Wet Setting Floats - Yes or No

I know the job is a PITA.....but my question is this bike only has 17k....original float valve assemblies with OEM original float needles.....everything is clean really good.....did the whole nine yards with new fuel tube & throttle shaft O-Rings.....

Is it really necessary to wet set if the tangs have never been touched.....I know this because I am the original owner.

I know there probably some wear & tear but I can't imagine the float settings are that far out of spec......if at all....

Are not the factory original settings going to be intact.....I can believe the float settings are going to be far off from one another......

I know I have gone the eight yards.....just not sure about doing the ninth yard ( wet setting )......

 

It sounds like you already have the carbs off of the bike. Considering that you've already done 3/4 of the work that's involved you should go ahead and finish the job. Wet set the floats. You won't know what you'l find until you do. It's a false-economy to put the carbs back on without checking that the fuel level is correct. It's also (in my opinion) a false economy to clean 30 year old carbs, and not replace the float needles and seats. Even though they still seal fine...how much longer until they don't? Then you're back to doing the most difficult part of the job again (removing and re-installing the carbs).

 

so are you saying that 30 year old float needles should be replaced due to wear & tear on the rubber piece of the float needle...the seats are brass are they not......why replace them......

Yes I agree with replacing the float needles only if they are torn up a bit ( due to whatever reason )...... But visibily, they look in great shape & they travel up & down in the float valves with no impedment.

I guess I was looking a shortcut which may not pay off later if I have to pull them off again in the near future.....

They are alot of other 30 year old parts inside these carbs that are not getting replaced......Why are you suggesting the needles & seats.....

Because of the rubber content on the needle ?????

 

I just did my carbs too and when I pulled out the needles two of the rubber caps just fell off. Of course mine were sitting for ten years but definitely better to find bad in your garage than on the side of the road. As far as checking float height, its so easy to check, why not? Then you'll know if you need to dive in deeper our not.

 

With any luck, you may find the levels within spec, then you wouldn't have to adjust the float tangs. On the other hand, if they are out of spec, it would need to be done anyway. Either way is a win win..

 

Yeah, having just rebuilt my carbs I know how big of aPITA this can be. I only had one that needed adjusted, the rest were suprisingly good. I bet I had the bowl off at least 8 or 9 times before I was happy with it.

At a minimum I would check them. That is not hard to do at all.

 

Absolutely. It's part of "normal" maintenance; and will allow you to discover any potential issues before they become major headaches.

Gotta check the valve clearances too; were they done at 3K and every 5K since?

 

Big fitz,

Valve Shims were done in 2010....no miles have been put on the bike since then...

IrrateDave, the rubber tips just don't fall off due to exposure to gas......they must have been exposed to chemical dip at one time.....

All I am saying, if one uses the original OEM float needles & float seats or chooses to buy original OEM replacements ( quite expensive $ 64 / apiece ).....than it may not be necessary to re-adjust....

The aftermarket needles that are much less money are 1mm longer which would require an adjustment of the tangs to set the float levels...

Per Chacal's note:

OEM Hitachi FLOAT NEEDLE VALVE ASSEMBLY NOTE: the OEM float Needle that comes with this set is approximately the same height as the factory Yamaha needle, and it may not be necessary to re-adjust the float level height after installation.

 

it may not be necessary to adjust them but you might as well check them just to make sure, so you don't have to pull them off again later if they happen to be off.

 

maverickbr77, truer words have never been spoken.

 

Original owner? 8O Wouldn't be too many like you on this board would there?

 

What to do if you want to check the fuel level, but the ^&%*$# screws in the bowls won't come out?

I suppose I could pull the whole bowl off and hold a small glass bowl in its place. If I did so, is there any reason I couldn't use water instead of gas, assuming I blow out the passages afterwords? Rather not have that much petrol sloshing around in the open, makes me kinda ill.

 

Water and gas have different densities so would give different readings. That said you could use a glass or gas resistant plastic container as long as the setup was stable so nothing could move around causing odd readings.

Have you tried screwing your bowls to a board upside down and heating them with a butane torch then trying to remove the screws?

 

Wet setting on the bench is not a PITA. It's easy.

Just do it.

 

You could pull the bad bowl off, and replace it with the adjacent good bowl with working drain screw, check the level and and then repeat. Then, get the drain screw out or order a new bowl. That's what I did

 

Good idea. In my case I've got ONE bowl where the screw comes out.

But won't gas (cause yeah, I can see the point about density) just run out the 3 open bowls? I suppose I could use some rubber bands to hold the floats up, though I'd have to be careful not to bend em.

I may try the "screw em to a board plus heat" idea. Though if I can get the job done once. I doubt I'll need to do it again; if I put more than a few thousand miles on the bike, I plan to do a fuel injection conversion.

 

Yeah, you'll need to have all bowls installed to prevent fuel from spilling. So, you'll need to work in steps, replacing one bowl at a time. Kind of tedious, I know, I only had one frozen drain on mine.

 

Setting the carbs up on a stand (or just long alen head bolts into some of the float threads) in a tinfoil cooking pan full of gasoline almost sounds like the more pleasant option. That way I don't need any of the bowls on, and can see exactly what's going on and fix it without all the draining / removing / reattaching.

 

you wouldn't be able to isolate them in a tinfoil pan.

 

I'd just need separate wells for each carb- cut down pop cans should do. Which means a lot smaller surface area for gas to evaporate, so is a good thing anyhow.

It may be an amazing time saver, or an amazing boondoggle. Either way, I promise pictures of the idiotic stunt.