TOPIC:

You may have hit on it. Clamp or block off the vacuum line to the petcock and carb. Run it on prime to rule out that problem. The lights flickering when these symptoms appear is confusing. Do you have a in line filter? Crap in the float bowls could clog the pilots then clear when negative pressure is present. Also check the vents. Critters like to build nests in there. I think I started a thread on that last year.
Steve

swest wrote: You may have hit on it. Clamp or block off the vacuum line to the petcock and carb. Run it on prime to rule out that problem. The lights flickering when these symptoms appear is confusing. Do you have a in line filter? Crap in the float bowls could clog the pilots then clear when negative pressure is present. Also check the vents. Critters like to build nests in there. I think I started a thread on that last year.
Steve

I think you miss understood what i said about the lights. They do not seem to be effected when its running bad.
Yes, I have a new inline filter. But I'll put in another new one anyway. I'll try blocking off the vac line and running it on prime. Be nice if that's all it is. I could use an easy fix about now.

OK, I'm on board with it possibly being a fuel delivery or carb issue. However, that doesn't explain why it runs fine in the upper rpm ranges. I can tack along with the rpms up and it'll respond and pull great. Then as said before if I shift into a higher gear lowering the rpms it starts blubbering and not running right. And no, I'm not bogging/chugging the engine in too high of a gear.
When I've removed the gas tank I haven't seen any fuel come out the petcock vacuum line. But of course it doesn't have any vac being pulled on it then.

When you're in the high RPM range, the main jet circuit is kicking in. Low float bowl level or clogged pilot jets. Use a guitar string or a strand from a wire brush to clear them.
Steve

swest wrote: When you're in the high RPM range, the main jet circuit is kicking in. Low float bowl level or clogged pilot jets. Use a guitar string or a strand from a wire brush to clear them.
Steve

I have the carbs off with the floats, needles and jest out of it. Including the jets under the little plugs. All look good. Ran wire through all of them anyway and blew through um with carb cleaner and air. Did the same to the carbs.
So what are the floats supposed to be set at and from where do you measure them? To the naked eye they look fine. Their all level with each other and on a parallel line "=" to the carb body itself. (hope that makes since) Other than setting the floats it's time to put um back together and see if anything changed. Also installing a bigger in line fuel filter for better flow.

Thanks guys. I appreciate all the helpful suggestions. Now lets see if any of um cured my problem.

I'll be bock. lol.

Theresmanfewn",hidden passages" in these carbs, do a quick search for carb cleaning and try to find a post where Patton has included pics of how to get the passages clean, make sure you follow those steps. Search "clear tube method" for setting float heights...

Stayed up working on it all night. Setting the floats using the clear tube method was relatively easy other than that I lost count on how many times I had to do it before I got um all as close as I could. Don't ask me what the measurement are. I just used my calipers and eyeballed what I thought was about 3mm and set um all as close as I could to that. They were waaaaay off. The adjustment tabs didn't look like they had ever been set. They were all straight/level with the float frame. Now their bent down a good 1/16" of an inch.
Anyway ... I don't want to get too excited just yet but I think my problem might be fixed. Only rode it for about 20 minutes but so far so good. I'll need a little more seat time before I'm convinced it fixed.

Gotta get some sleep now. I'll fill yall in later after I've had a chance to ride it a little more. (if it doesn't rain today)

Thanks for all your help.
Robert

That's too much. The tangs should only be slightly bent otherwise the needles will be cocked to one side and leak. If they do, bend the float arms and have the tang level. It doesn't take much because of the lever effect. Be careful doing this. Pics, pics pics, always pics.
Steve

I understand what your saying about the tangs possible pushing the needles off center causing them to leak. But wouldn't bending the float arms defeat my adjustments and put me right back where I started? Never mind ... I get it. But with my luck I'll break the floats off the arms.
Unless their leaking internally, their not overflowing externally. Although ... it is really cold natured. Or possibly so I think. Cold starts it obviously takes a few minutes to warm up. But after it's warm and then sits for 15-20 minutes (still somewhat warm) I have to choke it as if cold to get it started and warm it up again.
Please don't tell me I need to tear everything back apart and wrestle those carbs out AGAIN. Having the stock air box in the way you know what I have to do to get um out. It's a royal pain in the a$$. Lets just say if I keep having to take um out ... pod filters are looking better all the time.
Speaking of pod filters ... Thing is I like the chromies on the sides of the air box and it filling in the otherwise empty hole where it is. With that in mind and knowing the use of pod filters is a far cry better than the stock air box, I got another box from a fellow member with the intention of modifying the front of it making room for pods to at least partially stick inside of it. I don't really like the sucking sound you hear from the carbs with pods on um so I may even make some extensions putting as much of the pods inside of it as possible. Yes, I know that may defeat some of their performance but not the ease of being able to pull the carbs in which is my objective anyway. Worst case I end up with the same performance as a stock air box.
But who knows? I may not do any of that and hope if I have to pull the carbs again it'll be the last time ... for a while.

Look at the geometry of the tang as the float creates an arc from no fuel to full fuel....vs the tip of the needle (not the point in the seat).
With the tang bent too far it wipes the tip instead of the arc pushing it "straight" into the seat.
I am not sure how far is too far though.... ?

I replace my float bowl screws with Allens. I can take the offending bowl off any time I want. Out here in the desert you got bugs, sand and god knows what else. Yeah, I found a gnat in one, once.
Steve

If I have in fact bent the tangs too far down and now their pushing the needles at an angle, the spring loaded pin in the top of the needles must be compensating for some of that angle allowing the needles to seat. As far as I can tell they are not leaking. (knock on wood) Lol.

So far this thread has gone from me blowing fuses leading to various possible electrical problems and now to carb floats. Getting back to where we started, so far I have not blown any more fuses. I never found exactly what the problem was. All I did was re-wrap parts a few wire harnesses and clean a few harness plugs. I flipped a coin on which one fixed it and the harness wrapping won. Lol.
The poor running at low rpm issue was apparently solved after making sure the carbs were clean and or by setting the floats. Again it's a coin toss.

Still don't know why it acts so cold natured. My guess is there's still something wrong with the carbs. Like maybe the floats are now too low making it starve for fuel until choked. But if that was the issue, how/why would it run/idle fine once warmed up again? Otherwise it runs really good.