starting on a new bike.

Hi, I just bought an 85 xj700. It was billed as a good running daily driver and I even had to wait a week to go give it a test ride because the owner said it was in the shop having the carbs cleaned and tuned. Oh yeah and that it had never been dropped or laid over but had had a tree limb fall on it in the ice storm we just had that broke a mirror. All lies. Here is a list of the things I have seen that need to be done and my plans to fix it. If anyone sees a step I have missed after lurking here and reading all the tech posts I can find feel free to point it out before I miss a step please. Oh yeah and anyone that has a colortune plug that lives near Fayetteville Arkansas, I have beer. Everything is having to be done on a total inadequate budget and with no tools, just moved and can't find anything.

OK cosmetic
Scratches, scrapes, bent engine guard, broken mirror, tarp melted to exhaust headers.
Replace mirrors. Try to straighten gaurd replace when feasible. Attempt to clean plastic from exhaust. Ignore everything else for now.

General safety and maintenance.
Changed brake fluid.
Rear shoes on order.
Changed differential oil.
Try to find out what's wrong with speedo and fix and or replace cable.
Adjusted clutch to proper tension.
When possible replace master cylinder.
Replace broken ignition.
Install inline fuel filter.
Check valves.

Carbs puking into airbox.
Changed oil but not filter until after carbs fixed then fresh all, same for air filter.
Ordered lower end carb rebuild kit.
When its here drink, poke carbs with screwdriver and frown. Drink, repeat. Remove carbs and check boots for cracks, fix replace.
Frown at carbs, poke again, drink.
Begin disassembly taking pictures and notes and drawing sketches of everything every quarter turn of a screw.
Clean and replace with new from kit.
Clean it all again.
And again.
And once more for luck.
Avoid breaking rack during this.
Double check jets are properly placed and enrichment circuit is clean.
Clkunk test. Realize that should have been done first.
Assemble check bench sync against light.
Wet set.
Install replace air filter.
Vacuum sync with homemade manometer and yics tool.
Set mixture by chops and plug inspection.
Vacuum balance again.

Somewhere in the middle of the carbs have a nervous break down and start sacrificing virgins and unicorns to every god in the world and when I run out go dig out a D.D manual and continue with those just to be safe.

Break down and clean carbs again and repeat entire cleaning and balancing process.

Thanks to everyone that's looks this over and extra thanks to anyone that points out a mistake I have planned.

 

Sounds like the floats are stuck or not set right. Make sure those valves are in spec before you start on the carbs.
One more thing to replace would be the brake lines.
Welcome from NW Mississippi.

 

Thanks. I plan to do the valves after I have pulled the carbs but before I start on them and brake lines when I buy a new master cylinder.

 

OK I am waiting for my carb kits to come in to fix a leaky float. But since the weather is finally nice and I couldn't smell any gas in the oil after I changed it I drained what was in there and put in some fresh then took a short trip up to Eureka springs to see how the new windshield I put on affected the handling and wind blast. Yes not smart but I couldn't resist. And I damn near spent the whole ride screaming whee into my helmet running on old Hwy 62 from Rogers in NWA, bad roads, wind gusts of forty miles an hour. I jhad forgotten just how much fun it is to ride a bike and even when your going slow. I took the recommended speed and added ten since I need to get back in practice. The joy and freedom from going slow in, leaning hard and twisting so you just fly right on through. I actually meant to just go around the block and hit a section where the speed limit is 45, but man. Bikes are just so F@#$ing great I didn't realize how much I actually missed it. And I never even hit the power band.

 

yup, valve adjust is about the only thing you missed there. I personally would not bother to "flush the front brakes. instead I would go straight to complete rebuild and replacement of the brake lines.

CN

 

Thanks for looking it over. I cannot afford new brake lines for another week or two. Then I am going with a new master cylinder and brake lines all in one go. And I am going to change my fork oil then too. I bought some armored riding gear to help with possible wrecks instead of buying the things to prevent them. Lol. Willy E. Coyote, Super genius. Thats me.

 

Good idea with the gear, and be careful. I went a while without attending to the brakes, and I'm doing it all over again on account of the shortcuts I took. Do it right the first time and it's way easier.

Do the valves ASAP, it's worth it. I have a whole pile of shims kicking around that may be the right sizes. There's a shim pool around the site, as well.

 

Thanks, I had to order a new set of feelers that will be in with my carb kits and I was planning to check them and find some new shims if I need them while I am working on the carbs. I am thinking that it should be about a four hour job to properly clean and sync them so I have four days planned for me to actually get it done right. I thought that we be enough time to get any replacement shims that I needed in since work days don't count towards the cleaning and reconditioning of the carbs but does count towards shipping time on the shims.

 

I may have just Broken something. Cleaned and did a lower end rebuild on my carbs. Went fine. Wet set, painfully slow process but done correctly. We have rain coming in so I went out and was hurrying to reinstall the carbs so I could put the bike in the garage.

