Roadkill's Project update!

[RoadKill]

Hey there, thanks to all those quick responses, and all the good lucks, i use them frequently

well this morning I got the gas tank off, disconnected and removed the carb assembly. after inspection of the bowls, i found very little debris or rust.. and with a little looking found no real obstructions... actually the carb bodies looked clean and relativly clear.

this had me wondering what the prob is.. so i pulled the fuel sensor and found a lovely rusty box .. the float arm was all rust covered too... seemed to work fine (i was getting accurate readings from the digi-gauge)

Now for the fun part.. I pulled the petcocks just to double check what chuckles the previous owner had done while "rebuilding" the petcocks. and the following are what I found!


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right petcock</br>
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Left petcock has the entire screen housing broken off!! </br>
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well IMHO I need new petcocks.. what are your thoughts? Also, does anyone know good deals on petcocks, or used petcocks, and where to get them.. again good used and cheap are my hopes!

I have a friend with a digi-cam coming by my work tonight to get some pics of the carbs to get to you all... I'll post them asap to get your opinion.. I have tomorow off, so thats my big day to get work done..

Okay now the tank, with the petcock stalk broken off (possibly in the tank) and the fuel gauge sensor covered in a nice rust casing, i am thinking the tank might need that radiator seal treatment i read about in the tech-tips... what are your thoughts on this treatment. also If i have the radiator guy do it, is he just gonna dunk it? this would mean I would have to repaint it no? well, any and all feedback is welcome!

thanks again in advance!

[trbig]

Just because carbs "Look" pretty good... from the discription of things in it's running.. they aren't. You have just three you have to worry about since your mixture screws are preset at the factory and capped off. If the carbs are stock, you'll have a main jet stamped 112.5, your pilot jet in the tower is a 47.5. Then the third one you can't remove. Pick up your float bowl and look at the rim of it. There's a brass tube on your carbs that goes into this hole. At the bottom is a small jet that when squirted with carb cleaner just right... it will get you right back in the eye! The bowl jet is an enrichener circuit. (Choke) The pilot jets (47.5's) are what the bike runs on below @ 3500-4,000 rpm and are probably the dirtiest according to your statement. The main jets are a lot larger and aren't as prone to clogging, but give them a good cleaning also. The tiniest particles will clog the others.. so even "Pretty clean" isn't going to be clean enough. If you think they are done... do them one more time! Nothing like getting those back into the bike olnly to discover that one of the jets is still obviously clogged.

Tod

[79XS11F]

BUMMER . Get yourself some in line fuel filters
Rob

[jwoell]

Actually dude, I didn't like the look of the petcock screen on mine either. Some of the screens were broken. I asked the Yamaha dealer if I could get just the screens (thinking "no way in hell") But it turns out they could actually get just the screens for me. This was a while back, but it's worth a try. I don't remember what I paid for them, but it might be cheaper than buying used petcocks. Just a thought.

[RoadKill]

Carb Woes

Well after getting started with Mans Smit's removal article, I laid the bowls and screws out all nice and seperate and began looking at the underside of the carbs... I noticed some bowls to be worse than others and then I spotted it.. The #3 Carb has a post top broken off... Looks like someone tried rebuilding without being careful.. so now im stuck with a broken post... Now, I read the top can be "built up" with aluminum welding... any idea on how much this would cost, is it sound? how much would another carb be? I'm guessing it needs to be fixed, cant just let it ride there.. it does seem to sit well, even without the top of the post...

Also, there was alot of debris falling out of one of the (??octopus??) tubes, the offender was traced back to the label "1" tube... I'm not sure what that means, so info would be helpful.

sorry for the quality. still no camera, but using the work scanner hehe..

[cajun31]

Rebuild

the filters are still available for Bike Bandit

14: NET,FILTER 1 40994-001 $14.06

http://www.bikebandit.com/PartsBandit/

You can also still buy the petcock rebuild kits so there is no real need to get new petcocks because chances are they will need to be rebuilt as well. There are several sites that carry the rebuild kits, Old Bike Barn is one... http://www.oldbikebarn.com/motorcycl...ts&bike=XS1100

As for the radiator treatment on the fuel tank, they don't actually dunk the tank but most are not real careful about the finish of the tank when they seal it. I had mine done about 5 years ago but I had already planned to repaint it anyway so I wasn't real concerned when I let them do it. Some have done it themselves with Kreem or POR I believe.

JB Weld might be a solution to your broken post problem, however I would recommend you ask if someone on this site has a number 3 carb body they can spare or keep an eye out on ebay. The JB Weld might serve as a good temporary fix until you can score a new carb body.

[TopCatGr58]

Hey Roadkill,

There is a product you can get at Walmart and such, called MagnaSTeel, it's a two part putty, you kneed it together and then form it around what you want to repair/make. Once it dries and hardens, you can grind/sand/file it, etc.! Just put some on the post and either use a shiny nail appx. the same size as the float post pin, to make the hole as you mold the stuff, sliding the nail in and out, once the hole is formed, remove the nail, let it set up, and then file down the top so that it will fit inside the float bowl. JB Weld also sells similar product, but even JB Weld itself will work just fine, is impervious to gas as well, much cheaper and easier than trying to get another carb body! These are just epoxies, you don't actually need aluminum welding!

Check the Octy for proper function, if it's not working right, then toss it, don't bother rebuilding it, the rebuild kits don't supply the right sized diaphragm for it! But, as stated, rebuild the petcocks, and get the replacement filter towers, AND Inline filters! Do the tank sealing yourself, several tech tips and recent threads on "removing rust" from gastank, etc.. You can probably use the same chemical treatment to remove the rust from the tank to clean up the fuel sender float/arm!

There is a fourth thing, the pilot screws. Yes, they are capped off, but you need to remove the caps and screws to properly clean the pilot circuit. I've posted the technique in a few threads, a search for "brass caps" should reveal it.
Good start, keep at it!!!
T.C.