How to get fuel to the carbs without a tank

Leave it connected up as you have it and remove one side of the black rubber hose from the carbs until the fuel starts to flow, if it flows, check the other side I've had an air bubble hold up flow before, worth a try. Sure the fuel bowls aren't already full ?

Are you sure you didn´t install the floats upside down????

pull the bowl drains and blow into the tube with your mouth, not compressed air.

"Try venting the bottle" - Bottle is open on the top you can pour gas right in
 
"Are you sure you didn´t install the floats upside down????" - I remember thinking during assembly if I was installing the float the right way but quickly realized the design is such that the you could not push in the float pin if it the float upside down. 

"Sure the fuel bowls aren't already full ?" - Not a drop comes out of the bowl drain

"pull the bowl drains and blow into the tube with your mouth, not compressed air." - i can give this a shot!  

Thanks for all the comments , this really is a great community. 

Where did you get the brass fuel Tee's?  I've seen some crazy things with parts like those where they were not cross drilled so fuel couldn't flow through them.  I've also seen carbs assembled out of order where the fuel tee was feeding a blocked passage, and the open passage was on the other side of the carb.

Does fuel come out of the hoses when they are not hooked up to the carbs?

"Where did you get the brass fuel Tee's?" I made them!   www.kzrider.com/forum/3-carburetor/615976-vm26ss-fuel-tee

"...assembled out of order where the fuel tee was feeding a blocked passage" - not the case here

"Does fuel come out of the hoses when they are not hooked up to the carbs?" Sure does. a lot of it!

I will provide an update when I dig in deeper this weekend. I am sure it's something dumb that I did
 

Well my, my, my, now this topic is getting interesting.  We know that fuel runs thru the aux tank and line and we know per the OP the lines are hooked up to the correct fuel inlet orifice yet nothing goes into none of the carbs.  My next step would be to connect a hose to the fuel inlet tee and blow thru the hose to see if air passes thru.  I would not use a compressor for this, just hot air from me.  If no air passes then the next step is why and that should be easy to figure out.  There isn't much left in the circuit to check.

Rick H.

Interesting indeed. What are the chances of four stuck float valves?

How about dropping one of the outside bowls so you can check fuel flow?  

Ok so I got to the bottom of this. I swung the carbs out without disconnecting the cable linkage and took off the float bowls. What I realized is that the valve seat gaskets were about twice as thick as the originals. This added thickness helped to push the valves shut and cut off fuel flow. I turned new ones and got it all back together and viola, she started right up. First time in about 30 years. Saved another one from being stripped for parts.

So now that it runs, what is the first thing I should do? I am thinking do a valve shim adjustment first (replacing the cover gasket), check the points and time the ignition second, then sync the carbs. 


 

 

 

 

Also polished the original valve seats and reinstalled. 

 

 

If that was the problem then the float level wasn’t set. You need to get that correct. Aslo those float seat are not Mikuni. There is a square within a square logo on all Mikuni parts. As far as other item, yes, valve lash, timing. Sync of carbs is after float level, then adjust air idle to best idle, then sync. After sync tweak the air pilots again. 

move the clutch perch to the other side of the LH control. Adjust the clutch cable. Check the charging system, brakes, 

Thanks for saving another one.