Fuel Lines

[jedi50036]

Hello everyone, I know i havnt posted anything on the site since last fall but i have a question. I had the carbs off my 79 XS11 Special over the weekend and my kid decided to help me by removing all of the fuel lines and setting them in a row while i was in the other room. Can anyone point me in the direction of getting a diagram of how the lines go? the repair manual i have does not show it.

[paulapalooza]

Are you planning on keeping your octy (fuel vacuum diaphragm) or removing it?

If you are planning to keep it here is link to a diagram

http://www.xs11.com/forum/images/tips/20020830-octopusfuelrouting.jpg

If you are not keeping the octy then you have a couple options, although by the sounds of it you are using it.

Hope that helps

[jedi50036]

Yeah it did help but now that i have them on it is running like crap. It will start up fine and run good at idle but when you put it in gear it dies before i let the clutch out all the way.

[DiverRay]

If you had them off, you WILL need to sync. the carbs. "bread tie" sync is ONLY to get a starting point. Check the carb tips in the maint. section.

[jedi50036]

I had one of the lines bent and it wasnt letting fuel run. I am going to let it sit for the nite and ill mess with it tomorrow.

[DGXSER]

Yep, a kinked fuel line is about the same as turned off petcocks. I am often reminded, about a half mile down the road, that I forgot to turn those on. Does the same thing.

[cywelchjr]

Yep, a kinked fuel line is about the same as turned off petcocks. I am often reminded, about a half mile down the road, that I forgot to turn those on. Does the same thing.

Which is why I like that my vacuum petcocks still work as designed. I don't have to worry about that.

[DGXSER]

Which is why I like that my vacuum petcocks still work as designed. I don't have to worry about that.

Yep, you are correct, right up to time that they don't work. Is that today? Was it yesterday but your float valves are holding the fort? Will it be tomorrow when you park it 200 miles form home and 50 miles from anywhere?

[Kit]

If you had them off, you WILL need to sync.

Um...
Please forgive the noob question, but are you saying that any time the carbs are pulled they have to be synced again when they go back on? Even if nothing was changed?

[cywelchjr]

Yep, you are correct, right up to time that they don't work. Is that today? Was it yesterday but your float valves are holding the fort? Will it be tomorrow when you park it 200 miles form home and 50 miles from anywhere?

Been workin over two years. My XS400, which has the identical petcock (only the left side) has been working for 30 years now). To top it off, next time I take the tank off, I'm doing psycoreefer's mod to give me a true off just for added insurance, but I'm not really much worried. I put new kits in them when I got the bike, but the 400 is still original. I do have inline filter on it though cause the tank has some rust and I don't trust it.

[CatatonicBug]

Um...
Please forgive the noob question, but are you saying that any time the carbs are pulled they have to be synced again when they go back on? Even if nothing was changed?

Yes. If you took them off the bike, and did anything but look at the outside, you need to re-sync. Every time they are cleaned, they need to be re-sync'd.

[natemoen]

I would resync even if I just looked at them.

[cywelchjr]

If you take them off the bike, when you put them back on they need to be synced. They aren't welded together, those are just screws holding them to the rack and they WILL move even if just a little, and that WILL affect their position in relation to each other even if just a little, so that's yet another reason why a bread tie sync is just a starting point, you NEED to do a vacuum sync each and every time the carbs come off the bike.

And they should be done every time you do a tuneup as well. I mean it's one of the tools you should have in your toolkit, they aren't really that expensive, and what with you should be doing it at least once a year if not twice, it's well worth the money. I got a dial gauge set off ebay that works pretty well for like $40 that once I got it calibrated works just as well as the more expensive units.

But you can get 4 gauge sets for 40 to 100 pretty easily that will do the job, and there are plenty of other options besides, including getting a two gauge set and doing them in pairs, especially since that's how they are synced anyways. Having a 4 gauge set just makes that faster cause you don't have to shut down between pairs (1-2, 3-4 and 2-3).

[Kit]

OK, that may very well be part of my problem then. Still a couple of other things I need to check as well, but that's good to know. I ordered a Carbtune last week, so I'll do that as soon as it gets here. Thanks.