My 1981 XJ650H - Getting the Carbs Right

First post here and 1st off, WOW! What a great site with so much information on these awesome bikes! I know I am NOT the first to say this.

My bike info:
* 1981 XJ650H (as stock as I can understand from this site)
* 4 into 2 exhaust
* Installed an inline fuel filter - though I think I should tweak it a bit more/get a different fuel filter that isn't so big.
* Cleaned out the carbs but I did not break them down all the way (meaning splitting them apart) nor did I buy a carb-rebuild kit. The parts that drops down like a guillotine (Rick-O-Matic) do drop down without a hitch - They have the needle and are made of brass (the diaphragm part??)
* I am at the least the 3rd owner of the bike.

A history of me and my bike:

I bought my bike last late summer of '08. Since then, I have installed an inline fuel filter. I have also taken off my carbs and cleaned them really well and have bench synched them from instructions from this site (1/4 in. business card method for that part). And I am trying to gather tools together to go to the next steps in this forum (IF ANY OF YOU HAVE THE DIRECT LINKS TO THESE TUTORIALS FOR THE NEXT STEPS - PLEASE POST THEM - I HAVE SEEN THEM ALL BUT ONLY RECENTLY HAVE HAD TIME TO ACTUALLY TO DO THEM AND IT HAS BEEN MONTHS UPON MONTHS AND A FORMATTED COMPUTER SINCE THEN!).

Read on though to my more recent concerns:

I have a leak from my oil filter slot (by the way i have not changed my oil yet, waiting for parts when I buy them from bikebandit.com after the next pay check - must be from an old o-ring from bikebandits diagram I reckon since it is CLEAR beautiful oil from that spot).

BUT since TODAY after bench syncing the carbs by one of the guides here, (my second time taking the carbs off - yes i have read on here about people doing it 3++ times to get things right from rushing/skipping steps) I have sprung a NEW leak and, get this, - it is from my exhaust. The leak is a PURE black liquid. It doesn't smell of gasoline though my sense of smell may have been fouled by the gasoline I spilled out from taking apart the carb when I was going through it a second time! It is where the exhaust comes down from the engine and connects to the muffler... I did take pictures from my phone if that helps - I am going to learn how to post them in the next few days when I have more time. But please do not confuse this with the other leak that is from the oil filter slot.

As I stated above, I have taken the carb off a second time to finally bench sync (yes I'm bad and didn't do this the first time to start off and synch correctly). It made a HUGE difference as I could not get the bike to idle correctly the first time BUT now it does but with the Choke fully open/engaged - I start off this way with an idle of ~1500 RPM. It does climb to over 2000-2500 when I let the bike idle for 5+ minutes BUT it will start to die if I let off the choke completely from there (which gets it to be a slight amount less than 1000 RPM and sounds like it is starving for fuel).

A few questions:
1. What is the next step(s) to synching the carburetor? (Compression, etc. - I know I should have somehow saved the bookmarks I made a while back - searching gives me the steps - but not really the order of which I should do - though they do but everyone who has asked has had a more staggered start than me from what I've read!).
2. **IMPORTANT** What could possibly be the cause of the black liquid coming from where the exhaust connects to the actual muffler? (once again, I can/will post pictures of this to help better explain where this is coming from).

Additional info:
I do not believe I have a YICS system. No where do I see it on my bike on anything! I have seen pictures of where the YICS DIY blocker (?) goes through and it does not seem as though my engine has bolts I should take off to let a device go through from left to right/vice versa!

Any Ideas??

BTW I LOVE this site and the people here. Rick-O-Matic, Chacal, Gamuru - you are the 3 I keep getting a plethora of information from by reading the posts - and others of course! The detail of the FAQs, etc. are amazing.

Oh and if you have any pictures to help me along with this, please post them. I am more of a visual learner anyhow - and, as I said before, I will post pictures of my bike in the next few days to help explain. (I'm in college and it is hard to really start doing the right things to this bike. I am somewhat mechanically inclined - with pictures/diagrams of course - still learning and want to learn more!)

Thanks much!

SundanceKid

 

Could the black ooze from the pipes be condensation that has picked up carbon?
The FAQ's section will have the step by step threads.
After the bench synch, open your pilot screws 2 1/4 turns, yours may be the model that needs 3 turns out.
It is in one of the step by steps.

Synch the carbs on the bike with your manometer/gauge of choice.
Colortune, resynch, colortune, resynch, until you're satisfied.
Plug chop for final tune.
Of course this all assumes valves have been shimed correctly.
That's a quick order for ya.

 

That's the longest first post I have ever seen.
What are you studying to be, a Democrat ? :lol:

 

haha wizard, sorry. After mangling the carb back on, which was MUCH easier than the first time BTW, I had a few beers! Figured I earned it :lol:

Condensation? hm... Well it wasn't happening right before I took off the carb when I had her going. But it seems logical from the weather yesterday. It just freaked me out.

Now where exactly are those pilot screws? Are they the ones that I was adjusting when bench syncing? Sorry I'm still a bit groggy from last night Plus most of the FAQs don't have pictures, which are key to my understanding things. I'm a big visual learner.

Thanks so far guys!

 

NO those are the synch screws.
Pilot screws are on the top of the carb towards the motor next to the plunger that is lifted by the fork shaped piece.
If they've never been adjusted they will have a cover over them which will need to be carefully removed.

 

Ah, yes I believe I saw the plugs you speak of. The plungers are the bars that go up and down depending on how the choke is engaged, correct? In fact, I will post a picture of what I think it is so I am 100% sure before drilling into something wrong.

Sounds like I'm going to take the dremel tool from my work for this part. I read somewhere its a thin plug, but then I read on the forum it is 2-3mm thick?? Which one is right?

Thanks Hound

 

Is this it??

Sorry for the bad quality, from my cell phone. This is on carb #1 - the left side of the bike.

 

Yes that should be it.
I won't give you direction on how to drill it though - I have never done it.
Don't want to drill into the screw!

 

haha thanks dpawl.

Does anyone have any extra direction for me to go besides "dont drill too far and hit the screw" ??

 

Drill just until you break the surface, then take a self tapping sheet metal screw and turn it into the plug head.
Once caught, pull the screw and plug out.
Keeps the drill away from the screw head inside.

 

It IS thin, only 2-3mm thick

Pictures:
http://picasaweb.google.com/danieltturn ... irectlink#

 

Thanks kd5uzz. I haven't had time to pull the plugs yet, but I will be doing it today. I also have everything I need to synch the carb. Can't wait.

Oh, and my carbs didn't have nearly as much crud in them as yours did 8O

 

Alright, I set up everything and set the screws to 2.5 turns out. I adjusted the sync screws while using a vacuum gauge just like one of the FAQs said - but I did not turn them by much.

Alright. She was idling at a little less than 1400rpm and stayed strong. Took her for a test ride around the block and she stalled. There was not enough power when using the throttle - a lot LESS than what it was before I took the damn carb to clean and sync. She also backfired through the right exhaust pipe twice. Damn well embarrassing

After putting the bike in neutral and letting it idle, I did not need choke at all (before and after the ride). But after the short ride, it would slowly go down in RPM and stall out after a minute or so.

The original settings for the screws were:
1st: 1.5 turns out 2nd: 3 turns out 3rd: 1.5 turns out 4th: 3.25 turns out

Any ideas?

 

Colortune or do idle plug chops to get the pilot screws set correctly.
2.5 turns out is just a place to start, so the bike will run while you synch.