Is this normal for '82 XJ650 Carbs

I got this '82 XJ650 for free awhile back, and I am finally in a place to start working on it. I took the carbs off because every one of them was leaking fuel. I put new gaskets in, changed jets, but still dealing with leaking.

I am going to check float height next, but I noticed where the fuel line goes from the tank to the carbs, the nipple part on the carbs rotates freely. Is this a normal thing?

 

yes , thats normal, its a circular "T" piece either with a plastic coating or with "O" rings

 

Awesome, thanks for the reply. I figured it was fine, but with leaking fuel I wanted to verify.

 

Often, if the bike's been sitting for ages, the T-piece O rings or coating will dry out and leak, but within a day will start to seal again, for years.
Of course, if it's a really old and well knackered T-piece, it won't ever seal again like that.

 

Can you elaborate on "every one of them was leaking fuel"? From where? Only while running?
Why did you change jets?
When checking float height, fuel level in the bowl is more important than a float-height measurement with the carbs apart. And also look at the float "sag" when the bowls are empty. If the floats hang too low when the bowls are empty (fuel evaporated), the needle WILL get caught, and won't seat when fuel is reintroduced to the bowl. You'll definitely get leaking carbs when that happens. DAMHIK.

 

I took the carbs off, and measured the float height. Every one of them was way off. Supposed to be 17.5mm, they were at like 13. Adjusted them, and put everything back on and everything seems to be good. I even got to start it and hear it run for a bit for the first time. I still have a list of things to do on it before it's road worthy, but it was a nice win.

 

So, I got the bike from someone that said they had cleaned the carbs "except one jet that wouldn't come off." The bike was in non-running condition and the engine was seized. Managed to break it free with some penetrating fluid and a wrench.

I opened up the carbs and one of them was mangled from using the wrong size screwdriver. Little pieces of brass hanging off of it. I had ordered a rebuild kit for the carbs since the gaskets were super gummed up and brittle. It came with replacement jets, so I figured I would switch them out. Got the mangled one off as well.

As for the leaking, because I trusted him about the carbs, I added gas and they all leaked out the overflow. So when I pulled the carbs off the second time, I used calipers and tested the float heights. Every one was off by about 4.5mm. I got them adjusted, and now everything seems to be working as intended.

Added some gas to the tank and after some heavy cranking it eventually fired up and seems to idle well. Still have work to do on the brakes before I can't test ride it, but it's a step in the right direction.

 

You need to realize dry setting of the floats is only a rough measure. The floats should always be wet set, you will see how far off your dry setting is. You may be adjusting them back to where they were to get a correct wet measurement.

 

650 doesn’t have that kind of fuel T…. The 650 is metal with o-rings, not the rubberized plastic like Mikuni carbs got.