The part number is 90011-HA2-000. You'll also need the cap nuts to secure them. They are about $1.78 each and the part number is 90443-107-000."
Subscribe to MTSTE.
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8/5/2009 - Questions? email me
We're talking about gasket sealers and how to install gaskets; wet or dry? What can cause a cylinder base gasket to blow out? To fail? Here's a clip:
"Most of these problems are associated with the poor understanding of the guy assembling the engine in the first place. If he puts so much gasket material on the engine part that it oozes or runs or drips, he's not doing a very good job of it. I can't remember seeing any drips from the OEM on engine parts that get assembled without gaskets, well maybe a couple from Bombardier.
Like I said above the Yamabond dries too quickly for me many times so I tend to not use it, but I have no problems with the way it seals. I've assembled more Banshee engines than I care to count using 1211 because there is so much case surface to add sealer material to before actually squeezing the cases together with bolts. I hate the thought of having to remove material that set up too soon. Especially a Banshee engine because there is so much work involved with getting it ready again for assembly.
I guess the point here is to use what you have good results with. That said, if someone wants to put their engine together with peanut butter and jelly, I'm fine with it. I just hope someone will take a photo of it so we can see what it looks like."
Subscribe to MTSTE.
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8/4/2009 - Questions? email me
There are so many good 2 stroke things to talk about right now! I love it when it's like this. The small displacement scooters are taking over. How about this, relating to a PW50 style scooter:
"That cylinder is typical in that its liner tends to be exposed quite a bit below the cylinder. I'm thinking the 1.3 mm liner thickness after the big-bore might be too thin but then it's not a liner, it's a solid cast sleeve. To help you make the decision about it rate the relationship between the location of the piston pin when the piston is at BDC to the amount of sleeve exposed there. In other words, you have to determine where the major thrust is through the stroke. If you provide some measurements or more detailed drawings I might be able to offer better advise. In a nutshell, if the piston pin is exposed at the side of the transfer when at BDC it's probably not a good idea."
There's more. Want to join in? MTSTE
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7/16/2009 - Questions? email me
Today there's talk about the machines that are available in the showroom. Here's a clip:
"I agree that the 2 strokes and 4 strokes can live together, it's just that is leaves a sour taste in our mouths that 2 strokes are basically outlawed. I don't know if this will change or not, but most of the people I know don't really give a s4it. That's a huge part of the problem. The riders and owners of the machines are perfectly content with buying what is available. To many of them, the 2 stroke was never really understood so these 4 strokes make them feel better because they can understand them better."
MTSTE Please join us!
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7/14/2009 - Questions? email me
What's the fastest way to get setup to view the message board of this site? You must first register, then visit http://www.macdizzy.com/forums/payments.php There you can select the length of subscription that suits you. It's as simple as that!
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7/12/2009 - Questions? email me
With summer vacation in the past it's time to get back to the really important things - 2 stroke engines! What have you been working on? Why don't you come on in to MTSTE and share your latest project with us? You won't find a more appropriate place to showcase your efforts. MTSTE
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6/16/2009 - Question? email me
Porting using base plate spacers? Chck this out...
"Does this kind of work work better than actual porting? Well, yes and no. It is good for a couple reasons though. Most importantly, it keeps things simple and it keeps people out of the ports with a porting tool.
The sled owner likes that he can buy the parts and get a power gain. He also likes that he does not have to buy expensive porting tools and spend a lot of time learning what to do to the cylinder to make it more powerful. I hope I don't offend too many people when I say that most of you should not be working on your own cylinders. Not everyone has the touch.
A shim under the barrel is a good way to quickly make a large change. It raises the barrel evenly and keeps the port tunnel aim the same. These are the greatest advantages of doing this. It is very difficult to permanently raise the transfer ports and keep their flow characteristics a good as the originals. It takes a lot of skill to do it well. To be done right the transfer port tunnels must be carved all along the top of the port roofs and all the way back to the case - or you could simply add a shim
Porting without a shim requires a great deal of time to do the job well. This method will not only raise the transfer ports, it will increase their bulk flow for additional gain. Shimming the cylinder alone does not increase the flow through the ports, it only changes their timing. In some cases, such as when part of the port is covered because of the piston at BDC does not fully pass the port, raising the cylinder using a shim will allow more bulk flow." [snip]
Come on in. Let's talk 2 stroke. MTSTE
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5/26/2009 - Question? email me
Today I wrote a bit about port tunnel shape. Here's a clip from a post I made.
"The port tunnel cut like that acts like a larger port. You may ask why do I need my port to 'act' larger! It's simple - we already know we can make more power with an engine by making the E port higher. It will narrow the power band and cause a whole host of other problems, but peak power will go up. We also know that power will go up with wider E ports, and making a port wider is the preferred way to make an increase of power. But once we reach the physical limit of the liner or barrel what else can we do to add port width when there is no longer any room to make them wider?
