Golden or What ?

Hi Every one I have 1982 xj 1100 with a few mods , house of color paint , dual head light , batwing fairing , custom sissy bar with brake lights built into it , Jardine 4 into one chrome exhaust . all else is stock . I have cleaning and polishing the cases and cleaning the engine a bit, the cam chain adjuster plug in the nose of the cover was leaking oil not a lot, but over time it left a mess on the front of the engine , after cleaning it I used high temp rtv to seal the plug in and all is well now , no leaking mess on the front of the motor . In the process of cleaning the engine I polished up the pipes . Today I took it for a ride everything checked out well . I just put new barnet springs and friction plates into it . With some help from this site Thanks everyone !!!! OK ,,, when I got home I noticed that the pipes up around the head area were a nice golden color , Is this a good thing ? Haven't done any plug chops yet this year yet maybe I should ?? If anyones got any input on this ramble it would be great ! Thanks again !

 

Could be running a bit lean (= hot), the extra heat will discolor the chrome over time, first gold then blue.

 

How do I get it to the correct heat range ?

 

Are the jets in the carbs stock?
If so you'll likely need to play with the jetting by increasing the pilot and mains in stages. Generally reading the plug color will be the best and least expensive tool for tha process.
You might be able to just richen the idle mixture screws if the jets are close to being rich enough.

If you can post pics of the spark plugs (against a white background, evenly lit, focusing on the insulator and ground strap) we can help figure out where to start. Please indicate which spark plug is from which cylinder (#1 -#4 starting on the left as you sit on the bike).

 

The jets are stock as far as I know . The bike had stock pipes on it when I bought it . The previous owner had the nice 4 into one and threw them in for a little more $ . I have never messed to much with these carbs, other than drain the float bowls . The thing has always started and ran great so other than a plug change (ngk's) I haven't done much In the fine tuning dept. and though I was tempted to put pods on it . I left the stock air box on the machine ! I have cleaned the air filter a couple times . I will post a plug pic , Will the carbs be out of sink if I mess with idle mixture screws ,do they have to be the exact amount of turns out ???? Thanks for your help again !!!!!

 

The mixture screws do not affect the throttle plate synchronization.

Aftermarket exhaust and afermarket filter say rejet is needed. You could put the stock exhaust back on, fit a paper filter, and go riding though.

The number of turns out you need on the idle mixture screws will vary somewhat (even on a new bike). Baseline for yours is 2 1/2 turns out from a soft-seat.

Wait on doing anything until after we get to see the color and condition of the spark plugs.

 

I pulled no. 1 out today and it does seem to be running a little hot I will send a picture soon . What next where exactly is the idle mixture screw the book says not to mess with it because of emissions would these old bikes pass a emissions test ????

 

Had another senior moment , The intake boots /manifolds have cracks in them I smeared high temp silicone on them in hopes that it will seal them up could this be the root of my problem ? My parts bike has descent ones on it but I'm ascared of tearing into it do those intake bolts come out easily ??? That's why I have put that project off .

 

I think you asked this in another thread. You will never (unless the law changes) need to put your machine thorough emissions teasting. Motorcycles are exempt in all 50 U.S. states.
What the manual says is that the consumer should not attmept to adjust the idle mixture screws. That wording is required, but is part of a federal law that is no-longer enforced. As a practical matter, the home mechanic is legally allowed to do all of the work that a profesional shop can do.

The intake boot cracks rarely go all the way through. Using RTV to seal cracks is a time-tested method (and one that I have used in the past). The boots must be very clean for that to work though. You can test for vacuum leaks by methodically spraying carb cleaner around the intakes and carb bodies.

 

Here's a picture of plug number 1

 

Sorry for the blury pic is it good enough ?

 

So it would prolly be a big no no to take the baffles out of these pipes then ??? Me like noise ... at least Heavy metal thunder !!!

 

Maybe----

That's ideal for my 700, a little light for my 750 or 900

Is that where you get your best colortune?

 

You could take all 4) plugs and find a light colored piece of cardboard and then stick them all into the cardboard face-up as you have w/ that one plug;keep them in order from cyls. 1 thru 4.The tough part is taking a good still pic,at least for me

 

Ok I will try that , Thanks hog, I'm kind of a greenhorn photographer too . Should I get some new plugs and run them for a bit then take a look ,the plugs in it now are old like I don't know how old ???

 

I would use fresh standard heat-range plugs and do a special 'jetting run' at high speed w/ the throttle opened-up ! Then shut it down right away;I suspect the jetting might be a little lean..
Taking pics is hard for me when I need to keep completely still.