Good source for floats

[sidecarKev]

I've been trying to dial my carbs in for quite a while. Things were all over the place. I decided to pull an outside bowl. Leaking float. When I last had the carbs apart I tested all the floats in boiling water, 3 of them leaked. I patched those three up with something I thought would work. JB Weld. Well when I pulled that bowl the JB Weld patches were laying in the bottom of the bowl. JB Weld let me down. So I guess its time to bite the bullet and just buy new floats. So does anybody out there know of a source or is the dealer my best bet for these? I see powersportspro.com has them for about $22 each, possibly my best bet?

[ratbyk]

CV Carb Floats

Kev, another possible source for floats may be Mikes XS in Florida.
E-mail: Mikesxs@aol.com
Web Site: 650motorcycles.com
Phone #: 352 540 9204
He deals mainly with Yamaha XS650'S but many of their parts are interchangeable with our XS & XJ's. Some of them use Mikuni 34mm CV carbs so floats should be interchangeable. His cost for brass floats is $12.00 and plastic floats go for $10.00. I have ordered parts from him before and they have worked OK. I never have had to replace floats so cannot verify whether this is an acceptable replacement or not. Possibly a phone call to Mike will verify whether his product is an acceptable interchange. I cannot see why not. Possibly have the model number of your Mikuni CV's ready so that Mike can do a cross reference while you are on the phone.
Ken/Sooke
78E Ratbyk
82 FT500 "lilRat"

[sidecarKev]

I'll look into it. It looks as though the two might be pretty similar. The 79F has a Mikuni BS34-II and some XS650 use Mikuni BS34 but no dashed number after it. Not sure what the -II means but will call Mike's XS and might be able to find out. Info was found on http://www.motorcyclecarbs.com/FicheYamaha.htm

[ratbyk]

Carb Site

Kevin, that is a very informative site. Thanks for the tip. Their prices seem high to me but I guess that how people stay in business.
Ken/Sooke

[Geezer]

Re: Good source for floats

Originally posted by sidecarKev
I've been trying to dial my carbs in for quite a while. Things were all over the place. I decided to pull an outside bowl. Leaking float. When I last had the carbs apart I tested all the floats in boiling water, 3 of them leaked. I patched those three up with something I thought would work. JB Weld. Well when I pulled that bowl the JB Weld patches were laying in the bottom of the bowl. JB Weld let me down. So I guess its time to bite the bullet and just buy new floats. So does anybody out there know of a source or is the dealer my best bet for these? I see powersportspro.com has them for about $22 each, possibly my best bet?

If were talking brass floats, then the best way to fix them is to solder them. I've repaired dozens of floats with a soldering gun and patience.

I've also used compressed air to blow out dents in floats but this is an iffy fix. Most squashed floats are best replaced.

Geezer

[sidecarKev]

Well I ordered the floats this morning. Not exactly sure if they will work or not. I talked to Mike at MikesXS and he had no clue if they would work in a 1100. The brass floats were $10 each and orders over $35 have free shipping. Total of $40. Dealer wanted close to $30 each and at powersportspro.com the total for all 4 and shipping would have been over $100. I can return them if they don't match up with what I have. I'll see how it goes. Thanks for the info Ken on MikesXS.

[sidecarKev]

I was having second thoughts about the floats so I gave Mike a call about them to get some measurements. The first one we tried was the overall width I had about 53mm and he had 65mm. Float diameter on mine were 28 he had 31. No go. The plastic ones they carry are a kidney shaped. Man I was really hoping to get these for $10 each, looks like that's not the case. Is this because I have pre-80 carbs? I was looking through the carb faq and it said:


Q: Where can I get spare parts for my carbs?

A: I've found that XS11 carbs are in short supply at bone yards and some of the parts are not available or very expensive at the dealer. I discovered that XS650 carbs share many of the same parts and there are zillions of XS650's lying in boneyards. 1980 and newer XS650 carbs use the same slides and diaphragms as '80-81 XS11, I believe (but haven't tested yet) that '78-79 XS650 carbs use same slides and diaphragms as the '78-'79 XS11. The needle jets and jet needles are different as are the springs. The choke plunger is the same, pilot jets are the same, idle mixture screws are the same. Needle, seat and floats are the same but the XS650 didn't get the black plastic floats until '81, XS11 had them in '80. XS650 is also a good source of chrome tops for the inner two carbs on '80-'81 XS11.

