Long road trip, how to prepare.

My dad is off to Oklahoma in April, and wants me to go with. Its about 4-5 days of 6-7 hour rides from here in the north bay area. He has a nice comfortable BMW r1200gs.

The problem, as I see it, is the gearing on these bikes is not so good for going 70-80 miles an hour. I have everything in a pretty damn fine level of tuning, but theres always issues that come up with anything 30 years old.

I want to build a good toolkit, and maybe get some mounts together for a rotopax to extend my range. I've installed THIS to put tools in, and some spare parts (I have two of them mounted to a luggage rack).

What kind of parts should I bring along? Plugs? Cables? Electrical wire/connectors? Bolts?

The other issue I'm having is that my plugs are looking too lean on multiple plug chops once I get into the 4-5000rpm range. If I'm not mistaken, the only way to ameliorate this, is by going up a couple sizes on the main fuel jets? Shimming the diaphragm needle won't change anything, right? I really just want to richen it into the WOT transition. Whats the best way to do this? Dynojet it just to stage 1?

Thanks for any and all replies!

 

first start by setting on a cement block for a few hours each day to build up your endurance to butt pain
on a stock bike one size on the main jet is a lot, maybe too much. cruising at 5k is still on the needle jet, shimming the needle might be all you need. if your close now, only change one thing at a time and only a little bit.
do you have the tube in the airbox lid?
remember with the gas we have now that white insulator on the plugs tends to stay white, look for the carbon on the ring around the end of the plug.
if your going up in altitude you'll naturally run richer

 

"Tube" on the air box cover? I have everything I can think of installed on the airbox. The drain nipple broke off, but I cemented a replacement tube back on and the seal is pretty tight. I guess I'll try shimming the needles first. What increments do you recommend? I had an issue with one needle getting nicked in the rebuild process, so I ordered a replacement from Len, but it was pretty stiff in its up and down play, so I need to polish it anyway.

 

the oval hole in the airbox lid should have a rubber hose fitted to it that extends about 3 inches into the airbox. it'll make a very slight difference towards richer and quiet the intake a bit

 

The peice labeled "14"? I have that for sure.



How much should I try shimming the needles? Start with .1mm?

 

COMFORT: With highway footpegs, these bikes aren't that bad for longer distances. I had to adjust my highway footpegs location a few times to find the perfect comfort spot. I made my bike into a bagger with a decent windshield. For me, a windshield is essential for longer trips. If you dont have any luggage for the bike, I seen soft saddle bags at the local walmart for about $60. They also have a padded seat cover for an atv that I tried. Wife loved it but I didn't like the way it fit(it needed to be a few inches longer), so I took it back. Fittin it for a solo ride might work better. Foam grips are great!

As for parts, I carry tail light bulbs, fuses, spark plugs, oil, electrical tape and wire, duck tape. I also carry 2 sets of wrenches, screwdriver set and a few pairs of pliers. I really don't know what other parts you could carry. Maybe someone else would know.

 

try more like .8mm, 1/32 or .032 inch, that's about what one notch is on a adjustable needle

 

BTW with redline over 9k, running at 75mph for long distances(5500rpm on my 750 maxim) isn't that hard on the motor.(once you get the bike running too lean fixxed).

 

can of fix-a-flat and or sticky rope tire plugs. somebody should have something to pump up a tire

 

Maybe I spoke too soon....

I got some aluminum washers installed on the needles just to see how it would react, they all measured out to .035" which is quite an increase. Still, I figured it might give me an idea.

Long story short, the bike is running so LEAN it hardly wants to fire. I got it to idle, but couldn't get CYL1 dialed in, and when I checked CYL2, it wasn't even firing until I had almost removed the mixture screw.

I'm going to start from the beginning on all this. Everything. Valve clearances, vacuum sync, and colortune. I need to isolate what the problem is.

My plug chop at 5K today had no color. White. Zilch. And when I idled a bit in the driveway when I got back, it was still straight white.

I swear, the thing ran great before I went through this second round of fine tuning. Plugs always looked OK, but definitely had some lean spots up high.

Shitty.

Any ideas would be appreciated. I'm at the end of my rope!

 

That much is simply not true. Properly tuned (valves in spec, float levels spot on, vacuum sync spot on, mixtures sorted, back to showroom spec) these bikes will run 70 ~ 80mph all day. I regularly run my 550s at those speeds; I tend to cruise at around 80 whenever possible and often run the bike virtually all day at those speeds (a couple hundred mile romp in the countryside.)

