Fork rebuild and carb sync...long day

With the guidance and advice of everyone here, i was abe to get closely aquainted with my forks today. The first leg took about 1 1/2 hours, mainly due to figuring out how to get the plug to compress (major grime and corrosion) then having to go to the parts store and buy a 8mm hex wrench to take the bottom part off, then whittle a piece of round rod to hold the inner part to get the fork leg apart. The original seals had turned to stone, almost literaly. Took a drift hammer to remove the first one. The second leg took about a half an hour, due to all the problems being figured out and a process being in use. Let me tell ya, the new forks feel great, no more diving and the bumps are well damped. I went with Progressives measurements for the preload spacer, used PCV and 2 metal washers on top of the spring. On the carb side, I removed the carbs, bench synced them, then reinstalled them and fine tuned the works with the Colortune. Idles at 1000 rpm's and pulls away without a hiccup. Was hoping yesterday to help a friend join our ranks. Found a 1981 Maxim 550 for $700 in the local paper. Went to look at it and missed out by 5 minutes. The guy who bought the bike isn't even going to ride it, he is putting the motor in one of those small rails with the Briggs and Stratton motors. So busy weekend, got lots done and again, a big thanks to all who gave advice. cruzerjd

 

Oh yea ...

Totally sympathizing with you, bro ...
Get all the stuff hooked-up ... toolbox looks like it was ransacked ... stuff on the floor, bench, all other horizontal surfaces and the chair; too.

Just about ready to begin the tweaks and you hear:

"Honey ... Can you take a little break and drive a few things over to the Dark Side of the freakin' Moon"

Sure, baby!
No problem.
I'm not that busy.

 

OK tell me how you did that... I have my engine out right now for stripping and painting, and I would love to be able to sync the carbs, and the rest of the crap while it is out... teach ME!

 

Engine need to be running to sync. them. Carbs can be bench synced though. Look up bench sync on searches and I bet you will find it.

 

But what do you need to get that sucker started on the bench!

 

A wiring harness and a lot of junper wires along with the cdi and charging box. Besides it would more than likely just jump right off the bench when you start it anyway. You would also need you exhaust and air filter hooked up to get it tuned properly Not worth the effort. Wait till you get it back in. Not saying it cant be done. It could but you are looking at a day of work if not more to get it done.

 

I seriously doubt you could get the Producers of MYTHBUSTER'S to have the MithBuster's Team do-up all the Jigs and wiring needed to run the Engine on a bench.

Personally, I'm glad it's not anything you can just do, ... quickly; without a whole lot of hassle ...

Because, ... I know ... if you could do it ... there would be quite a few people, around here, who would be seeing some member of their family looking at them angrily and hearing that person say:

"Richard, it's 2 O'Clock in the mother-something morning. What in the really-bad-word are you doing running that (expletive deleted) engine at this ungodly hour? Are you completely out of your beepity-beep-beep-beeping mind?"

Know what I'm sayin'?

 

I think you think that RickCoMatic has his engine on the bench in his picture. If you look closely at the pic you will see it's in his bike without the fuel tank on.

You take the fuel tank off and run the bike with a small fuel container of some type, that way you have access to all the vacuum ports and also the sync screws on the carbs.

 

Take a old Lawn Mower Gas Tank and mount it on a piece of Pine "Shelf Stock"

So long as the tank is higher than the Carbs ... your in Bidd-nizz!