'80SG or '82XJ choke?

[BigRed]

My bike's a '80 Special, but the engine is from an '82-84 XJ, so I'm not sure which carbs I've got. They're Mikuni, and the float needle seat is a press-fit held in by a clip which is held in by a phillips screw. My problem is that my carbs don't have a choke lever. The slide works fine, but without the lever, I have to sit and hold the slide until the engine warms up, or keep blipping the throttle, or set my idle too high (which really screws me once the engine is hot and I'm sitting in traffic).

I've read that there's a ball and spring that's supposed to hold the slide in the correct positions, but when I looked last night, I couldn't find anything that looked like a spot where a ball and spring would fit. Would one of you kind folks with Mikuni carbs on a '80 special or '82-84 XJ mind taking a couple photos of how your lever works, and where this ball/spring/detent set-up is?

Thanks!

[DGXSER]

Hey Big Red, first things first, lets see which setup you have XJ or XS.

On the left side of the carbs, on no 1, is there a lever that you can pull to move the rod out that direction? I don't have a pic of it, but do a search for choke lever and I am sure you will find some. If you look at the number one and or number four cabrs on an XS system, where the rod/bar goes through the carb body first from left side of bike to right, in that piece of the carb body there is a hole for the spring and ball to drop into a hole in the carb body behind where the rod rides. This would be the XS system. This pic shows the location of the hole for the spring and ball bearing on no 4 carb, kind of....




The XJ system IIRC, uses a cable system for the choke with a knob up near the ignition key or something like that. These carbs did not get the detent for the ball and spring put into them or the notches on the bar to for the ball to latch into.

Sounds to me like you have the XJ system on an XS so no one ever put a cable or anything on the choke and just used it manually.

[TomRodgers]

ALL HAIL THE P.O.'s !!!! Hail them with a swift kick in the A$$ !!!!!!

[BigRed]

That explains it... I've got the XJ set-up. Makes sense since it's an XJ engine.

Thanks for clearing that up; I just need to find a choke cable someplace and find a spot to mout the actuator.