Just beyond the window E port tunnels tend to taper down choking it a bit. An E port has more effective area when it is opened up as in the drawing I submitted above. Opening the port this way will flow more because it will allow the exhaust a bit of a space to dump itself - it can flow well out the window with less restriction. [snip - there's more]
Please subscribe to MTSTE. When was the last time you spent $20 on your bike and got a years worth of satisfaction from it?!? A subscription to my message board will be the best money you have spent on your bike in the last 12 months!
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5/13/2009 - Question? email me
Today there's talk about reed spacers, check it out.
"Don't be confused about the effects of reed spacers. You may increase case volume by adding them but that's not always the best advantage of using one. In most cases the power boost comes from better carburation. Remember these carburetors are typically jammed in the engine bay without enough room for them so they are placed closer to the piston than would be ideal. When you space the carburetor back a bit you remove it from such a violent pressure wave - the incoming stream may flow more smoothly due to being able to take advantage of the springing nature of the elastic material.
I think what you will find out if you can test well is..."
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4/30/2009 - Question? email me
Two strokes may have been pretty much phased out in the United States, but they're not gone. Here in California we have the red-sticker, green-sticker thing. That is, all new 2 strokes that are over 50 cc are classified as red sticker. What that means is that they can only be driven off-road during certain times of the year. Older machinery is green sticker, that can be driven any time. Any 2 stroke larger than 50 cc manufactured after 2002 is red sticker. MTSTE
http://www.dmv.ca.gov/vr/ohvredgreen.htm
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4/23/2009 - Two strokes on your mind? email me
If you are coming to this site after not being here for a while you may have noticed that it has changed. We went through the site and removed the less popular areas which helped focus it more clearly toward 2 stroke engines. We think you'll find that all of the good stuff is still here, and the message board has had a major upgrade. Since images are such a large part of the internet experience MacDizzy's Two Stroke Technology Exchange now allows you to upload them as attachments to your post. I think you'll enjoy the enhanced features available. Come on in and enjoy a richer more pleasant MTSTE where there are never any spam ads, pop-ups, animated graphics or foul language. MTSTE
Want to subscribe the quickest way possible? Register, then visit http://www.macdizzy.com/forums/payments.php It's as simple as that :)
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4/17/2009 - Two strokes on your mind? email me
Lately, we've been talking a lot about small bore engines, like those in scooters such as the Kymco Super 9 50. Here's a clip from a post:
"Does the piston come to the edge of the barrel at TDC? Is this the correct piston/rod/crankshaft for the cases? The reason I bring it up is because it seems like there is a mistake. Since it isn't you, it must be the barrel. I know of no other engine that ships with 22 degrees of blowdown. Even trials engines use 26-28. So, I would be inclined to deck off the bottom of the barrel to get the transfer port timing to about 130-132 degrees, then set the exhaust height to where you think it should be. It might mean removing about .040" off the barrel to get it there. If the piston is already at or above deck @ TDC I might rethink this, but that is a lot of transfer duration.
Watercraft engines can get by with more transfer port duration than others due to the fact that they turn high revs all the time, but you don't often see them with more than 132° or so. Some snowmobiles and other clutched engines can get by with more too, but the trade off if the duration is too high is that the engine will fall flat on its face when off the pipe and it will be slow accelerating.
A small engine like this (I forget is it 50cc or 73 cc?) does not depend much on displacement to prevent if from falling flat on itself. It needs all the help it can get in every way possible way. One of those ways is to design it properly, with porting numbers that make sense."
There's more. MTSTE
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4/10/2009 - What's on your mind? email me
Today there's talk about adding a third metering jet to a carburetor to help with jetting. Here's a clip from a post:
"Where ever it is placed it will affect jetting from when it starts delivering fuel all the rest of the way to the top rpm. Kind of like a slow jet (pilot jet) - though you pretty much forget about it for midrange or upper midrange or top rpm, it is still delivering fuel all the time and is a big part of the equation. The spraybar is like that - if placed about mid height in the throttle bore it willstart delivering fuel when the slide approaches 1/4 open, by 1/2 open it is flowing well. By 3/4 opening it is flowing full well. As you can tell it is affecting the upper needle setting and main jet."
Do you want to learn about this, or share some thoughts about using this type of metering devise? Please subscribe to MTSTE. Let's talk about it!
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4/7/2009 - What's on your mind? email me
If you're like me you are always looking for interesting reading on the internet. There is some good reading to be found, but you have to really hunt to find it. Though the internet is free, valuable content isn't.
MacDizzy's Two Stroke Technology Exchange is not a free message forum. It costs $19.95 per year. Maybe you would like to know that MTSTE contains no annoying animated graphics, it's ad free, it's not spammed and contains no useless dribble from inadequate minds. Everyone here has paid the entrance fee and has come to read, learn and to share their thoughts.