When installing the throttle cable to the carbs due to the failing light I did not see that the cable end was not all the way down in its retainer. I twisted the throttle but it didn't move so I relaxed it and then twisted again. There was a snap and now it will not close on its own. Its not the cable the part of the rack that the throttle arm is attached to pulled so that the adjustment screws were facing straight back. I levered it back down so that it is where it should be.

I am starting my work week and I work twelves so I won't have any time to see how bad the damage is until Sunday night. Any suggestions on what I broke and what to check would be appreciated.

Thanks for the guides that let me get through the cleaning without a hitch.

 

Just a bump to help get an awnser, hopefully someone will say there is just a spring there that must have snapped or slipped vs ruined butterfly valves.

 

That would help if you could remove the fuel tank and take a picture of the throttle arm where the cable goes in. It is probably where something is broken.

IF you don't own a digital camera, I could post a picture of what this arm is supposed to look like on my spare rack.

 

My guess would be that one of the throttle cable return springs either snapped or just popped out of place. Seeing as that is what provides the pressure for the butterflies to close.

 

Thank you. That's what I was hoping but I have an hour commute each way and haven't had time to even look at the pictures I took let alone the carbs themselves.

 

Here is a link to a photobucket album the last three pictures are more related to your problem. This is a rack off of a XJ750 (probably '83) but it should be quite similar in this regard.

http://tinyurl.com/k24azly


Edit: not sure about the last three, because photobucket probably mixed htem with the others already in the album...

 

Here is probably the best of the three pictures I just took.

 

Thank you. That let's me see exactly what spring it is that most likely broke. I appreciate it.

 

You're welcome. I find it very handy to have a spare rack on a shelf to help clarify some questions.

 

When I saw how many of the issues on this site were carb related I started looking for a spare rack just to keep set up and on hand.

 

Not a bad idea. My rack is in very good shape (almost looks like new) but curiously the diaphragms on the slides that came with it were so worn out that the whole thing isn't usable for the moment.

 

This is probably a reason why so many of us have multiple bikes, a complete parts bike is currently almost the same price as a spare carb rack.

 

Thanks for the pictures again. I just got up early, for me, and came and pulled my carbs. All my springs are n the right place and the butterflies snap closed off the bike so I think I had a clamp interfering with the throttle assembly. If I didn't have your pics and mine though I would have wasted hours trying to find the spring that isn't there.

 

That's what this forum is for!

 

Now I just have to find a way to get that side cover off so I can check my valves

 

Do you mean the left hand side engine cover? Why is it difficult to remove?

 

I am kind of surprised. I have read so many horror stories on here but this bike really hasn't been that hard to do any thing on so far. Of course I haven't had to actually sync the carbs yet but that really doesn't seem like it will be a big deal. The resources on this site are great.

 

Oh I have lost my impact driver, just have to get a new one. But I sent my wife to go get an Allen head socket set so I bam sitting here online plotting while I wait

 

Ha hahaaahhaaaaa its alive alive. Valves checked and in spec, carbs PROPERLY installed this time. Minor electrical repairs complete. She starts and runs. Time to sync her and annoy all those neighbors with day jobs that think night time is for sleeping not repair work.

 

Right on!

 

All right. I need some more help now. Yesterday she ran. I changed the rear brake shoes. All I touched on the carbs was the idler knob to turn it down slightly. Now no joy. Spark turn over on starter without trying to catch. Fuel to carbs. Just no joy. I have air, fire and fuel but no bamng, not even a cough. I am stumped here.

 

Never mind. As soon as I started checking the other cylinders to see if all four had fire the boots began just dropping off the ends of the wires. OK me had been stuck on by wrapping Teflon tape around the wire and pulling the boot over it. Now I am stumped as o how it ran at all on the two rides I did go for on it.

 

For anyone searching later for a problem with no spark, loose plug caps, plug caps falling off from the ignition coil I have found a temporary road fix. Go to ACE or your preferred hardware store and get a crimp connection for 22-14 gauge wire. Don't get the inline style. Get the kind that are shaped like a wire nut. Strip off about a 1\4 of insulation from your plug wire to expose a like amount of wire. If you cut off the plastic right after the barrel on the crimp connector at the narrow end you will have a piece that is sized perfectly to slide over you exposed coil wire. Fat end first, that will have just enough space in the barrel end for the plug cap to screw into making solid connection to the bared wire. Slide the boot cover back over your new connection and you can drive home to properly replace your coil with a new/used one with properly attached boots. https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B3cnIpR ... cslist_api

 

Well I get some more joy. Yesterday was almost 60 so I rode in too work. This morning when I got off it was about 30. I hit a patch of black ice coming home and laid her down. I kept ahold and dropped her on top of me, I was doing 20, so the only damage was a little scraping to a crash guard and a mirror. But, somehow it looks like the middle seal and print blew. When I wheeled her into a parking lot and restarted her there it was, oil draining from the drive shaft boot. Seemed to stop when I killed her. That's a cheap enough fix but if anyone can think of anything else that might have been damaged when that blew please let me know so I can check it out too.

 

Looked on my way to work, I had forgotten about the crankcase vent tube. I might have not been able to see a drip from that in the dark by flashlight. Might just be from that with the drip stopping and engine being cut off just a coincidence.