Making a Reed valve

Dac · Post by **Dac** » Sun Jun 24, 2007 2:10 am

ok so after 2-3 weeks of working my * off to get that d*** elite going i found the problem.
turns out the reed valve busted. half of the last of the 3 valves was gone. i called up a honda dealer by me and they said it would be around 35$!!!! and they have to order it
i made my own out of some thin thin metal i had in my yard.
it ran good for about a hour yesterday and a good 5 hours today(it was a riding day) and coming home it spit sputtered spat and died
i pushed it home,(it was dark out and i dont have a garage to work in) with out opening it up i already knew my home made s*** broke.

Is there any one thing i should try to make a reed valve out of? or is the 35$ really worth it?

Gamemedic · Post by **Gamemedic** » Sun Jun 24, 2007 9:19 am

You cant "make" a reed. It is made of highly treated spring steel or plastic. The one you made is prob chewed up in you motor after it broke. You cant just "rig" these things, 2 strokes are very finicky you have to use the right parts. 35 bucks is nothing, just order the right parts. You could also get one after-market the guys around here will tell you a good place to shop.

chevyguyjay · Post by **chevyguyjay** » Sun Jun 24, 2007 1:32 pm

yea, spend the money and get the right thing.

dont be like the other guy on here tring to glue his carb on.

Dac · Post by **Dac** » Sun Jun 24, 2007 2:05 pm

ok got out side today i took mine apart, it looked fine but ever so slightly bent
i think if i can get out to a dealer i will buy one but the closes dealer is about 45 minutes away(car) and my family dont go places offen, so is there anything i can use to 'red-neck' it till i can get out to one?

mousewheels · Post by **mousewheels** » Sun Jun 24, 2007 4:29 pm

Check out in the Advanced technical docs on this site. Theres a book by Jennings that talks about 2 stroke tuning. Included is a section on reed valves.

I think the metal ones are generally stainless steel, but don't have a clue what alloy or other details you'd want. IThe Jennings book covers the stress and failure modes, along what it might mean if a reed breaks from fatigue and your engine eats it.

Post by **noiseguy** » Sun Jun 24, 2007 4:48 pm

Check VT Cycles, they may be able to hook you up with something.

Do not make your own reed valves!

MySpree · Post by **MySpree** » Mon Jun 25, 2007 4:40 pm

ill see what i have.

Dac · Post by **Dac** » Mon Jun 25, 2007 5:36 pm

i got lucky, i had a dentist appointment today right by a honda dealer so i went in and order one
its kinda stupid that i have to buy the hole set up not just the metal piece but what ever. it was 31$ all together, it should be coming in wensday

chevyguyjay · Post by **chevyguyjay** » Mon Jun 25, 2007 5:40 pm

W/C · Post by **W/C** » Wed Jun 27, 2007 12:23 am

Stock? what year, I would give you some for free,just pay shipping, or there's better options like boyesen

Pygmaelion · Post by **Pygmaelion** » Wed Jun 27, 2007 4:27 pm

Take it from me, there's no substitute for the real reed.

And screwing with them (trying to outsmart Mr. Honda's team of engineers) by bending the reed cage, or tinkering with different lengths is a sure way to get bits of reed into your bottom end. I bent my cage, hoping to get better "range of motion"... So much for guesswork and pseudoscience.

Once they're in there, if you're lucky, the reed only let go a tiny speck, which got welded to your head before you stalled. If you're from planet Earth, then you've got to take off your top end, and get out all the pieces. If you ignore it, then you'll find those pieces when you replace the bearings , or the wrist pin... which is frakked up because it got a bit of reed valve stuck in it.

I'm sure you get the picture. Take it from me, if it's 35 bucks for a part you never ever have to replace again, even if it's the whole assembly, it beats the heck out of cracking the case to replace everything inside it.