I invite you to take the less traveled route. To throw caution to the wind and help me create a forum worthy of your subscription fee. Please come in to MacDizzy's - where you'll always be able to find a nice, quiet and distraction free place to read. MTSTE
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3/30/2009 - What's on your mind? email me
How is this economy affecting you? For me, when times are tough I tend to need my hobbies and things that I'm passionate about more than ever. I tend to spend more time on them. Are you like that? Today, there's talk about a spacer plate. Here's a clip.
"Apparently the Sabertooth engine suffers from low primary compression due to the amount of machining necessary to make that top end work on those cases. The TRX cases have those huge voids that the black thing fits into. They become exposed when the case is cut. It's a good idea to fill them. The actual spacer seems like it is cast a little thin in the front and back, no?"
Do you know what we're talking about? Would you like to join in and offer your thoughts and opinions? If you'd like to view the photo's and discuss this with us please join MTSTE.
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3/16/2009 - Questions? Comments? email me
Pipes, carburetors, porting...Which is most important to going fast? Can you even run without one or all three? OK, they all work together. But, if you have an extra $250 and you want to put it into your engine which one do you focus on and how do you know which area needs attention? Welcome to MTSTE we'll help you figure it out.
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3/12/2009 - Questions? Comments? email me
What do you do to a two stroke engine to make it more powerful? What are all those holes on the cylinder wall? What do they do and how do they affect the power the engine makes? What about the compression ratio - How high can you raise it and what octane do you have to use? Have you heard that if the static pressure is under 175 psi you can run pump gas? Is it true? Find out the answer to these questions and a lot more when you subscribe to MTSTE
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3/10/2009 - Questions? Comments? email me
How would you like to take off some weight without even trying? Would you be willing to take a pill to lose it? Would you put magnets in your socks to stimulate the centers of the body that trigger fat burning? Do you think those things are gimmicks? The world is full of them, but not everything is a gimmick.
One thing that's not a gimmick is MacDizzy's Two Stroke Technology Exchange. There is no horsepower pill we're trying to sell and there's nothing magic or hidden about it either. MTSTE delivers good solid technical information. If you can read this sentence, you can read MacDizzy's. If you get stuck on something, just ask, we'd be glad to help you along. Won't you join us? MTSTE
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3/9/2009 - Questions? Comments? email me
Almost no day goes by that I don't get an email from someone with a positive comment about MacDizzy The Enthusiast website. The same os true of the message board. New members always post something about how they had no idea the board contained so much good stuff. Everyone seems to agree that MTSTE is just full of useful technical information. I'll say it again, if you want to bench race and brag, go somewhere else, you'll likely not find MTSTE useful. But if you're ready to learn about engines, or want to read posts from people that already know about them, please join. MTSTE
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3/5/2009 - Questions? Comments? email me
MTSTE is a two stroke engine web site. There is information here about many, many different types of 2 stroke engines. From personal watercraft to motorcycles, from chainsaws and giant scale airplanes to atv's and snowmobiles we cover it all. Come on in and check it out. MTSTE
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3/2/2009 - Questions? Comments? email me
Big bore kits are great. They add torque and power but what else must be done to take full advantage of them? Just installing a big bore kit is not enough, the porting must be redone.
Adding a big bore increases its displacement to the cubed root - that is, the engine size increases in cubic centimeters. Cylinder ports are not 3 dimensional in this sense - they lay flat on the cylinder port walls, their size only increases to the square root. This is the great mis-match between engine growing parameters.
Knowing this and learning about this is what will make the greatest difference in how a big bore engine project runs. Come on in to MacDizzy's Two Stroke Technology Exchange let's talk about it!
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2/27/2009 - Questions? Comments? email me
Another thing that the new vBulletin message board does well is backups. That may not seem important to you, but with the high amount of good material on this board it starts to become really important, the longer you are a member. If anything ever happens to the MacDizzy servers or message board data, we'll be able to get MTSTE back up and running quickly using the latest mysqldump, a technical term for backup :) MTSTE
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2/26/2009 - Is something on your mind? email me
The new message board works so well! MTSTE is more useful than ever before. Come on in. Let's talk two stroke! MTSTE
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2/23/2009 - Is something on your mind? email me
I wanted to take a minute to remind you that the new MTSTE has improved message board features. Among them is the ability to upload photo's and drawings to our server. Photo's are an important part of the internet experience. We are glad the vBulletin software integrates them so easily. Come on in and check it out. MTSTE
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2/19/2009 - Is something on your mind? email me
The fundamentals of engine building are really simple. I'm talking about engine discovery and planning. That is, discovering what it is you're starting with, and planning out where you want to take it. With that knowledge you can move what you have to where you want it to be. Come on in to MTSTE. Let's talk about it.
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2/16/2009 - Is something on your mind? email me
I hope you all enjoyed your holiday yesterday - I know I did.
Today, I wanted to make a post about how cutting ports is a form of art, but I've been stricken with a sort of cold-flu thing. I'll try to post it later this week.
