TOPIC:

I agree.
Steve

missionkz wrote: You have time today to see if you can save some money.
Clean the needles and and seats.
Use a Q-tip cut in half and the put the stick part in a little drill motor chuck.
Put a dab of polishing compound on it and spin it up inside the seat to polish it.
Clean it out real good and inspect the needle for any damage, like a little ridge where it has been rubbing.
Unless the carb has been out in a pasture for 20 years, 90% of the time a new needle and seat in a carb kit is waste of money!!

Ummm, and you couldn't have told me that before I ordered tha damn things? Lol. I'm just messin with ya.
Ok, I'll do that along with installing the new floats. The only reason I was going to replace them was because of what Z1 had told me about the damper spring getting week. I don't think they're sticking or leaking but I'll double check the needles and polish the seats anyway.
I'll have the carbs ready to go back on by the time the carb holders and intake hoses get here. This time I'll take pix of the carbs as I go.

Robert

Finally got it running right. Little to no choke needed to start it. Running on all four at cold start. All cylinders heating up equally now. Don't really know exactly what did the trick. Internally the only things I replaced was the floats, seats and needles. Externally the carb holders and intake hoses. Although the holders were getting pretty hard, I didn't see any signs of cracking. And the new intake hoses made reinstalling the carbs so much easier.
Still had a hard time setting the floats. Again I had to go through the process half a dozen + times till I had um as close to 3mm as I could.
Gonna back up a little ... before I took the carbs apart I did the thumb test on the diaphragms. All checked OK. Checked them again after putting everything back together. Good to go.
Made damn sure all the "secret passage ways" were clean and clear. I'm pretty sure they were but double checked um anyway, All showed a nice flow of cleaner through them.
Not sure what else to tell you till I get some pix posted. Even then there's not really much to see or talk about. I'm just happy it's actually running like it should and hopefully won't have to do all this again any time soon.

Thanks again everybody for all your help and sticking with me on this.

Later.
Robert

EDIT ... Well CRAP!!! Just went back out the garage where I was met by a pool of gas under the bike. I had turned the fuel valve to prime and forgot to turn it back to on. Regardless it shouldn't be overflowing fuel into the air box and out onto the floor. So much for those new needles and seats working properly. I'm pi$$ed.

If you still have the old carb holders you may want to use a magnifying glass and look at the mating surfaces where they would seal against the cylinder head (just out of curiosity). My original carb holders were leaking, but they looked like they were in great shape. When I removed them to replace them I found tiny little cracks in the mating surfaces, and that's what was causing the leak. New carb holders on my bike made a huge improvement at idle and low throttle. I was very pleasantly surprised. Ed

I agree. Mine are shot too. I used Permatex on them but they are starting to leak again. Time for new ones. I bought them in 97, I wonder why?
I think it's time to start a new thread on this subject.
Steve

Went ahead and rode the bike for a little while today. Runs great as long as your moving. Sit idling at a red light for very long without bumping the throttle a couple of times it wants to load up a little just as you get going again. Afterwords it runs fine. Also loads up when I turn it off and let it sit for a few minutes.
Going to remove the intake hoses and find out which carb is overflowing. Then off they come ... again. Needless to say I'm pretty frustrated

that one or more of the new needles and seats aren't seating. Should have taken yalls advise and just polished the ones I had. They were seating just fine. But Noooo. I had already ordered them and surly I couldn't go wrong by replacing them. Right?
So why didn't any of them leak while I was setting the floats. I gravity fed and emptied the bowls over a half a dozen times without any overflow. My remote fuel tank was up on a shelf over a foot above the carbs. That should have been plenty of gravity pressure on the needles and seats to have made them leak. Not a drop came out. At one point I left the remote tank hooked up long enough to go eat dinner and still nothing. Wasn't till I put them back on the bike and ran/rode it for 15 or so minutes and then parked it, it started overflowing. I had gone in the house and didn't know it was doing it for about an hour.

Yes I know.
Even though mine are setup right... over the years I just got into the habit of shutting my fuel valve off as I'd come up the drive way or to a parking spot.
I don't have a "prime" position on my fuel selector valve... ON- Off-Reserve....
I turn it to off every time the engine is off.

Apologies if already covered, but perhaps new incoming gasoline contained crud that's now interfering with perfect closure of the needle into the seat orifice.

Was a good aftermarket inline fuel filter fitted before any gasoline was admitted to the carb?

As known, the stock petcock screens are inadequate to filter gasoline from the tank.

Good Fortune!

Yeah, I wish my petcock had an off position. On all my past bikes I always turned the fuel off when I park it. Yes, I have a an in line filter on it. I also used one on my remote tank when setting the floats.
Did as I said by removing the air box hoses and found it was #3 overflowing. Pulled the carbs and removed the bowl, float, needle and seat. Didn't see anything wrong with them but did find a little pc of fuzz hanging out the bottom of the seat. Kinda looked like a tiny pc of carpet fuzz. ??? Can't really say if it was getting between the the needle and seat or not. Regardless I obviously removed it, polished the seat and put everything back together. I then bench tested it. Numerous times. Filled it with fuel, let it sit for a couple of minutes and then drained it. Repeat like I said numerous times. Also filled it and opened the drain allowing fuel to flow through it and then closed the drain. No overflowing so back on the bike they went. Oh, also checked the float levels again. All good. Started the engine and let it run on prime for a couple of minutes and turned it off. Watched the carbs for about 10 minutes still on prime. #3 did not start overflowing again. Nor did any of the rest. Took it for a little ride, parked it and watched for overflowing again. Notta. No more overflowing. Now thinking back I hope I don't end up kicking myself in the a$$ for not polishing the rest of the seats. If it aint broke, don't fix it ... Right? We'll see how well that works out for me.

Robert

I've had no inline fuel filters on my fuel lines for years and years. I still don't.
Then, after a bout with tune stuff and carb mods/clean ups... etc., a tiny sliver of the actual fuel line hose got sliced off the inside of the fuel line by sliding the tube on and off the fuel valve nipples... of course it eventually got stuck in a needle and seat. The bike ran very oddly and fuel would drip/spill out the over flow.
Fixed that,
However, after that and over the last 10 years or so, inside the tank where the two brass pickup tubes from the fuel selector are inserted, (with their lame ass nylon socks), they are wrapped and safety wired with fuel proof synthetic batting, which is 10 times larger in diameter then those tiny screens on the brass tubes and... with very very little restriction.
(You don't really have those two tubes on yours I suspect. More like a big, 2"x 3/8" flat nylon screen tube?)

Anyhow, I've cleaned the ball of batting a few times and am surprised at how much crap gets into the tank.
I think they are a better filter then anything else I could try.
Those big auto inline filters just look hokey to me and I've heard some smaller ones can be restrictive, needing a fuel pump to deliver the right amount of fuel... and there isn't a lot of room under the tank for bigger diameter, low restriction filters anyhow.
YMMV of course.

I always use two fuel filters One for each bank even though they are all connected on my 33's. $5 a piece.
Steve

swest wrote: I always use two fuel filters One for each bank even though they are all connected on my 33's. $5 a piece.
Steve

That's the same filter I'm running. I tried to fit a bigger one but it was too long and kinked my line. Not many other choices out there.