Carb Trouble

I've been following the thread, but keeping my mouth shut as others are much smarter than me. However, I will give you my thoughts. Their is no pump for the fuel. It is gravity fed when the engine is on, or when set to prime. If you ever have flames, something is seriously wrong. If the seals were faulty before, they should be replaced. You will only have to go back to them in the near future, causing yourself additional headaches.

If you follow the advice given by those who have been there - done that, you will be much further ahead. Many have rebuilt more than one of these bikes and more than just the XJ series. They want you to succeed. My bike is running quite well from following the same advice myself.

 

AAGAIN-there is no pump. Period. These are vacuum drawn carbs.

PLEASE.... For the love of Pete, stop the double-speak, go read.

The Information Overload Hour, and Into the Church of Clean.

You must have clearances adjusted and the carbs THOROUGHLY CLEANED, and BENCH synced. THAT will get you to a point that the bike can start up and run enough to warm up properly so you can do your RUNNING sync.. See the names????

BENCH sync- done on workBENCH
RUNNING sync- done on running bike

Your bikes tank and petcock have NOTHING to do with this-- the tank is off of the bike so you can access the sync screws during your running sync.

Now, PLEEEEAAAASSSEE go read.

BTW, EVERYTHING that has been explained time and time again, everything that you have said "I'm trying to understand", etc.....is in Overload Hour and Church of Clean.

READ THEM, FOLLOW THEM

 

Flames out the exhaust are often caused by exhaust valves that are open too long/at the wrong time. Just my $.02. Not taking anything away from the fact that the carbs absolutely need to be properly cleaned, sync'ed, etc.

 

I'm getting the impression that you're misunderstanding me. The carbs are very clean and I bench synced them. I havent been able to get started on finishing the church of clean and have the shaft seals on the way. I have gone through the church of clean except for the valve shim clearance and engine tuning. I think the flames are from the starter cranking too long before ignition and filling the cylinder with gas because I have already checked the float valves. All four cylinders were running without any flames when I didn't have the intake filters on.

 

That would not happen if you have done everything necessary to the carbs and valve clearances.
Have you checked the fuel levels with fuel in the float bowls?

 

YOU are misunderstanding US

 

I'll probably get around to doing the clearances tonight. No. How do I do that? Just take the float bowls off and look?

What am I misunderstanding? I'm going to do everything recommended in this forum. But I'd like to discuss it to help me better understand my bike

 

"How do I do that?"

Read and study:

http://xjbikes.com/forums/threads/airhead-valve-adjustment-with-pics.14827/

 

The method for setting fuel levels in the article below is described in the Church of Clean thread that was linked previously.

http://www.xj4ever.com/setting fuel levels.pdf

The link that Dave just provided on how to check and adjust valve clearances is also in the Church of Clean.

Please get in the habit of thoroughly reading every link provided.

 

Imagine that......

 

I finally got a day off tomorrow so I'll try to read it over again tonight.

In the meantime what would the difference in work be behind installing pods vs air box? Important to note that I'll be putting on after market exhausts. Probably straight pipes just to save money.

 

Pods will cause you a lot more work and you may never be happy with the results. Check around the forum for threads on pods. Some have tried, but very few have been successful. It is also a lot better to start with a stock bike that is in perfect running condition and then look to move to pods, although you will still have a lot of work in store for yourself.

 

Pods. Link in my signature. Page five.

Straight pipes are not a money saver.

 

when it's your first bike to gain "how a bike handles experience". A new rider on a bike that handles well can be sketchy until he/she learns how to ride it. A new rider on a bike that'll do all kinds of things because it's not road worthy is on a death trap. Everything needed to make your bike safe and road worthy is here. You can't achieve this by trying to speed up the process. The posting members are some of the most knowledgeable on this site.

Gary H.

 

Hmmm--- differences in work ....

Pods- sync, colortune, run and have issues, rinse, repeat. Again and again and again. UNTIL---- pull the carbs and re-jet! NOW, sync, colortune, run and have issues, rinse, repeat. Again and again and again. UNTIL----you pull the carbs off, put original jet set back in, get rid of the pods and put on the correct

Air box - sync, colortune, go ride.

 

i may be wrong but i think this guy is stringing us along.
without pictures it never happened
"collage student" this says a lot about the state of education in this country

 

Being an educator, I'll humbly disagree.

Also....motorcycle forum.

 

Pretty unanimous that I should work on getting my air box back together/ get another.

I work with welding a lot at work and have plenty of metal resources and tools at school for free. I was planning on cutting and welding my rusted out stock pipes. Would that not be cheaper? Or did you mean, similar to the pods, just more headache later down the line?

Nope. Just trying to get the full picture. I'm a slow learner but I make up for that with patience.
Wasn't aware pictures would help...
"Collage". I work 60+ hours a week in the Texas sun to pay for college so I have to check thread on my phone or before bed. Both make it hard to type. No need to be critical.

 

I meant that (around here anyway) straight pipes lead to nusance complaints and traffic tickets.

The stock pipes are almost as free-flowing as straight pipes are, but you may need to rejet (less of a problem than pods though).

 

I started to check my valve clearance and the top casing of the engine is stuck (probably from the gasket melting. I had a similar problem on the manifolds and float bowls). Just to be sure there, are only the 8 allen head bolts holding it on? What should I do to remove this safely?