I am stumped

[79XS11F]

Hey Rob,

Those plugs are telling a bit....the worse ones are not paired fuel or electrically! But I think Scott is still onto something with the weak supply voltages to the coils...despite that they are the Accel ones. Like Scott said, there is a Positive plug and a negative plug in the paired plugs of a coil pair, and IF the harness voltage TO the coils is weak, it can still cause a weaker total spark energy...and so may have enough to fire the primary plug but not the secondary reverse polarity plug. Corrosion doesn't care about the harness being NEW....storage, humidity, etc. and you can get corrosion.

T.C.

I'm going to carry out the suggested tests TC but still would have expected the miss to follow that #1 plug lead when I switched #1 and #4 if it was an ignition issue? Or am I missing something in expecting the miss to have followed that plug lead. #4 did not miss while being run on its #4 lead or on the #1 lead.
Rob

[CaptonZap]

I'm going to carry out the suggested tests TC but still would have expected the miss to follow that #1 plug lead when I switched #1 and #4 if it was an ignition issue? Or am I missing something in expecting the miss to have followed that plug lead. #4 did not miss while being run on its #4 lead or on the #1 lead.
Rob

One other thought, when you swapped the leads, did you swap the plugs?
Years ago, in aircraft mechanics school, we were told, "If you drop a plug once, drop it twice. the second time, into the trash." The ceramic can be cracked and bleed off the spark to the shell, inside, where you can't see it.
Try swapping #1 and #4 plug, and see if the miss follows.

CZ

[79XS11F]

One other thought, when you swapped the leads, did you swap the plugs?
Years ago, in aircraft mechanics school, we were told, "If you drop a plug once, drop it twice. the second time, into the trash." The ceramic can be cracked and bleed off the spark to the shell, inside, where you can't see it.
Try swapping #1 and #4 plug, and see if the miss follows.

CZ

No I didn't move the plug as well because one never knows. She does however, have 4 new plugs in her that replace 4 new plugs that I took out to be safe
Rob

[79XS11F]

I have the carbs on the bench with all the jets out of them. Everything looks good except the emulsion tubes. All but 1 of them have partly blocked side holes to one degree or another. The worst case is number 1 which has all of them on one side blocked. I will be very happy if this proves to be the issue. On Sunday I will clean everything with the spray gun brushes, wires and carb cleaner. There's no fuel filters on these carbs so I will have to get some before I install them.Fingers crossed.
Rob

[dbeardslee]

I have the carbs on the bench with all the jets out of them. Everything looks good except the emulsion tubes. All but 1 of them have partly blocked side holes to one degree or another. The worst case is number 1 which has all of them on one side blocked. I will be very happy if this proves to be the issue. On Sunday I will clean everything with the spray gun brushes, wires and carb cleaner. There's no fuel filters on these carbs so I will have to get some before I install them.Fingers crossed.
Rob

I'm pullin' for you. Sounds like a good sign that #1 was cruddy - weird as that sounds.

I just put a couple of these Microgard filters on Betsy instead of my old standby Wix 33027. I found out the filter inside the Wix is made of plastic mesh, but the mesh on the Microgard is made out of metal. I melted a couple plastic filters with the paper elements when I first got Bets, so I like having something there that will resist the heat and fuel. Dunno if you've got O'reilly's in Canada, but Microgard is their house brand Microgard 33027

[79XS11F]

I think I have a set sitting on my Modified bike that I can use. They are funnel shaped and I have used this type for some time without issue.
I must wonder now if on the day that Mack and I installed these carbs that he did his magic on, and the bike fired up nicely but started missing again the next time I fired her up, if because the fuel was un-filtered if something from the fuel tank caused that issue and it was exacerbated by less then ideal winter storage or not being fired up often enough.
I guess the ONLY way to do this is to drain the fuel AND blow out the cars with low air pressure applied to the fuel lines and vents etc. Ether that or just take the freaking carbs off the bike every fall, clean them and store them until spring.
Rob

I'm pullin' for you. Sounds like a good sign that #1 was cruddy - weird as that sounds.

