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Log Entry #9
Osea, thanks for the input. The XV500K is a one-year bike and has many unique parts, not common to other Viragoes. The carb set up is unusual. The float bowl is not a top-and-bottom, but a side-to-side, so the gasket is an o-ring, not a fiber card. The petcock is vacuum controlled, but has an outlet to a fuel pump, then to the carbs, then BACK OUT OF THE CARBS, back to the petcock, and then gas goes back into the tank after being pumped through the carbs. The petcock has been completely slaughtered and parts are impossible to find, so I just filled it in with gasket strips and I'm relying on the needles to hold the gas back. I adjusted the carbs to lean it out, as at first it seemed very rich, but I think that was just flooding. I'm going to try to readjust float levels this weekend and see what happens. The damned manual has a neat picture of the float level being determined on the bike as being 12-13mm from the midpoint of the bowl...but is the midpoint marked? Nope. And with the +/- being 1mm, the midpoint is pretty important, no?
Dan, I was in the process of adapting a tractor solenoid to replace the corroded one, and used it to start the bike several times, but then broke down and paid $32 for a spot-on replacement. The starting side is all intact now, including the relays, TCI, and solenoid.
I was trying to go cheapo, as my wife was convinced that the bike was a goner. She has said, however, that she'd be impressed as hell if I ever got the POS roadworthy. That's worth a little work, isn't it?
I'm convinced that the thing that caused the bike to be abandoned was the faulty relay. Someone not bike-savvy might be stymied by a bike with power that doesn't even try to start. The real problem I'm dealing with now is repairing the other PO's misguided attempts to repair something when they didn't know what was wrong.
I can see lights on the horizon at night. I've explored the island a little and found the wreckage of a plane, probably a Japanese bomber, but it's hard to tell, as it's in a hundred-yard-long wreckage field, just bits and pieces, and the jungle has grown up around it. I've made a passable rope with woven palm fronds and lashed several palm logs together and I might try to drift into the shipping lanes when the wind is right. Hope is not yet lost.
Osea, thanks for the input. The XV500K is a one-year bike and has many unique parts, not common to other Viragoes. The carb set up is unusual. The float bowl is not a top-and-bottom, but a side-to-side, so the gasket is an o-ring, not a fiber card. The petcock is vacuum controlled, but has an outlet to a fuel pump, then to the carbs, then BACK OUT OF THE CARBS, back to the petcock, and then gas goes back into the tank after being pumped through the carbs. The petcock has been completely slaughtered and parts are impossible to find, so I just filled it in with gasket strips and I'm relying on the needles to hold the gas back. I adjusted the carbs to lean it out, as at first it seemed very rich, but I think that was just flooding. I'm going to try to readjust float levels this weekend and see what happens. The damned manual has a neat picture of the float level being determined on the bike as being 12-13mm from the midpoint of the bowl...but is the midpoint marked? Nope. And with the +/- being 1mm, the midpoint is pretty important, no?
Dan, I was in the process of adapting a tractor solenoid to replace the corroded one, and used it to start the bike several times, but then broke down and paid $32 for a spot-on replacement. The starting side is all intact now, including the relays, TCI, and solenoid.
I was trying to go cheapo, as my wife was convinced that the bike was a goner. She has said, however, that she'd be impressed as hell if I ever got the POS roadworthy. That's worth a little work, isn't it?
I'm convinced that the thing that caused the bike to be abandoned was the faulty relay. Someone not bike-savvy might be stymied by a bike with power that doesn't even try to start. The real problem I'm dealing with now is repairing the other PO's misguided attempts to repair something when they didn't know what was wrong.
I can see lights on the horizon at night. I've explored the island a little and found the wreckage of a plane, probably a Japanese bomber, but it's hard to tell, as it's in a hundred-yard-long wreckage field, just bits and pieces, and the jungle has grown up around it. I've made a passable rope with woven palm fronds and lashed several palm logs together and I might try to drift into the shipping lanes when the wind is right. Hope is not yet lost.
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