Noob here, *Resolved, now running good*

The large pistons with the rubber diaphragms on the top, 2 of the 4 when I removed them the needles came out of the end. They aren't threaded, how do I put them back on, or can I?

I see there is a plastic nut down inside the piston, but since they are spring loaded, I am scared to remove them without knowing that they are easy to put back together.

I have to agree with those who have tried, Pinesol does a wonderful job removing crud. My carb bodies look like new, there are only a few dirty spots left, but they are outside the carbs, so not to worried about that.

The pistons are stained, and soaking them in pinesol didn't seem to free up the stain, but they feel smooth and clean to the touch, I only swirled the rubbers part in the pinesol for a few seconds and then rinsed off just to remove the crud that was on them. Anyone have any suggestions to keeping them in good condition? Armorall?

I got the bowls looking like new, but can't seem to clean out the jet in the bowl, I can fit small wires down in the holes, but can't get air to flow out, so on my way to buy some carb cleaner to see if it can push out the crud.

I didn't take apart the enrichment valves yet, was hoping to find a good tutorial on how to remove and get them back together without screwing them up. It looks like I have to loosen the screw on the rod that connects to each of them one at a time, but my worry is getting them all back in align.

The shaft seals all look in good shape and when moving the butterfly from open to close there is no odd movements, they appear to move smoothly. The bike only has 18k miles on it, so hasn't had a lot of wear on it.

Any quick tips anyone can give will be appreciated.

Thanks,

BTC

 

Re: Noob here, cleaning carbs, question about big piston

http://www.xjbikes.com/Forums/viewtopic/t=8918.html

A tutorial on the cleaning of the enrichment circuit wells.

 

Re: Noob here, cleaning carbs, question about big piston

For the enrichment valves, it will probably help to take a picture of the setup beforehand, just so you can remember how it's all put together. It's a pretty simple layout once you've done it, but the pic definitely helped me the first time.

Also, I think there's a tutorial on here for the entire carb-cleaning process. "how to clean your carbs; the whole nine yards" or something. I'll try to find the link; I followed it and my bike went from "won't start" to "runs like a dream"

 

Re: Noob here, cleaning carbs, question about big piston

Here's a link to that how-to:
http://xjbikes.com/Forums/viewtopic/t=2 ... carbs.html

 

Re: Noob here, cleaning carbs, question about big piston

It lives!!!

I cleaned everything except the enrichment valve, as I was scared to mess with it tonight, will be on my things to do. I did get the jet in the bowl cleaned tho, took carb cleaner and just careful picking with a small strand of wire. But all 4 shoot the cleaner out, they aren't probably 100% cleaned, but gas should help clean them some, and I'm going to order one of the bits from Chacal and will pull the bowls back off then if I'm still having any idle issues.

However, after reassembling the carbs, I was able to fix the needles, they just pushed back into the plastic caps on the springs. All 4 slides clunk when dropped as well.

I put the carbs back in (didn't even bench sync, I know yell at me), however the bike ran pretty good the last time it ran (5 years ago), I figured they were probably close enough to at least get it started.

I hit the starter, and wham, it started. I have to keep the choke on about 10% to keep it running after warming up, but it idles good and has very good power. I rode it around the block a couple times, started off slow and got on it a couple quick hits, and it definitely has good engine breaking now, which it didn't have, so cleaning the slides made a big difference.

So now I need to get the idle adjusted correctly to hopefully get the choke off, and do a vacuum sync and see where I am. I will probably wait tho until I get the valve clearances checked, get the oil changed (it has some gas in it, not a lot but you can smell it), the floats were stuck solid prior to the cleaning, and my friend left it on PRI thinking that was on. But it only had a pint or so of gas in it.

I still need to check the back brakes, probably rebuild the master cylinder as it hardly has any front stopping power. I want to get the SS lines too.

Still need new tires too, anyone got a suggestion for cheap tires online? I don't plan on going on long trips, this will be a daily commuter with an occasional ride with friends. I only live a mile from work, but I'm sure I can find some longer routes to work

Just wanted to say thanks for all the posts that I used for reference to get the bike back to a running state. Depending on how it runs this summer, I will probably do another complete tear down this fall after the riding season is over and go thru all the maintenance schedules, and get everything else the way it should be.

At this point tho, the turn signals work including the auto cancel, something they haven't in 7 years, so the bike is finally legal enough to take the riding test and I can get my full license and be totally legal. Heck right now it has plates that expired in 2005, so that will be one of my first stops on Monday to get that caught up and current. Will then order insurance online too, found it on Progressive for around $107/year, but I think that includes comp and collision, think it's worth it for a bike this old? Otherwise I may drop it down to liability. I have health insurance, so should be covered for any medical bills, tho I don't plan to get hurt if I can help it. I'm not a stupid driver, I don't plan on testing out top speed and don't zig zag thru traffic, my only fear is the person who isn't paying attention.

Anyone else have any suggestions of things to do before I start riding it full time? (Other than back brakes, thats on my things to get done asap list)

Thanks again XJBikes, I love reading all the stories of people bringing these bikes back to life.

BTC

 

QUIT RUNNING THE MOTOR if you know there is gas in the oil, even "just a pint." Change the oil right away. Filter: FRAM CH6003 from almost any auto parts, comes with the o-rings.

Decent inexpensive tires: Kenda, Shinko.

Lots better tires, not super expensive: Dunlop, Bridgestone.

AND NO MORE RIDING PERIOD UNTIL YOU LOOK AT THE REAR BRAKE SHOES. Unless you really want to crash.