Cleaning / Adjusting carbs... questions...

[freak_leg]

I have a few questions, I feels I should throw in this disclamer: Before this bike the closest I've gotten to working on a carb is looking at old muscle cars... With that said, I've been reading carb threads on here "Carb cleaning 101" ect... So now I'm getting into the carbs, I've got one torn down less the float.

Questions:
1) Everthing I have read says the slide needle should only have 3 clip adjustments. Mine has 6? The clip was set 1 spot on the rich side.
2) As I have said in previous posts, I've been having a problem with the bike bogging from 4k-6k rpm but running great everywhere else. Would the clip position be causing this? (All jet sizes are OEM)
3) I've read the Pinesol cleaning thread for the aluminum parts. Will the Pinesol hurt the brass parts inside the carbs?
4) whats the proper order of operations for measuring and adjusting the float height?? <-- I'm clueless here!

Side note: From what I've seen of the one carb it looks like nothing needs to be replaced just adjusted. I guess at this point Its more of a learning experience for me and a cleaning project. (the bodies are nasty!)

I'll get some pictures up later...
Thanks in advance guys!

[freak_leg]

Edit... Needle clip has 5 adjustments. It seems I can't count
Here are some pics

[dbeardslee]

1) on the 78/79 carbs the needles should have 5 clip positions. The middle position is the one normally used.

2) Needle position affects mid-range operation, so incorrect settings or the wrong needles could definitely affect it in that rpm range.

3) I've seen all kinds of ways to clean carbs. For me a couple cans of carb cleaner, and maybe a can of brake parts cleaner to finish with (leaves no residue) does the job. My carbs were so gummed up when I first got Betsy that I couldn't move the throttle. No soaking needed - just a good hosing out and scrubbing. You can find paint gun cleaning kits at HF and they include a variety of small round brushes that work really well for cleaning carbs.

4) Take the bowls off the carbs and set them upside down on a bench. If they're stuck, carefully remove the gaskets. Take a caliper (digital preferred) and measure from the gasket surface to the top of the float. Use the depth gauge that comes out the bottom of the caliper such that the shoulder hangs over the float. DON'T PUSH DOWN ON THE FLOAT WHILE TAKING THE MEASUREMENT! Get plenty of light on the subject. Adjust one side of the float by bending the tab that contacts the fuel valve needle. I do this by putting small flat bladed screwdriver alongside the tab and torquing to bring the tab up, and an edge on the tab and the other in the 'corner' and torquing to bring the tab down. Once you've got one side of the float correctly set, move to the other side of the float. Adjust it to match the first side by grabbing the float cross bar with a small pair of pliers between the posts, and torquing (a front to back twisting motion) that side of the float with your fingers until you get the proper measurement. Repeat the process three more times.

[natemoen]

When you have the floats out you might as well check them for pin holes (the holes may not let gas in yet but could in the future). Just boil some water and then dump the water in some clear container and then dunk the whole float in the water. If there is a hole you will see a stream of bubbles coming out.

Also I found it much easier to adjust the floats when they were all bolted up as a rack and then I put a white piece of paper behind the float. It just helped to see the gap as I closed in on the float with the caliper.

When you are using the caliper you will be using the bottom end of the caliper. there will be a little metal strip that will come out of the bottom as you open up the caliper (see the right side of the pic, its the little piece coming out of the end). It is used for measuring depth and that is essentially what you are doing.

[Ken Talbot]

In action, looks like this:

[SFerinTEXAS]

Will the Pinesol hurt the brass parts inside the carbs?

NO but after you remove the emulsion tubes and jets and choke plungers and floats and needle and seats the only brass left is the butterfly plate and the down tube that goes into the bowl.And vac nipple on #2

You are going to remove all of those, right?

[bchaffin]

Thank you for posting a picture of the float hieght. This is one thing I have been struggling with setting. Very helpful.

[freak_leg]

Why did no one warn me about the spring and the ball in carb #1 for the enrichener?!?! I found the ball on the garage floor but the spring is still MIA...

[dbeardslee]

Tony - that spring might still be in place. Might try poking around in the hole a bit with a pointed object. BTW - there's two of them - one on each end of the shaft. You don't need them both though - it'll work with just one set. Usually the ball bearing is the hard thing to find, and harder to replace, so count yourself lucky. I guess I'm a silver lining kind of guy .

P.S. As your pic shows the carbs completely off the rack, apprising you of the ball bearings at that point would have been a bit useless - don't you think?

[natemoen]

Oh het yeah ne careful of the spring and ball for the choke! Hopefully you can find it.

[freak_leg]

ok, guys, I still had one spring and one ball so the choke should work fine. I've got everything back together. I need to head down to the hardware store and pick up some bolts to replace the drilled out ones. Fingers crossed I did everything right and it runs...