Setting floats question

You might be able to "Straighten-Out" those Clips.

You need a Pair of Needle-nosed Pliers that are Smooth-jawed.

9-Bucks.

http://shorinternational.com/PliersChainNose.php

Google Smooth Jaw Needle-nose and there's a Craft Place selling a Pair for 4-Bucks.

 

So what do I do...just crimp them in until they fit better?

 

That's about it!
Remove trapezoidal shape.
Create rectangular fitting "Box".

Or, ... Swap the Clips for ones on other Needles.
(If they fit)

The Wires on Pins I've been getting-in from clients who bought them from the Dealership near where they live, ... are: L-shaped, open-boxed, with a long Wire that crosses-over the whole Tang.

 

Okay picked up the washers this morning and installed them in all 4

Definitly tightens things up but still have good movement of float with almost no side to side play.

Filled 'em up and......MAYDAY ;-) !!!

#'s 2,3,4 promptly overflowed...hmmmmmm, they were fine yesterday when i left em

Made some small adjustments to tangs and now have 3 in the upper yellow zone and 1 in the lowest possible yellow zone....basically even with the head of the bowl screw.

Have not adjusted the needle wires yet...I'm almost afraid to touch things now. Whatcha think...stay with what I've got or start jacking with the wires?

 

Well damn...I am fresh out of humor and patience. nothing seems to wrk as far as getting these floats to set right and permanently.

I have tried ALL of the suggestions given and still the same old thing. I can get the levels right but they won't stay there.

I was really hoping shimming the float pins and adjusting the wire guides on the needles would do the trick... unfortunately not.

Are there any professionals on this site thay I can send them too to get it done right?

 

Have you run the bike?

Personally, I would just get them as close as you can....slap them on, and ride it for a while.
The "exercising" the rubber and having gas flow through them plus all the vibration may get them settled in and seated better.

I suspect at this point, the little springs in the plungers are strong enough to seal them SOME of the time but other times, they just don't quite settle in...the dynamics of riding may just get them broke in better.
Run it for a couple weeks and then maybe pull them off and re-adjust. The rubber may soften a bit with the many open/close cycles.
On my last restore, the carbs were off and back on a number of times before they finally settled in and stayed exactly where I set them.
Get close, run it....and pull them and check again.

Heck, it may just purrrr like a kitty cat and make you forget all this aggravation
I think you have pretty much exhausted all the other options and it would sure be nice to put some miles on it after all this painful effort.

 

If you take Designer_Mike's advice, make sure that your petcock operates properly, and that you only leave it on "ON." Leave a bubble at the top of your oil window and check it often, to make sure you don't get gas in your oil.

And don't park it near any ignition sources (like a waterheater in your garage, etc).

 

Well the weird thing is that it is either set...or way overflowing.

Spent a little more time scoping things out and I did notice a couple things.

Before I say this though understand...P.O.s!!! lol Meaning i have no idea how things are supposed to look

Okay...think floats and orientation....

With the carbs on the rack and level, float bowls off....

i am looking at the floats and they are slightly cocked to one side...as in in one side hangs lower than the other. I do have to jack with each pin a little bit to get them thru both pillars

Looking at the pin passage on #1 float, the "curls" of steel that make the loop that the float pin passes thru are uneven...In other words there is a bigger gap on one than on the other.

I'm guessing this is what makes the float "wonky" as I assume it should hang pretty close to level or even. Is that how they are supposed to be? Level-ish?

I adjusted the gap of the curls on float #1 to where they were even (I measured) and re-installed it. Looks better and the pin installed much easier, could only use 1 washer though as now 2 won't fit.

Any guesses on how loose the pins should be inside the floats? I think I may be on to something here.... Anyone have a good float handy that they could snap a pic of that gap...maybe with a ruler measuring the gap?

If the POs really jacked these up cranking things up/down with large needlenose or what ever maybe this is the source of the mystery binding

 

That's what I did with my Mikunis, I set them one time, making sure the level was correct. I installed them and synced them up. The bike runs pretty darn good.
I'll pull them again this spring, clean out the fuel bowls and check them over, and reset the fuel levels at that time (if anything has changed). I cannot imagine the viton tips swelling enough to change your fuel level much. There just isn't that much material (viton) there. I just always thought viton was not suppose to swell at all.
I used the K&L renew kits with no problems.

 

This whole process ought to take less than two hours.
(Including being anal about it an wanting them all "Perfect")

Dress the Float Bodies with 2500.
Twist 3 ~ 4 times.
Clip "Used portion" off. Do all four.

Clean everything.

Then, do the setting process I posted earlier.

If you cant get the Floats to be within +/- 2mm's
Or some are still way off.

Get rid of them.
They are NOW rendered OFFICIALLY, ... More trouble than they are worth!

 

What does "used portion" mean?

 

If you look at them from the back and one side float hangs lower than the other....that's not good!
When the fuel rises, one float will try to raise before the other and it will try to twist it. (not a lot mind you, but they may not lift uniformly).

Take a photo from the back of the entire rack with the bowls off and floats installed.

Those pins should SLIDE into the holes easily with ZERO effort. No amount of polishing is gonna make them pivot easily if the holes are mis-aligned. You shouldn't need to "jack the pins around" at all.

I agree with Rick...toss those floats already!
Chacal has got to have a used set he can make you a deal on.

 

Get rid of them.
They are NOW rendered OFFICIALLY, ... More trouble than they are worth!

That is goooood advice and funny.

 

LEVEL-ish??? 8O uhh...level would be more like it.

At this point, I gotta go with "Officially rendered more trouble than they're worth."

That metal, once bent, is never going to straighten smoothly enough to be precise enough for this. If the "curled pockets" where the pins go are all jacked up, the supports for the floats bent, and the floats hanging unevenly...

just replace them with some straight ones.

Get ahold of chacal, or get on eBay. If they don't hang straight (and therefore will float up in a twisting motion) then you've found your problem.

"got dem low down PO blues again, mama..." Sorry.

 

Thanks gents! I picked up 2 really cheap but good floats this morning...I'm going to try those first and if I have success on 2 carbs I'll get 2 more and finish this baby up!

Once again, THANK YOU to everyone who has listened to me bitch and done their level best to offer good troubleshooting/fixing advice.

One thing is for sure, I know these babies like the back of my hand by now ;-)

 

The "Used Portion" is the BAND of Paper that will pick-up a Brass coloration as it Polishes the Inside Diameter of the Float Valve Body.