Granted, the stock setup is a tad lean for EPA reasons but the bike should be capable of cruising at 70 or 80 pretty much all day without damaging anything providing it's in a good state of tune.

Throwing a shim under the needles isn't a bad idea, it was a very popular mod back in the day and the best part is, it's EASILY REVERSIBLE if it doesn't produce the desired results.

But if you're truly running lean, then double-check the items listed above. And if you've "short cut" anything, go back and get it right. Then you won't have to worry, which is a really cool feeling. (Just riding without any "equipment" worries whatsoever.)

 

Dammit, man; you type faster than I do.

Taking into account what I gave you and what you've done so far I have two additional suggestions:

-Vacuum leak

-Throttle shaft seals.

Did you submerge still-assembled carbs during the cleaning process?

 

Ha, too much time at a computer these days. I took the carbs down to nothing, scoured them clean, and replaced absolutely everything rubber in them, including the throttle shaft seals. I honestly don't know what I did in that last step to cause an issue.

The washers I used were aluminum #6, and my caliper measured them at .034-.035.

All I did was remove the carb hats, withdraw the diaphragms, took out the needles, and added the washer. Re assembled in reverse order, and it ran terribly.

I'm going to remove them tomorrow after i recheck my valve clearances cold, and see how she behaves. One of my mixture screws was like 4.5 turn out and feeling kind of loose, so something else has to be up for it to be that far out.

Air jets are in the right spots(50 in the middle hole), and everything else seems spot on.

Back to basics....

 

And I've messed around with propane around all of my carb and intake boots, and I can't get it to rev at all...

 

"All I did was remove the carb hats, withdraw the diaphragms, took out the needles, and added the washer. Re assembled in reverse order, and it ran terribly."
well if that's true, then you might not have the diaphragms seated under the carb hats right.
on my 750 i can take the diaphragms out with the carbs still on the bike, look into that, might save you some time

 

lacuca,

You want your bike to get peak performance from each individual carb. When this occurs the settings for each individual carb may be the same but not necessarily. The settings, however, will be close from one to another on all four (it's how the carbs were designed and why they use the same needles, jets, etc.). To sync the carbs is to have all four running at peak performance at the same time. Sounds like you're shimming the needles to try to force the carbs to sync. If your bike has good spark at each plug cap and is not firing in the hole on any given cylinder without almost removing the mixture screw your bike has a fuel delivery issue and is probably out of sync. When it's out of sync, firing cylinders will work overtime to compensate for the ones that aren't causing all kinds of erratic behavior. IMO you're on track...hit the refresh button, make sure the carbs are zestfully clean, set the carbs back up to stock configuration making sure everything function as it should. Do a good bench sync, get the fuel levels spot on and set your mixture screws 2.75 ~ 3 turns out. Check the valve shims. When all of this is in order your bike should idle without the aid of the enrichment circuit (choke). Take it for a 20 mile ride to warm it up. Put a big fan or a couple fans on the engine, use the adjustment knob for #3 to bring the idle to 1200rpms and do the running sync. Take short rides for a couple days to let everything settle then plug chop it. Tweak the mixture screws (They shouldn't move but a slight bit). Ride it another 20 miles. Check the sync. At this point you should be able to run 75mph all day...easily. Hope this helps.

Roc

 

Good advice all around, thanks for the help everyone.

A little further mystery: the #1 carb has had issues with adjustment. Whereas the other 3 carbs react to very fine mixture adjustments, #1 takes whole entire turns without ever really going orange. Just like OCASSIONALLY orange as viewed through the colortune. As if it may have a particle clogging one of the passages. I might as well remove the rack while I'm in here and make sure that the mixture screw circuit is clear of debris.

I'll be back at it tomorrow AM early with the results I get. Hell, I'm even going to throw a compression test on the list, while I'm at it. covering all of the bases.

Valve Clearances
Compression Check
3 turns out
Vacuum Sync
Colortune
Vacuum Sync
Colortune

 

One of these might be nice too
http://www.thecycleguys.com/go-cruise-t ... -assist-1/
I have yet to buy one because With my current grips it wouldnt work well but a friend of mine has one and loves it

 

May I suggest -
Ear plugs,
I have a sheep skin to sit on, but a towel will also work to absorb "butt sweat" to keep you from getting "monkey butt".
Lube your clutch cable, brake pivot points, and all other moving parts.

 

Yeah, I got a "crampbuster", and it seems to help out tremendously.

I also have an old sheepskin that I was definitely going to strap on for the ride, I've heard good things.