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2/13/2009 - Is something on your mind? email me
Today, I'm thinking about port timing. Sometimes it is difficult to know what someone else is talking about because we're not all using the same terminology. Here's a clip from my post this morning.
[snip]If I had my way we would standardize the terminology used to discuss port timing. Port timing should always be referred to in terms of degrees of crankshaft rotation. Duration is the total time, as measured in degrees of crankshaft rotation, that the port is open. This methods leads to the least amount of confusion.
Camshaft duration is measured like this on a four stroke engine. It is how long the cam keeps the valve open. A camshaft with 278° of duration is more radical than a camshaft with 256° of duration at the same valve lift. If we use this method on a two stroke, as the porting becomes more radical in its timing, the number becomes larger, because it includes all of the time the port is open.
When we have a two stroke engine on the bench we might measure a certain number of millimeters from the top deck or we might turn our degree wheel to a certain setting to find our scribe line. This is fine for shop work because it reflects what we must physically do to get the duration that we want. But it is confusing if one guy talks about cutting the transfers to 58 mm and another says 116° when both mean 128° of duration.
How do you convert your thinking?... [snip]
There's more. Won't you join us? Please subscribe to MTSTE!
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2/12/2009 - Is something on your mind? email me
Exhaust port size, port velocity, port timing and tuned pipe effect. That's just a little of what's happening at MTSTE this morning. Here's a clip.
[snip]...this modification may bring back some bottom end lost due to too much porting, but the trade-off might be a loss of top end power as well. If you hit the sweet spot and you gain bottom end and top end, you might have the wrong pipe on the engine for the kind of work you're asking it to do. If you like the way the engine is after the modification, you are ahead of the game. If we're talking about an engine used for making peak power, I guess the question is whether further modification to the porting or a different pipe will yield better results...[snip]
When you subscribe to MTSTE you'll be able to add your comments and upload photo's and drawings too!
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2/11/2009 - Is something on your mind? email me
Someone recently mentioned that MacDizzy's Two Stroke Technology Exchange should be called MacDizzy's Two Stroke Technology Education!
The thing is, MTSTE, what ever you want to remember it by, is a good place to discuss 2 stroke engines, or what ever you want to remember them by - 2 cycle, 2 smokers, rice burners... We all speak 2 stroke so you'll find yourself right at home.
Please subscribe to MTSTE!
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2/10/2009 - Is something on your mind? email me
There may still be some confusion about the function of the radiator and catch tank on an engine. Here's a clip from a post from today.
[snip]...A lot of guys simply remove the catch tank too. It's a bad idea. Their thinking is like this - They noticed that when they removed it the radiator stopped puking water out after about the first 30 minutes, so they figured all was well. In reality, when the engine cooled off again, it was unable to draw back any water to refill the radiator again. In this case the radiator will fill the gap with air. Now, the radiator will not be able to do its job very well...[snip]
Why don't you subscribe to MTSTE so you can read the rest of this article and view its illustrations.
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2/9/2009 - Is something on your mind? email me
Engine cases, they're all the same, right? Here's a clip from a post building right now.
[snip]...We think cast aluminum is just cast aluminum, all of it is the same. But when we get in there with a porting tool and start cutting it, different things happen. Different engines respond better to different case cutting methods. Some of the aluminum comes off the tool in little shards, some comes off in chips, some comes off in powder, some if it is almost like sticky wax. The engine builder has to respond to these differences and make changes to his setup. He can change the tool he is using and the speed he wants to turn the it. He may also change the flow a bit, to counter the effect of the surface texture, or lack thereof.
If the differences were just the way the tools cut aluminum, our job would be simple, but the change is not that way. Engine performance is directly related to the way the case was cut. Since the tools leave a different texture on different cases, the builder has to discover that the texture was not working well enough, and redo it. Not a simple thing to discover or change since all of the ports must be reworked. This, if anything, could be thought of as the black art of two stroke porting. Everything else is well defined, but texturing different materials is still a little mysterious...[snip]
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2/6/2009 - Is something on your mind? email me
I was hoping to put up a post about measuring the uncorrected compression ratio (UCCR) using inexpensive tools yesterday but one thing led to another and the next thing I knew it was 15 pages long! Here's a clip from the post that will be up later today or tomorrow.
[snip]...Try to find an inside micrometer that fits your size needs. They come in standard sizes so the 50 - 75 mm one is perfect for a lot of engine building. If that's your bore size range, try and find an outside micrometer of the same size to be able to double check piston to bore clearance when the time comes. For the purposes of this article, you could do pretty well with just a vernier caliper. It will give you the ability to measure the bore fairly accurately and give you a measuring tool for the crankshaft stroke though the tool is a little clumsy when used that way. I have seen some hardware stores that sell a couple of general use verniers for under $20. It is a general tool that does a lot of things...[snip]
At MTSTE we talk all 2 stroke engines all the time. Please join us.
