TOPIC:

It's too late for the Impacta on the screws that are already majorly buggered out.  Vice grips will get those screws out, though.  Do not drill them.   Go straight to vice grips and the screws will come straight out. 

Sorry to be a jerk, again, but the following photo is from the rebuild tutorial linked earlier.  It shows what to do...

 

Hey everybody, I wanted to update y'all as I've made some progress. Life took over and I couldn't really find time to get the carbs apart. Eventually, I called up my dad and met him at his shop today to get the carbs apart. We ended up dremeling out a wedge for a standard type screwdriver and using the meatiest impact he had to break the bolts loose. The vice grip method wasn't working for me. It took a lot of hammering and effort to break them loose, but they came loose eventually. Safe to say that the old screws are toast, so I ordered a new set. I'm soaking my carburetors in cleaner over-night. I only have enough to fit one carb in at a time, so I'm switching carbs every 4 hours or so. Tomorrow, I'll clean out all passages with carb cleaner and re-assemble. I didn't get the chance to take any pictures today, but the interior of the other three carbs were filthy. Definitely worth the full rebuild. There were some mismatched screws on the diaphragm covers that really led me to believe whoever had this apart last did a shoddy job of reassembling. 

I'm looking to put these back together a lot better than I took them apart. Any tips/things to look out for as I re-assemble? I have the guide Nessism linked which has some highlights, but the more help the better. Thank you everyone for your help, sorry I let this die - life just takes priority sometimes. Hopefully I can have this back together and running before winter sets in and all the leaves are off the trees. Bought this bike as a blue ridge cruiser, so hopefully it can live up to that before fall ends. 

Cheers!

Hey everyone! 

Good news: The carbs are back together and back on the bike. 
Bad news: The bike won't start. 

The bike has some known electrical gremlins, but none that have stopped it completely from starting in the past. After I re-installed the carburetors, I wired up the battery and went to start the bike. When I switched on the ignition, a buzzing noise started emanating from the main fuse (see linked video). Flicking the headlight switch up (which I believe means off when the bike is off) stops the buzzing. Pressing the engine start will result in a faint click somewhere and both turn signal lights illuminate on the dashboard. My first round of research pointed pretty definitively to a new battery, so I went to pick one up last night. I filled it with acid and let it charge overnight (the guide included recommended 8-16 hours so I figured 12 was good). I hooked up the new battery today and resulted in the same exact issue. The bike's voltmeter was reading low (about 8), so I put the charger back on and am going to give it another 3 or 4 hours. I am very wary of overcharging the battery. 

I'm hoping a few extra hours on the charger will get the bike up and running again, it's agonizing being this close. Let me know if anything jumps out at y'all here, I'm not sure how to tell if the cylindrical fuses on these bikes are blown. The bike turned over just fine previously. 

IMG_1682.MOV
 

Generally speaking when strange things happen it's a ground problem

That round thing you had your thumb on in the video is a relay, not a fuse. They can make a buzzing noise if they do not get full voltage.
The headlight switch, assuming you have a U.S. model, has no off position. There is only high beam and low beam.
I highly recommend getting a modern smart battery charger.They will not overcharge the battery no matter how long you leave it connected. I use an old Ctek 4.2 charger. www.ctek.com/uk/battery-chargers-12v-24v...e/battery-maintainer

I would start be insuring that both ends of both battery cables are clean and are making good contact. A little corrosion or dirt under the ground cable where it bolts to the engine case or frame can wreak havoc with the system. Make sure the terminals and the things they bolt to are shiny where they touch.

Wookie58 has posted a good tutorial for basic electrical diagnosis, though I'll be danged if I can find it. Hopefully one of the electrical experts will be along shortly..

P.S. A multi-meter will be needed to make a good diagnosis. A really good one, like a Fluke, will be expensive, but will be quite accurate and will last a lifetime. For most of us amateurs, a cheapie from ACE or your local Lowes Depot will get the job done.

I've got a newer (few months old) Schumacher battery charger - one that plugs into the wall and has an indicator LED on it. This morning, after testing the battery in the bike, I hooked it up to the charger. The 'charging' LED lit up for a few minutes and then shut off (when the light is shut off the battery is supposed to be charged). I checked the voltage on the bike again and it was below the minimum shown on the voltage readout (which is 8). I then removed the battery from the bike and hooked it up to the same charger inside. Same thing happened - LED came on for a minute or two and then shut off indicating a fully charged battery. I read somewhere that some chargers will see a battery with a voltage of less than 10 volts and then 'give up' charging, thinking it's a lost cause, could that be happening here? Since the battery is new, is there a risk in leaving it uncharged for an extended period of time? I'm traveling this weekend so won't be able to fiddle with it - is there anything I should do to ensure my new battery doesn't go bad over the weekend? 

I will check the ground connections when I get home later today and I'll work on getting a multimeter. 

TexasKZ wrote:

That round thing you had your thumb on in the video is a relay, not a fuse. They can make a buzzing noise if they do not get full voltage.
The headlight switch, assuming you have a U.S. model, has no off position. There is only high beam and low beam.
I highly recommend getting a modern smart battery charger.They will not overcharge the battery no matter how long you leave it connected. I use an old Ctek 4.2 charger. www.ctek.com/uk/battery-chargers-12v-24v...e/battery-maintainer

I would start be insuring that both ends of both battery cables are clean and are making good contact. A little corrosion or dirt under the ground cable where it bolts to the engine case or frame can wreak havoc with the system. Make sure the terminals and the things they bolt to are shiny where they touch.

Wookie58 has posted a good tutorial for basic electrical diagnosis, though I'll be danged if I can find it. Hopefully one of the electrical experts will be along shortly..

The link is in my signature 

Are you relying on the factory volt meter? If so, either the battery is dead,  there is a problem in the wiring between the battery and the meter, the meter is not accurate, or some combination of these.
I am not familiar with the charger you are using, but you may be correct about it giving up on the battery. The Ctek I use has taken a six-year old, completely dead AGM battery that was sitting in a bike unused for a year, and brought it back to life, and it was great for three more years.

Not common but batteries can die quickly. I had a truck battery start a truck fine, I drove to the store and the truck wouldn’t start after being in the store 15 minutes. Of course your first thought goes to is starter or some other item but the battery. It was an in-line ford 300 six so swapping in a new starter from the local auto parts across the street was minimal effort. Truck didn’t start. Pulled the battery and walked across the street back to the auto parts and sure as poop tha battery was bad. Would have never believed it unless I lived it. 

Bad batteries will fail all different ways. I’ve had them take a full charge, real close to 12.6 then mounted in the bike drop to 11v the first time I hit the starter and the bike would fail to turn over. The voltage would hold at 11v but didn’t have enough to crank. Sounds like you may have a bad battery. Do not jump a dead bike with a running car. Ask me why, the bike started and the dynamo went to full voltage and that with the car full volt battery blew every light bulb on the bike before I could shut it down. 

The reason a battery can fail suddenly is down to failure of the internal links. A battery is made up of six 2.2v cells joined by bridging links. Over time the links can fatigue and fracture causing an "open circuit" in the battery

 

I have that sudden death t-shirt, too. No battery charger can fix that.