I'm not really sure what to make of this info as far as floats go. It seems like it reads that I could use floats from a pre-81 650 but according to measurements thats not the case. Can anybody out there confirm anything for me. Does anybody have some 650 floats laying around to compare to my 79F floats?

Thanks

[sidecarKev]

Picture of my carbs before I cleaned them. I've never seen the inside of any other XS1100 carbs but from what I understand in 80 and 81 they had plastic floats???? Do these plastic floats fit in brass float carbs???? I think XS650 plastic floats are the same as XS1100 plastic floats. Okay I'll stop replying to my own messages for a while and see if anybody knows more than what I've gathered so far.

[sidecarKev]

Ok I lied I am gonna post again. I confirmed that the XS1100 plastic floats are the same as the XS650 plastic floats. They both have the same part number starting in 80 or 81, 3H5-14985-000. So I guess all I need to know now is if plastic floats fit in the 78 and 79 carbs. They do not share the same bowl with the 80 and 81 so its hard to tell with out the actual float. Maybe I should just order them.

[ratbyk]

Floats

Kevin, even though there may be a small physical difference between floats and years they may be interchangeable. From the measurements you have posted it appears that the newer floats appear to be larger. This would make them more buoyant. Yamaha likely did this to put more pressure on the needle and seat to provide a better seal and stop flooding problems.
If the larger float will fit within your bowls and the pivot points where the hinge pin goes through will match up to your posts they should work. When you get the XS650 floats from Mikes XS I would certainly attempt to assemble one carb to see if the larger float could be utilized.
The larger float if it will fit would do a better job than the originals.
Just a thought.
Ken/Sooke
78E Ratbyk
82 FT500 "lilRat"

[sidecarKev]

Mike told me the width of the brass floats and they were about a half inch wider. I checked my bowls tonite and they wouldn't fit. Anybody have a plastic float laying around? Could you measure the width for me?

[wpc57]

Makes ya wanna go ... Hmmmmm

After reading all this carb stuff I noticed that not ONE of our bike X-perts have replied to this. Kind of makes me go Hmmmm

[sidecarKev]

If plastic floats are around 50mm I'm good to go. Anybody? I don't have the new floats on the way. Mike at MikesXS told me on my second call that both the plastic and brass were 63mm wide and they wouldn't work for me. I just want to confirm what size plastics XS1100 float are.

[sidecarKev]

I did end up ordering the plastic floats from MikesXS. These floats are listed as floats that work in most 1980 650 models and all models after that. These bikes also had 34mm carbs, same as the xs1100. From what I have found xs11's from 78 and 79 had brass floats. Starting in 1980 XS11's changed the carbs up a bit and eneded up using plastic floats. Well the plastic floats used in the 650 match up number for number with the XS11 plastic floats. My plastic floats arrived yesterday and they DO fit in place of the original brass floats. I was a little concerned because the new floats are kidney shaped vs. the round ones I had in there. The only problem I ran into was setting the float height. On my 79F float height is around 25mm, that just wasn't possible with these floats. I then checked float height of an 80 model, 23mm I think, still wouldn't be right. The best way would be to measure the level in the bowl but my bowls don't have the handy little nipples at the bottom. So all I did was throw the floats in there and hope for the best for now. I put the carbs back on the bike, flipped it to prime and it started right up, set the idle and let it warm up. Ran great. Here I am every night for a week trying to get this darn bike to run right when all I had to do was figure out ALL my floats were leaking.

So plastic floats for a post-80 XS650 WILL work in ALL XS1100 models. They are available at MikesXS for only $10 each and that included priority mail.

[ratbyk]

Replacement Floats

Good guess Ken! Tee Hee
Ken/Sooke