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2/5/2009 - Is something on your mind? email me
Today I'm working on a post about how to check the uncorrected compression ratio of your engine. Here's a clip from it.
[snip]...Now comes the fun part. To find TDC, turn the engine counterclockwise and note the reading on the degree wheel. Then, turn the engine clockwise (CW) and note the reading on the degree wheel. True TDC is directly between these two spots. Adjust the degree wheel until the degree wheel reads the same thing in each direction.
Example:
You turn the engine over CCW and the degree wheel stops at the pointer indicating...[snip]
You didn't think I was going to tell you did you? Come on in to MTSTE. The air is, well, you know...
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2/4/2009 - Is something on your mind? email me
Today, we're talking 2 stroke aluminum sleeves. Here's a clip from a post from this morning.
[snip]...Aluminum sleeves are more prone to becoming out of round due to deflection during the honing process. The honing process in an iron bore involves passing stones through the bore at a constant pressure to relieve boring bar cut lines and material fissures created. In aluminum sleeves with NiCaSil plating there is no fissures, but a diamond impregnated tool must still be passed through the cylinder to make the surface smooth and round and to give it a surface texture that will hold a small amount of lubricating oil. This pressure against the surface will react with the backing material, or lack thereof and want to produce a bore that is oval. The liner on a 2 stroke has holes cut in it and its sleeve protrudes below the bottom of the cylinder in the front and the back only. In the area of the transfer ports, the liner is cut back to allow good flow. This, material, no material, situation creates the problem with the cutting stones. They want to have even pressure against the cylinder wall but can not find it due to its changes. Any time there are large holes in a cylinder liner it will be difficult to hone.
The only thing I know of that can prevent of lessen the amount of deflection is to...[snip]
You know the drill :) Subscribe to MTSTE!
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2/3/2009 - Is something on your mind? email me
Good morning 2 stroke tuners! I hope you're getting a good solid fill of 2 stroke tech today - I know we are! Here's a clip from a post I'm working on.
[snip]...The idea taken farther. Now, the port clearly will favor the upper rpm's. The radius along the top of the port may be about as much of an abrupt change the rings could handle. Due to the way this port was made, it adds to the top of the port while it takes from the bottom. In this way the port area stays about the same. As you know, it would be nearly impossible to make a port like this from a round port due to having to put back material on the lower section. It would take a weld and some steady hands, and probably a lot of grinding...[snip]
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2/2/2009 - Is something on your mind? email me
Custom aluminum sleeves, NiCaSil plating, transfer port surface texturing - these are topics we talk about every day. Here's a clip of a thread that's building right now.
[snip]...The transfer port timing really gets thrown off in strokers too. That is another reason to design the port timing from scratch and not try to make due with what they end up being. If I was building this with an OEM barrel with its already installed cast-in sleeve, the transfer port timing would have been something like - opens at 112° for a duration of 136°, way too much. Then to get it back I would have had to lower the barrel about 2 mm's and that would have put the piston above deck by that additional amount as well. It's possible that the rings would have come above the liner at TDC.
A lowered barrel will expose the crankcase to the atmosphere through the exhaust port when the piston is at TDC too. Do that, and you lose all your bottom end and mid. The floor of the exhaust port on the sleeve is raised a couple of mm's too so that the case is not exposed when the piston is at TDC.
I think I settled on 128° duration for the transfer port timing, with exhaust port timing of 194°. Not very radical at all. This would deliver a good power spread without being pipey or peaky. It would take maximum advantage of the extra stroke of the crankshaft. Remember, this is a flat track or TT engine...[snip]
We'd love to include you in this conversation. Subscribe to MTSTE and enjoy a relaxed indepth experience. I promise you'll learn something.
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1/30/2009 - Is something on your mind? email me
Did you know that MacDizzy's Two Stroke Technology Exchange is a 2 stroke engine building forum? That means the main focus of the forum is the 2 stroke engine of the vehicle you love.
We talk about port maps and cylinder porting, combustion chamber shapes and squish velocities. We talk about piston acceleration and ideal jetting and how to add a reed cage to that piston port engine sitting in the corner of the garage.
You don't necessarily have to be well versed in these topics to fit in, because we'll help you along, but it would be best if you acknowledge that the best way to make more power from your engine is to learn its systems. Now, you may not want to learn the math behind these systems, but I promise, if you do, you'll understand your 2 stroke engine better than the guy you're racing!
Please follow this link to register and to subscribe to MTSTE.
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1/29/2009 - Is something on your mind? email me
Here's a clip from another recent conversation.
Dwell angle changes that amount - that is, the connecting rod and its relation to the rotating crankshaft. If the piston moved up and down in a linear motion, instead of around in a circle, that would be right. Since it moves in a circle the amount the piston moves vertically as a relationship to how far the crankshaft turns, changes.
At the middle of the stroke, where the connecting rod is at or close to a 90° angle to the crankshaft centerline...[snip]
Follow this link to register and to subscribe to MTSTE.
