Pilot air mix screw....ack!

Okay, I followed Rick's instructions on carb rebuilding. I've bench synced the carbs too. Now I just need the starting setting for the pilot air mix screws. I thouroughly cleaned them and they are gently bottomed out in their O -rings. How many turns back out do I start with. I know I saw it here, I just can't find it!

 

About 3 turns out.

 

Got it. The next question is:

I got the carbs installed and the bike fired and idled for a bit with the pilot air screws still fully seated. Is that unusual? Also, I have some fuel leakage. I can only see it dripping off the screws to the lower rail that attaches all four carbs together. I see no fuel leakage from topside. Any thoughts as to where it might be coming from? It almost looks like it could be coming from the bottom of the #2 (engine side not airbox side) intake boot and dripping onto the lower rail though I could be wrong. If memory serves, this same intake boot (#2) was the only one wet with fuel when I took the thing apart in the first place. Float setting wrong and its dumping fuel into the intake boot and it's leaking out maybe? While running, taking off of PRIME and putting to ON did seem to slow the gas but it didn't stop. Any ideas out there?

 

You should have shined-up the Inside Diameters of the Float Valve Body's with some extra-fine steel wool or 1200 Finishing Paper.

You must have a Float Sticking.

The Bike WILL Run with the Pilot Mixture Screws Bottomed-out.
The Idle Adjustment Rod is probably opening the Linkage just enough to allow the Butterflys to be opened just enough to sneak-in some Main Jet Fuel.

That, or the Enrichment Valves are letting some Gas get in there. Look to see that they are seated. If the Choke Operating Rod is rusty and you didn't refinish it ... it could stick.

 

I actually replaced the float valve and float valve body in all of them with parts from Chacal. All the floats seemed pretty free when I re-assembled them. I'll do a fuel/float level test before I pull the works apart again.

The float valves Chacal sent are slightly different than the ones that came out. Instead of a small single arm wire hook on top of the needle, there are two wire hooks, one from each side with some fancier wire loops where it attaches to the needle. I just hung the wires over the little tang on the float. Any chance I did it wrong?

Is there any "basic rule of thumb ballpark" setting, measurement or trick for the floats prior to putting the bowls on?. I've seem carbs where one measures float drop or distances from one point to another but never a level check after the bowls are full.

 

Had the bike sat for a while? Did you clean the guide pin passage on each float prior to reassembly? I know when I did mine, they had sat for nearly 10 years, the floats were a little sticky until I had ran it for a while and then they were fine.

 

Come to think of it, I didn't clean the pin passage. I did clean the pins though.

That said, much like yours, the problem seems to have corrected itself. I fired it up again today and SHAZAM! no more leak. As suggested by yourself and Rick, I suspect a stuck float came unstuck. In fact level testing on the suspected carb seems to indicate that the fuel level is a little low.

On to tuning!! Which, I'm sure, will result in many more questions.