I just put a couple of these Microgard filters on Betsy instead of my old standby Wix 33027. I found out the filter inside the Wix is made of plastic mesh, but the mesh on the Microgard is made out of metal. I melted a couple plastic filters with the paper elements when I first got Bets, so I like having something there that will resist the heat and fuel. Dunno if you've got O'reilly's in Canada, but Microgard is their house brand Microgard 33027

[mack]

Storage

Ya Rob, you can't leave anything in the carbs over the winter. They have to be drained with the bowl drain screw left out over night then a good blow out with carb cleaner before you put the screw back in. First tank full in the spring needs to have a heavy dose of either seafoam or startron. I even drain my tanks and swish them will oil. Rotate them a few times over the winter. The corn in the fuel collects moisture and I don't want the first gulp of gas in the spring to be mostly water. I'll be coming that way on the 30th and will bring your carbs back all nice and clean for you.

[79XS11F]

Ya Rob, you can't leave anything in the carbs over the winter. They have to be drained with the bowl drain screw left out over night then a good blow out with carb cleaner before you put the screw back in. First tank full in the spring needs to have a heavy dose of either seafoam or startron. I even drain my tanks and swish them will oil. Rotate them a few times over the winter. The corn in the fuel collects moisture and I don't want the first gulp of gas in the spring to be mostly water. I'll be coming that way on the 30th and will bring your carbs back all nice and clean for you.

That's perfect Mack and I will have coin of the realm in hand for you when you arrive. The lad who lives next door works at a auto supply shop and tells me that they sell a product to add to fuel that bonds it together so that the water and other modern chemicals that go into fuel cant separate in use or storage. He also has an older bike and it seems to work for him. However, I think I will just pull the carbs every fall, spray and blow them out and store them accordingly off the bike.
I do hope this cleaning will solve the issue for me once and for all. I JUST want to use my bike and have a pleasurable experience like I used to for the 2 years after the restoration.
Rob

[dbeardslee]

I guess the ONLY way to do this is to drain the fuel AND blow out the cars with low air pressure applied to the fuel lines and vents etc. Ether that or just take the freaking carbs off the bike every fall, clean them and store them until spring.

Ever since I crushed the original brass floats in Betsy by shooting air through the fuel lines I'm pretty paranoid about putting any air pressure on carbs with brass floats with the bowls attached. That's part of the reason I switched to plastic floats. I just fill the gas tank with a heavy dose of seafoam in it, and run the carbs dry, and that's always worked for me. But taking them off and draining them good sounds like the most effective way. Course then I'd be afraid something would make a nest inside the carb hangers. Around here the mice like to come inside when the weather turns cold, but they have to navigate my "mine field" to get to Betsy.

[79XS11F]

How did blowing air into the fuel hoses crush the floats Scott? Was every opening out of the bowls blocked when you did it?
Rob

[79XS11F]

I should know in a few hours if this final carb detailed cleaning does the job. I soaked the jets and Main Nozzles in carb cleaner overnight and just finished cleaning them up as clean as clean gets. All the opening in the carb bodies are good with spray cleaner traveling through them freely. I will confirm fuel levels in the bowls on the bench and I do have fuel filters on my other bike to transplant onto this bike.
There was a light build up of varnish on the inside walls of the Main Nozzles and some varnish in their body side holes including a few that were closed up completely on both # 1 and # 2.
Rob

[dbeardslee]

How did blowing air into the fuel hoses crush the floats Scott? Was every opening out of the bowls blocked when you did it?
Rob

Nope. I used an air gun on an air compressor and it raised the pressure in the bowls enough to cave in the sides of the brass floats.

[79XS11F]

Nope. I used an air gun on an air compressor and it raised the pressure in the bowls enough to cave in the sides of the brass floats.

Well I guess I will have to use care or just disassemble them every fall. What a pain in the back side. With 5 old 4 carb bikes sitting here that could be a few days work.
Rob

[bikerphil]

I would find a way to get ahold of some non-ethanol fuel and run a tank or two of that before putting the bike down. I do that with a friends bike down here that doesn't get started for 6 mos. at a time. No fuel problems whatsoever.

[79XS11F]

I don't even remember where I got but in any case here's a link to the carb specs for these bikes that some others may appreciate having. copy paste it into your internet browser if it's not an active link.

http://1drv.ms/1fim58t

Rob