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1/28/2009 - Is something on your mind? email me
Squish velocity is on our minds today. Here's a clip from an interesting post on the subject.
What I'm saying is that is probably always best to design to the highest compression ratio and lowest octane fuel, then pick a squish velocity based more upon the service-duty rpm the engine will see than some other method of determining it, but always choose the lowest squish velocity you can get away with. Your thoughts?
In my experience, engines that must pull through the power range, like lightweight dirt bike motorcycles, need a higher squish velocity to feel like they're connected to your wrist.
One problem with high compression ratio motorcycle engines running high octane race gas is that the slow burning fuels make them feel sluggish at the wrist. As an engine designer I want to increase the squish velocity to de-slug it. But, as you know, that thinking will not work. It is simply a design characteristic that we must live with.
The same is true of personal watercraft but they only feel connected to your wrist at idle and just off-idle. A snowmobile engine only pulls through the same 500 rpm's over and over again, due to its clutched operation. These engines seem to be prone to squish velocity related detonation problems more than most...[snip]
To read the rest you'll have to subscribe!
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1/27/2009 - Is something on your mind? email me
Today we're talking about compression ratios, combustion chamber shape and fuel octane requirement. Here's a clip of a post:
Chamber shape is key, for sure, as is the quality of the cooling system of the engine. Here is a somewhat typical setup.
11:1 - 89
12:1 - 92
13:1 - 95
14:1 - 100 50/50 92 & 108
15:1 - 108
[snip]
To read the rest you'll have to subscribe!
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1/26/2009 - Is something on your mind? email me
Did you know that your login screen name and password from MacDizzy's original message board will work to get you in the front door here? Then, all you have to do is subscribe!
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1/23/2009 - Is something on your mind? email me
Today I worked on a "How to subscribe to MTSTE using PayPal" page. I hope it clears up any problems you might be having. If you have any trouble please email me.
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1/22/2009 - Is something on your mind? email me
I spent most of the day writing about the effect of exhaust port timing on blowdown, or blowdown area. This is what I'm talking about.
It'll be a day or two before I'm done with this one piece. Come on in and read the rest. I promise you'll learn something! Follow this link to register and to subscribe to MTSTE.
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1/21/2009 - Is something on your mind? email me
How cool it would be if the inauguration of Obama would mean something good for us 2 stroke fans.
Today I'm thinking about ECM's, you know, computers for controlling fuel injection and other engine management systems. I don't have anything like that on my two stroke, but our cars and motorcycles all have them. I'm especially tuned into them today due to the fact that the one on my Durango went out and the dealer wants close to $1000 for it, installed and programmed. How cool would it be to be able to reprogram the fuel injection via laptop computer on my CR250! It's depressing to think that that day may never come.
Do you want to see something cool? Go to http://www.evinrude.com/en-us/ then click on the E-Tec Challenges, then click the Tug of War. Entertaining, I promise.
Here's a clip from a thread about porting a TRX250R barrel using pump gas:
"[snip] you give up a lot of performance when you give up fuel octane. The difference could be as much as 30% to 50% or more! But only if you build the engine right. To give you a quick answer I'll tell you not to change the port timing at all for midrange, because that was your question, but there's more...
The reason I asked you to commit to a fuel octane early is so that we can plan the porting and more importantly, the compression ratio. Even using your 87-92 octane range there is a lot a variance. Five octane points is huge! That alone could be the difference of a full point of compression ratio or more. For the sake of this post, let's assume we're going to use 92 octane and never run anything lower than 91 octane."
If you'd like to view the rest of this post and its drawings, please subscribe to MTSTE!
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1/19/2009 - Is something on your mind? email me
Here's a clip from a post about reed spacers I wrote this morning. At the risk of quoting myself - here I go... The topic is snowmobile engines - about reed spacers and base plate spacers designed to raise the barrels for more power.
"The sled owner likes that he can buy the parts and get a power gain. He also likes that he does not have to buy expensive porting tools and spend a lot of time learning what to do to the cylinder to make it more powerful. I hope I don't offend too many people when I say that most of you should not be..."
You'll have to subscribe to MTSTE to read the rest.
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1/16/2009 - Is something on your mind? email me
Some people don't know that there are real costs associated with running a website. Here are some of the items necessary to run this place.
There is the cost of the computer used to write the articles and be the home base for the site. There is the cost of the forum software and ongoing technical support, the software for image processing and making html pages and for FTPing files to the server. There is the cost of hard drives and CD's and DVD's for backup storage, and the cost of a wireless router and a printer. All of this is in addition to the cost of hosting the website - delivering the data, and storing it. You know you don't want to wait more than a fraction of a second for the link to deliver the data!
None of these things take into consideration the amount of time it takes to learn to use the forum software or image software or html software. Then, there is the need to create original content!
