Help for my winter project!+pictures

[petejw]

hey CA,
That carby came up sweet,
i was looking into soda blasting,
feel free to put up any pointers on here.

[CA]

Soda Blasting

No problem here are a few slightly obvious yet important points I learned today...

1. You MUST have gloves, mask, and serious wraparound eye protection while doing this. Even with this soda still got in my eyes a few times..it finds a way.

2.make sure you have large enough hose. I had some laying around that I tried to use and it would not work. This website is what I went by, and it calls for 7/16 " hose. I ended up stealing some larger diameter hose from my brother and even it was barely big enough. Essentially it must be large enough to allow soda to flow freely underneath where the nozzle sticks into the hose. Do yourself a favor and make sure you have the properly sized hose. Would have saved me a lot of pain.

3. You will want to at least buy two boxes of soda, probably 3.

4. How I conserved some soda is I used a plastic bin to pour all of my soda into and therefore could conserve hosing and soda. A makeshift blasting cabinet.This does create much more kickback, hence why proper safety precautions are necessary.

5. It seemed to flow the best when the tubing was not insterted fully into the soda but on the top, or half and half....maybe this was specific to my set up.

6. If you blow out your carbs with compressed air afterwards I am not sure if soaking them in water to dissolve the remaining soda is necassary...i just soaked mine and did not see any residue in the water...but maybe it just dissolves that well...

7. Don't have your cell phone in your pocket.

8. wash behind your ears.

9. It sucks doing it in 30 degree temps.

10. Definitely tape something long and hard (dont say it) to the end of the tube...saves you a lot of re-positioning.

Given enough time, warmth and soda you could really get every spick of dirt off of them...

Thats all I can think of now!

Oh and I got the gun from harbor freight...and basically just read that website they say all of this...just more professionally.

[petejw]

Cheers,
Ill give it a go and see how it turns out.

[CA]

Painted Carbs?

So I just got my polishing kit in today and in the process of starting all that. I plan to paint most of the engine a VHT black gloss with accent chrome pieces. Now I am polishing the tops and bowls to my carbs, yet it looks a little wierd with unpolished bodies. I have seen painted carbs on this forum, just wandering how crazy of a paint one would need and the procedure/difficulty in doing so.

That VHT engine enamel is suppose to be oil and gas resistant once you cure it. Not sure how gas resistant it would be.

The procedure seems too simple to me:
1. put bowl and top on to cover those areas, then strip them of paint later...
2. tape up openings and vent holes on each side
3. cover micture screw opening
4. remove main idle screw
5. maybe tape over butterfly springs???
6. spray away.
7. bake away.

The only concerns I have would be the choke plungers and the butterfly operation, and anything else you all point out.

Mainly wanted to get experiences in this and see if it would be worth it, if it is now would be the time. As I just blasted them.

Thanks gents.

[petejw]

I think it was MRO that had painted a
set that turned out real nice, cant find the link.

Id tend to tape up as much as possible including
the tops and the bowls, just remove any tape before
baking, its a bugger to remove it afterwards.

[daveyg]

That soda blasting link is a damn fine write up! And it's in my price range too! Thanks for posting that and keep up the good work on your project, I look forward to the progress, especially since my 11 probably needs the same things by way of TLC!

[CA]

not too shabby

Well got the carb painting done, and baked. This is what it should look like after I get the new plumbing all in it...


Also did some polishing on the left side cover, I think I may experiment with sanding before polishing the stator side cover since there is significant oxidation and it still looks a little pitted after polishing.

Two dumb questions,
1. i started to pull the stator cover off and didn't realize how much room the stator took up and it also seemed that it was attached to the cover, I stopped pulling because I was scared to hurt something...is it just pull and play?

2. How important are gaskets on these side covers as there is no oil in them? I was wandering if I could just piece back together the broken gaskets or use my gasket in a tube stuff...

[crazy steve]

...But if you're thinking that painting it with rust-o-leum to halt the rust already present and growing will work....Nope!

Actually, Rustoleum does make a paint that will stop rust; their 'red oxide primer' has worked for me more than once. BUT (and this is a big but) it has to be applied rather thickly, so brush, roller, or airless is the needed method. Not something that you want to use for a fine finish either. The stuff in the spray can isn't the same and won't do the job.

I can remember my mother painting one of those all-steel lawn chairs they made in the early fifties. This was brown everywhere; she hit with a hand wire brush to knock off the loose stuff, put a couple of coats of red primer on it, then put the gloss finish coat on (also Rustoleum). That thing never showed any rust again, and they finally got rid of it simply because it was so heavy (20 yrs later). Well, that and the fact she painted it black and it got so hot in the sun nobody could sit on it....

This stuff won't take the heat of your exhaust though, so don't even try.

'78E original owner

[petejw]

Really nice paint work on the carb,
what paint did you end up using?

regarding the stator, its been a while since ive had mine off,
the stator system is magnatised so it does feel tight when you
try and pull it off, leave the 3 center bolts in till you have the unit off.

with regards to the side covers there is no oil behind them,
(except for the gear shift cover) id still
use a gasket or some sort of rtv to prevent water and dust from getting in.

ive also seen a cpl of timing case covers that have cracked at the bottom bolt because theyve been slightly warped and fitted without a gasket, a gasket helps prevent that from happening.

[petejw]

re soda blasting

hey guys,
just been mucking about with this soda blaster,
i covered the bike and was spraying the head fins,
some of the over spray landed on the polish alloy.

DONT let the soda get on any polished alloy,
it leaves a film that polish wont remove only buffing will,
if left it starts to anodise the alloy.

on a brighter note it worked really well
cleaning fouled up spark plugs.

[CA]

hmm

I am surprised to hear you had problems with the residue of the soda. The write up mentioned above says it should just dissolve in water, but maybe thats just on unpolished carburetors.

Good to know since I was definitely thinking about blasting the engine before I painted the engine. But I suppose I will simply use old fashioned elbow grease...

The paint I used for the carbs is VHT engine enamel, black gloss. It looks sexy and after baking it seems pretty durable, but we will see how it holds up to gas....

[petejw]

CA

I didnt get a chance to wash it of straight away, so
whether that would have made a difference or not im not to
sure, but still it wasnt on for too long.
next time tho ill be keeping it well away from the alloy
thats already polished.

what paint did you end up using for the carbs?

[CA]

Carb Paint

I used VHT Engine Enamel Black Gloss

It is what I plan on using for the engine painting as well. Seems to be good stuff, I have never used anything else, but its quality stuff.

[CA]

1.4 vs. 2.0?

I just received my xv920 float valves and instead of a 2.0 size they are a 1.4 size...i know egsols had installed them and didn't find any problems, but wanted to check if anyone else had any issues with them.

SMaller hole but its not the most critical of one's. I don't go WOT for too long and that is the only possible way it could starve in my mind.

[CA]

Valve Clearance

So I pulled the valve cover and checked the clearances. I used a shim set that was about ever other .01mm...but i feel like I got the measurements pretty well. I am sure some may be .01 more but thats ok. Here is what I found.

Intake - .13, .13,.18, .13

Exhaust - .18, .18, .18, .18

So as I see it I need to get 3x 215's and get 4 x240's...correct? or did I flip it?
Should I goe to 210's and 235's to give myself extra time on these??lol

Does this indicate excessive engine wear or is this normal? What does valve clearance show about how an engine is wearing?

I will be doing research on the best method to do this, from my limited reading I will prob do the loosen the cam shaft approach.


Thanks