Scared, but going through the carbs

[Douglas Money]

With the help from this site and you guys on here, I pulled the carbs tonight. What a piece of cake. 15-20 minutes? Anyway, after I got them off, I found major splits in the main fuel line going to the carbs. It had just started seeping. Really scary. So far I have found the air pilot jets are all 160's. The pilot jets are FUBAR as far as the numbers go. #1 was plugged with sediment. My main jets are 124 across the board. #2 had a steel washer in place of the brass. It was also cupped as I don't think it fit very well. The PO had told me that a friend of his had done some jetting for the kerker exhaust and K&N filter. Oh yeah, I found the vacuum advance hose had a split. Any help is surely appreciated. I am operating with manual in one hand and the tips on the board here in the other. Thanks again guys, I am looking forward to how well it should run when I'm done.

[DiverRay]

Sounds as if you are off to a good start. Take down ONE carb at a time, clean it, and put it back together. Leave all the carbs on the "rail", so you sould not need to do too much with the "sync".
I use the spry carb cleaner ( Berryman's B12) WITH safety glasses ON to clean the bodies. You can dunk the jets and all, but NOT the bodies, unless you want to buy new seals for the shafts.
Send out any questions, as we all try to help.
Ray

[prometheus578]

Ray... I have a coupl'a cans of carb cleaner that have been in my garage for a few years.

I use the spry carb cleaner

Due to their age and such, they might not be as spry as yours. Can I still use them?
As stock jets are 137.5's, ain't 124 runnin' a little lean with all the other mods involved, or am I reading something incorrectly?

[oseaghdha]

Thinking you meant 142, o/w that's meltdown lean.
Don't be ascairt, everything makes sense if you look at it long enough.
Mine sat for 16 years and the tank/carbs were pretty well fossilized. Just make sure all the holes go somewhere. Some are drilled and plugged but you can see where they connect other passages together. I had to replace the idle jets, mine were rocks. Everything else was useable after cleaning.
The only differences I found are the emulsion tubes under the main jets. The outside units differed compared to the inner two, so keep everything in order.
I have had mine apart twice, third time coming up and I will resynch when I do that.
I am still getting sediment from the tank, been thru one set of filters and the really fine micro stuff has got into the idle circuit. Couple more tanks and that should stop. I am running sintered filters, don't know the micron on these, but I figure paper would plug up fast and run me broke replacing them. I thought the fuel level sensor was FUBAR, but it has actually started to work again. Thanks to John for some gas cap parts, got that sorted out.
The thing is very cold blooded, but when warm runs like a scalded ape. I am not certain, but I have heard scalded apes are fast movers. Anyway, it will boil the tire easily, which I find to be rather amusing.

[trbig]

Seems to me that 124 OR 142 would be an odd size.... Are these aftermarket jets? I thought they came in sizes that were 2.5 apart... 120... 122.5... 125... etc. Anyway... don't forget about that jet that's in the edge of the bowl that you took off. If sprayed just right... you will get it right back in the eye! Feel the burn!! lol

Tod

[Douglas Money]

No, the mains are 124, not a typo. This is the jet in the middle of the chamber when you take off the bowl. Isn't the air pilot jet supposed to be 180? The PO said his friend richened it up for the exhasut and filter. Also, can I get a brass washer for the steel one thats under the main? I expected to see a lot worse crud in the bottom of the bowls, but that was not so. For the pilot jets (10 mm long jets) can I check the size with a drill bit or wire to verify they are 42.5? I am not against replacing parts if I need to. Also in the tips I have from this site, not to touch the diaphragms? I am not clear on this part so if you could enlighten me I would appreciate it. Thanks again guys.

[Erik the Red]

ABSOLUTELY wear safety glasses. For some reason, as you're spraying out all the holes and seeing where the other end is, you sort of forget about eye safety and lean in to get a better look at it, as it is pretty fascinating how carbs work.

Fortunately for me, I was wearing my regular glasses the last time I was cleaning the carbs. I don't think that it would be a fun experience to "flush with water for 10-15 minutes and call a physician". BTW, carb cleaner tastes AWFUL.

[Erik the Red]

I think the 78 and 79 carbs are the same (someone correct me if I'm wrong here). So on mine, stock air pilots are 210's, and stock mains 137.5 I believe.

Smaller number on the main = smaller jet (hole). Therefore less gas can go through, therefore leaner. If you want to richen it up, you want to go up in size (number).

Also, when cleaning, don't forget about the hole in the tower that goes from the main tower down to the pilot jet. Save yourself an extra carb-pulling session.

If you can't make out the numbers on the pilot jets, then the opening is also probably less than pristine too (brass is soft and deforms easily), which will affect how the fuel travels through. I'd personally say that it would be a good idea to just replace any pilot jets that are that messed up.

My $0.02.

[Douglas Money]

I think the guy who supposedly rejetted may not have known what he was doing and went the wrong way. Where can I order the jets from? IS there pics that I can see for the different jets? I have the clymers manual and the ones on here are text. Thanks for all of your help.

[DiverRay]

Douglas,
Verify that you are running the '79 carbs!!! The PO may have put an '80 carb set in, and that would explain the difference in the jets.
The easy way to tell is the pilot adjustment. IF you have the screw sticking out on the front of the carb, it's a '79. If the screw is down inside of the tower, it's an '80.
Rebuild the carbs to what they should be. You may also have the dreaded K&L jets in the carb! If so, you may want to check with some of the online stores about replacements. A local shop may also be able to help, as the Mik. jets can be had from a lot of bike shops.
Ray

[mikeb]

Are you sure those are original carbs? That would be about the right size jets for the 80's vintage carbs. Funny thing Doug, I was looking at your profile and and saw the link "email Douglas Money". I'm thinking why would I want to send this guy money. Then I realized what your name was and felt rather silly. By the way I'm just down the road from you in Joliet. We will have to hook up for a ride next spring.

[Douglas Money]

This morning while going to work, I wondered if maybe they had swapped carbs. I will try and check into that this evening. HEy Mike, my wifes family lives in Joliet. We will have to get together. I wanted to take pictures and post them, but I cannot seem to figure out how to post on here. Thanks.

[trbig]

Dougals,

There are many options, but I use Photobucket.com for mine. Go there and create a free account.. it's easy. After that, go to where it says "Choose an image" and click the browse button. Browse to the picture on your computer you want, and click on it, then open at the bottom. This tells Photobucket where to uploadit from.... then click upload in Photobucket. When it's done, scan to the bottom of the page, and you will see your picture there. What you are essentially doing is making a tiny web page for THAT photo. You will see URL, TAG, and Img under your picture. Left click in the URL field and highlight the web address, then right click while it's highlighted and copy it.
Now back in here. When you are posting in here, when you are ready for the picture, click the IMG button above the message. A box will appear. Right click inside that box, then paste that URL address from Photbucket... then click OK. You have now attached a picture on here!
Good luck! We'd love to see your bike pictures.

Tod

[Douglas Money]

I tried Photodump and I keep getting an error. I'll try Photobucket. Thanks

[mro]

photobucket

Save a step,
can just copy the "IMG" line under your up-loaded pic
and then paste in your post here.


mro