SUCCESS! It's running!

After four months and several misdirections, I finally have my bike running! Long story short, the bike got harder and harder to start until it would kill a battery trying to start. There were lots of theories, but eventually I checked the valves. Clearances on all 20 valves were tight. Most were 0" (or, at least less than .002". I changed all the valve shims, cleaned the new carbs, and now it runs!

I have been working on it all day, and I couldn't wait! I took it for a ride at 1 am. Wouldn't you know it, though. I got to a light and needed to make a u-turn to get to my road (all the highways in NC are separated by a median, I swear!), and after waiting for two cycles of the light, I turned against the red. Wouldn't you know it... Got pulled over. I haven't been pulled over in more than 10 years. The guy was pretty cool, though. Said he knows why I did it, and recognized that there is pretty much nothing you can do if the sensors don't pick you up, and wanted to make sure I knew it was against the law in NC. No ticket, or anything. Guess I'd better figure out how to make left turns off the highway when traffic is light...

Anyway, bike runs pretty good. I found that the new carbs had been rejetted by a PO. Stock is 100, but the main jets are 115. WAY over stock. So, it isn't running perfect. In fact, it is running pretty rich. I dialed in my mix, and it works ok. But, it does bog down a bit, and it hesitates out of the start. Still, the bike fells good!

I'm so stoked, that I think I'm going to ride it to church tomorrow. Everyone will just have to deal with my helmet hair! haha

 

Congrats man. That must feel great to have worked on it for so long and now finally get to jump out the gate. Summer is coming and I'm pretty sure helmet hair is the in thing this year. Enjoy the ride!

 

Way to go Jason. Thats awesome. By the way....God doesn't care what your hair looks like.

 

Good deal Jason.
Your lucky you didn't really test the throttle response off that U-turn and get a big ole speeding ticket while you were at it!

I'm sure I have some spare main jets laying in my carb parts box.

 

Hey jv glad you got it running. Sure helps the work mode improve. Get you on of those rare earth magnets and stick it on under the bike. I heard that will make traffic light sensors detect you.

 

Rare earth magnet hey? I wonder if you can use a magnet from out of an old computer hard drive, those things are strong as well, hmmm...

 

I read somewhere that if you shut off your engine (on a bike) and start it up will help trigger the sensor for the traffic light. I never had to try it so far. I always try to stop in the square box inbedded in the pavement and it triggers the light when on my bike.

 

"Rare Earth magnet?" It has been forever since I heard a Rare Earth song! I didn't know that the band had magnets! LOL (yeah, horrible, I know...)

Oh and, congrats Jason! I know how you feel! It took me a year to get SWMBO's '82 XJ650 Maxim running. But it sure was satisfying to see her riding it!

Do a search for "new tank badges" and you can see the before and after pics.

 

LOL!
http://www.xjbikes.com/Forums/viewtopic ... ssrat.html
(scroll down to my pics!)
been using it as a magnetic drain bolt, but I guess it'd help with those sensors too!

 

I've tried putting magnets from 3 HDD's in my boots and it still won't trip lights up here. I think they may have switched to a weight system to trip lights.

 

I believe some of them are radar activated (like an automatic door at a store).
The bike doesn't give enough of a signature to trip it.