Finally!

[natemoen]

So after fighting with my bike for 2 years now I have finally made HUGE strides!

After talking with Greg I discovered that the slide needles had always been put together wrong, I just always put them back together the way I took them apart but I guess if they were wrong when I took them apart they never went back together correctly!

After I got the slide needles straightened out and the carbs on put the battery back in I fired her up. Came right to life and rand like crap Let her warm up and get the cobwebs worked out (no not really) she started to settle in after plenty of idle adjustments and syncing. She was still popping and backfiring a little from the right side though. As I was kneeling over there on the side I noticed that each time it backfired I saw a little spit of mist coming out of that brass tube on the side on the carb.



Looked closer and it is cracked straight down the side. Short term fix for now is a glob of epoxy putty covering the whole tube. Figured I will solder it up next time I have the carbs off.

Got the insurance back on it and took her out today. Put about 80 miles on it! Ran SO much better now!

There are still some things to work out. She tops out at about 8 grand and is a bit slow and weak. Might have some clutch issues still (cleaned discs and put in crappy new EBC springs last year). Need to finish painting and just acquired a Venturer tank yesterday that has like a 1/4" thick paint on it but the inside is immaculate!

I am much happier though!

[crazy steve]

It's always a great feeling when you finally get rewarded with a running bike, and especially when you can actually ride it!

Congratulations!!!

[mack]

Congrats

Nat. It's. Always the little things that are so hard to find that make the biggest difference.

[Elevener]

Congrats nate. Hope you enjoy it.

[BA80]

After talking with Greg I discovered that the slide needles had always been put together wrong,

TALKING! I thought we were arguing.......

If your only getting 8K out of it there are other issues. Glad your making headway and I was able to help.

I'm wondering if it's hitting on all 4.

[DGXSER]

Know the feeling Nate. First time I took the carbs out of my first SH, I took one needle out of the slide. Not the other three as it was clean inside and just needed the needle end cleaned up a bit.

After that I could never get no 1 to idle right, it would load up and fowl out the plug, run it above 3K and i took off like a scalded dog!! Well after months of tuning and messing with those carbs and plug wires, caps, everything I finally took out the no 4 slide and noticed the difference in how the spring acted on the needle. Looked up the fische on the carb, checked no 1 slide and needle and promptly kicked myself for an hour. Put the needle in correctly and never had another problem out of those carbs.

[natemoen]

Yeah, she is hitting on all 4. They were all sizzling hot.

[BA80]

Hmmmm.......just sayin'. I gotta be careful with mine because when it hits 3.5-4K it takes off and after 5 the tach will bounce off the peg REAL fast in the lower gears if I don't watch it.

Just thinkin' out loud in type.

[natemoen]

I might have to try bumping the mains up to 140.

[BA80]

I would work with what you have and try to get it dialed in. Your pretty close to stock as it is.

You make too many changes and you won't have any idea what to do to fix it.

Ride it a bit and check your plugs. Get a feel for what it's doing and report back so we can confuse you some more.

[natemoen]

Yeah, I am going to see how many miles I can pack on this weekend, colortune, resync, make some other little adjustments and check the plugs.

I don't plan on making sudden changes.

[natemoen]

Put a little over 100 miles on today. Mix of back roads, twisting and highway. Ran pretty good, still a bit sluggish. I could hit reclined in 1st but not second, still topped out at about 8000. Wasn't going to try it in third though.

At one point I was driving along on 5th and had to slow down and thought I would try the clutch out some. Dropped down to about 20mph and then cranked the throttle open. It pulled nice and smooth all the way up till I hit about 4000rpms and then it slipped and the rpm jumped.

Got home and checked the sync, #1 was off but the rest were still good. Couldn't find my colortune plug so I couldn't do that. Pulled all the plugs, #2 & #3 look pretty lean, #1 looks maybe a little lean but #4 looks about right or maybe a little rich. All the plugs are a bit reddish pink though from all the seafoam I was running through it. Might get new plugs (these were all used plugs) and try again. Found the colortune though so I can try that tomorrow too.

[Rasputin]

Nate have you done a high speed chop?

[natemoen]

Nate have you done a high speed chop?

Nope, didn't feel like carrying the tools in my pocket this afternoon.

[BA80]

2 and 3 will always seem a little lean because those 2 cylinders run the hottest. I'm still baffled at your not being able to redline.

You say you've got a K&N filter in there, have you got a stock or equivelent to try?

The only other thing I can think of is valves adjusted too tight or cam timing not quite right. Or, restricted exhaust.

If you were running way lean it would seem to me your plugs would be white and your exhaust very hot.

Any other ideas?