Would you believe that I read more than 60 novels in the last 6 months? It's true! How else can I come up with so much to talk about!!!
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1/15/2009 - Is something on your mind? email me
Today, the Internet is an important part of day to day life. When we find a group we like we find people with the same interests that we have. We make new friends, even if just virtually so.
An ironic part of the internet is that it forces us all to become writers. And we must all become typists! Google can be practically useless if you don't correctly spell your search phrase into its dialog box. The same is true on message forums. If you don't spell well what you write won't be read by as many people since all search engines insist you spell correctly.
Another thing is true about message forums, if you want to come across like an intelligent human being you must use somewhat proper English and you must spell check your work. If you're from the school of "Screw it, I don't care what others think!" you're only fooling yourself. You wouldn't write in the first place if you didn't expect your words to be ingested by others. It is a fact that people judge you by what you write. I didn't make the rule, it's just the way it is.
If you're new to internet forums, here's some good advise, spend a lot more time reading than writing until you get your feet under you. When you have a valid point to make, make it well by spelling the words correctly. Don't make common mistakes by using the following words incorrectly:
to - I want to go.
too - I will go too.
two - The two of us will go.
there - It is over there.
their - It is their party.
they're - They're having a party.
it's - It's my turn.
its - The party had its problems.
your - That was your opinion.
you're - It's obvious you're opinionated.
Here are some more words we often use inappropriately:
then & than
suit & suite
desert & dessert
advise & advice
would/could/should of & would/could/should have
loser & looser
who & whom
effect & affect
Irregardless (no such word, it's regardless)
do, dew & due
a while & awhile
no one (is two words)
farther & further
There are some phrases that are often improperly used on MTSTE quite a bit. Here are a few:
reed & read - The valve between the carburetor and engine is the reed valve.
bored & board - When you get a new piston fitted the cylinder gets bored.
Phew - that was a lot of fun! (Two words please!)
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1/14/2009 - Is something on your mind? email me
Did you know that the MacDizzy Ultra Low End M.U.L.E. engine articles are available again? We have printed more copies and we'd love to send you one.
The MacDizzy's Ultra Low End TRX270 +2 mm (sleeper) Stroker engine article covers all years of the Honda TRX250R and liquid cooled ATC250R. This is a detailed article on how to build a short stroker engine that's useful for dunes or trails, is powerful and reliable. This is what Honda should have done with the engine originally. $12
The MacDizzy's Ultra Low End 370 Long Rod Banshee engine article covers all years of the Yamaha Banshee. Follow the detailed instructions to build low end power into your YFZ. You'll love the way this build transforms its all-upper-rpm power into a bottom to top puller. If there was a TRX350R twin, this would be it. $12
If you'd like to buy both for $20 we'll send them together.
Please note that these are not electronic copies, so they will be shipped via US Mail. The purchase price includes standard shipping within the US48. Please email us if you need shipment out of the country.
You can purchase them directly from within the MTSTE area. First, log in. Then select UserCP on the top left of your screen. Then select Paid Subscriptions from the list on the left. There you will be able to choose the option that you want.
You can also Paypal the funds to nonixayu_00@yahoo.com. We'll send them out as soon as we receive notification of your payment. In either case please be sure to include your mailing address.
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1/13/2009 - Is something on your mind? email me
I clipped this from a response I wrote on MTSTE not too long ago.
"When this board was really hopping, it was full of problems. We had a handful of guys that made it their mission to discredit anything I wrote, and to generally bash what I was trying to do. I spent most of my online time defending my actions and banning bad apples from posting useless rhetoric and outright lies.
Keep in mind that no one else, at the time, was writing anything interesting on the internet about 2 stroke engines, but these guys were sure that anything that came out of me must be BS. It was their mission to kill everything they could. It worked. They killed things all over the place.
Sadly, if you really looked into the useful message content, there was very little that was good. Of the 4000 members, at that time, maybe 50 had actually worked on anything of their own. Of them, maybe 5-10 could actually put a sentence together well enough to be considered coherent. Reading the board was tough due to bad english, bad grammar and thoughts that didn't make sense. MTSTE was like a noisy CB radio - full of crap you can hear that muddies that water. Just useless noise with nothing within it that interested me."
This is one of the reasons I made the decision to make MTSTE a subscription based message board. There was too much residual noise and not enough useful content.
The thing about message boards is this - it is so easy to anonymously discredit or disrespect another member when using one. There is no accountability because the user does not have to reveal who he is. And, like a class clown in school, he gets a lot of the other members to chuckle at his senseless humor at the expense of ruining the thread.
One way to find out who the bad apples are is to ask them to identify themselves, by asking them to buy a subscription to the message board if they want to continue to participate. This is very intimidating to a wiseguy that likes to upset useful threads by interjecting inappropriate jokes, insults or finds some way to discredit the words. In the case of MTSTE, the wiseguys moved on. Before they left they did have plenty to say about how bad it was that the site started out free, then began charging money for its access and content. Apparently they didn't get that it was moving in that direction because of them. Haha! I knew they wouldn't pay!