Mechanical update: all valves are in specs so that's crossed off the list.

 

So in removing my carb to air box boots, I see that the bottom lip on the carb side has been working its way off. It's by no means loose, but it could be causing an air leak.

When I install the carbs, that bottom lip is always at an angle, and I have to really push it against the carbs as I tighten down the clamp. Is this a common experience?

Meanwhile, the clamp fastening screws on the carb to air box boots are bottoming out before they feel really tight. I may try using "normal" plumbing type hose clamps, even though I don't really like them. They seem not to put even pressure all the way 'round.

Do the carb to intake boots differ at all, or are they all the same? I may have gotten them mixed up, if so.

 

No, but they shrink after 32 years and no amount of boiling will make them the right size again.

When they get that shrunk (so much that they won't stay clamped any more) the only real solution is to replace them. Fortunately they're not horribly expensive. Check with Len.

 

I threw 'me in some boiling water and it seemed to help a lot. Before they had all sorts of bends and angles on the mating surface. Now they're almost all the same shape. Installed them with stainless plumbing clamps, and got creative with a dremel and washers to move the airbox assembly a bit closer and down a bit.

They fit a bit easier, and are now vertical. Hopefully the new clamps bite a bit more where it counts, even if it's just a temporary fix.

I removed the washers, and reassembled everything after blowing out all of the passages I could access with a few jets of carb cleaner.

One thing...The needles don't sit flat because of the little nub in the bottom of the diaphragm. This is normal right?

Waiting on the valve cover paint to dry, then I'm going to see how it runs.

 

Got it running again.

Compression test results warm:
#1: 150
#2:145
#3: 150
#4:150

Vacuum synced at 4K rpm
Color tuned to the "green" color right after blue, and took it about a hair past that. I'd rather be a bit rich after this whole experience.

Re-vacuum synced and colortuned one more round to the same spot.

It runs and idles well, but only a plug chop will tell if I'm still lean on the highway.

I'm going to ride to get some new plugs, They get a little overworked through the process.

One thing- #1 cylinder which has consistently given me the most problems idles with vacuum way less than the other three. It's only at the higher Roma that it levels out. Is this normal? The idle mixture screw is also about 4.5 turns out(fine thread).

I think I'll end up replacing the whole thing to see if it evens out with the others.

Got some shimming washers which should come on Tuesday, so if the plug chop still reads lean, I'm going to try throwing in a .008" shim.

Hopefully it doesn't turn into a mess like it did last time...

Thanks for all the help, everybody!

 

And some pics, because everyone like those...

Hand guards, not very pretty, but very effective at keeping you're hands toasty.


Tool and gas tubes


All hooked up

 

Also, anybody ever use a 90/100-19 front tire? I'm looking into one and they don't have 100/90-19's. If I recall correctly it's actually closer to spec...

 

All of my bikes call for 90/90/19 tires and I have 100-90-19's on every single one of them - my two XJ650's, XJ550, Virago 1100, and Virago 700. There is no problem with these tires, so feel free to use what fits!

 

Yeah, I suppose if the 90/90 fits, the 90/100 has to...just a taller tire.

Thanks!

 

Should be done at around 1050 RPM not 4K!

 

I've seen opinions both ways. If I'm going to be running at 4K for like 3 hours, I want it to be pulling equal vacuum at that rpm.

I could be wrong, so I'm up for suggestions.

When I sync at 1050, it never stays equal through the rev range.

 

It's not a matter of "opinion" Yamaha built the bikes and they said vac sync at 1050~1100rpm and then adjust the idle back to 1050. That's for idle. Once the butterflies are beyond about half open, that sync is no longer having an effect on anything.

Four grand is not quite in the "happy" range; you're going to be on trailing throttle a lot and the slides won't be fully open enough to get up onto the mains alone.

To be able to "trickle" along at low RPM and cruise at lower RPM (anything below 6K) not only does your vacuum sync (at 1050) need to be spot on, your float levels had better be uber-precise and your pilot mixtures dialed in, because they're going to still be called upon.

If you vac sync at 4K it ain't gonna idle for squat.

 

Thanks for chipping in, Fitz.

It's idling okay, but it still takes 2-3 blips of the starter to catch. Might be the reason.

This is a non-yics engine...would that make any difference?

The fluid displaced at the two rpm ranges is significantly different. Like cylinder pulls way harder at 4K, so when it returns to idle, it ends up well below the others.

I'll give it a try and see how she does. Waiting on shocks anyway so I might as well be tuning....