Unfortunately, there are a lot of good users that also do not like to pay for internet information or forums. I understand that. I don't like it either but it is the reality. If you want a modern and interesting place to gather and explore ideas and thoughts with people as serious about it as you are, it will cost you some money. I'm not Starbucks asking you to buy a $4.50 cup of coffee, but I am asking you to pay $20 a year. With a subscription to MTSTE, I promise, you will have new knowledge at the end of your cup of coffee!
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1/12/2009 - Is something on your mind? email me
It's been 5 years since I, as owner/operator of MacDizzy's Two Stroke Technology Exchange, made the tough decision to take the road less traveled, to weed out the riff-raff and become a quieter but more respectable place by allowing access to the message board only to people willing to pay for the privilege.
At this point I ask you to search your thoughts about the experience you have had over the last 5 years. How is it going for you? How do you feel about animated graphics? Are you bothered by the Google AdSense strips? What about the other banner ads and relentless flash graphics, do you find it difficult to process the information you are trying to read due to the items constantly attracting your eyes?
I like my internet reading to be peaceful. I choose places to read that are quiet and without distraction. I made MTSTE a quiet place without distraction too. A place with a unique level of sophistication that the more mature adult could appreciate. If you would like to enjoy a more pleasant web forum experience, I'd like to invite you to become a member of MTSTE.
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1/9/2009 - Is something on your mind? email me
Why is this site called MacDizzy?
In 1995 I wanted to put up a website on the Safemail servers in Gilroy CA. I was sick, at home, sitting around, trying to think of a good name for a Macintosh computer website. I was taking some pill the doctor had given me for the symptoms. It made me dizzy. Yes, it made me MacDizzy :)
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1/8/2009 - Is something on your mind? email me
Sometimes I get an email from someone telling me how much they have enjoyed reading the articles that I have written. I always like to hear that someone has made a connection with what I have put down in words. There are people I like to read too.
When I find an author I like, I usually read all of his work. I can be sure that I will like his new work because I know I like him already. That way I know I am not wasting my money.
If you like to read my writing you can read some of it right here in the free area of this site. If you would like to read a whole lot more, you'll have to buy a subscription to MacDizzy's Two Stroke Technology Exchange - aka MTSTE, my message forum for two stroke tuners. MTSTE is where I write about new things, and topics I haven't covered before.
Another thing, MTSTE is the only place you can read my words. I do not frequent other forums, so everything I write on 2 strokes is right here.
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1/7/2009 - Is something on your mind? email me
I thought it was clear enough, but I guess it still is not. MTSTE is a subscription based message forum. What that means is this - if you want to view the contents of the message forum (MacDizzy's Two Stroke Technology Exchange - aka MTSTE) you have to purchase a subscription. In more simple terms - you have to pay to get in.
You can buy a subscription a couple of different ways. You can register on the message board, then click UserCP, then click Paid Subscriptions. There, you will be able to select the payment option to fit your needs.
If you're having trouble with it, please Paypal the funds to nonixayu_00@yahoo.com. We'll turn on your access as soon as we receive notice of a completed transaction.
The payment options are as follows:
$12.95 - 6 Month Subscription
$19.95 - 1 Year Subscription
$34.95 - 2 Year Subscription
All of these options will give you full access to all of the features of the message board. That includes access to the search engine, perhaps the most important feature of MTSTE. You will be able to add custom avatars up to 150 x 200 pixels, and you will have the ability to upload up to 10, 1024 x 768 pixels photographs per post. Please subscribe to learn all about it and the rest of the board features.
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1/6/2009 - Is something on your mind? email me
When I started the engine building forum called MacDizzy's Two Stroke technology Exchange, aka MTSTE, I really wanted to only talk about building 2 stroke engines. Soon after it started folks were asking questions and talking about axles and tires and chains and everything else. Though I had no real interest in those topics, the demand was there so I started forums for those topics. I pretty much drew the line at about 22 forums, and that's the way it still is today.
At a couple of points in the history of MTSTE, we have had some very controversial things happen. Sometimes it was my fault, sometimes not, but it often had something to do with something I wrote.
These topics were removed from the original forums, but are now reposted in the new Forum Extra area. I promise you will be entertained!
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1/5/2009 - Is something on your mind? email me
I wanted to take a minute and let you know that the message board update is complete. We have successfully migrated the original message board data from Ubb Classic to the latest version of vBulletin. There are so many new features, it's mind boggling.
I hope you'll read the articles on MacDizzy.com and decide to become a subscriber to MacDizzy's Two Stroke Technology Exchange (MTSTE). All website updates are within that area. You can subscribe from within the message board area once you register, or you can simply Paypal $19.95 for 1 year of access to nonixayu_00@yahoo.com. We'll turn on your access as soon as we receive notice of the payment.
