Different gas tanks?

[Xarik]

See post #63.




That sort of depends on how mechanically inclined you are. In 2007 I took a bike that hadn't run in three years and went through her from stem to stern with a lot of help from the forums and a good set of tools. I wasn't a motorcycle mechanic, but I've been wrenching on cars since I was 15. So, without knowing your skills I can't really answer that question - but I can tell you that it's doable if you hold up your end.

I've been wrenching on cars since I was 14 or so (21 now), so I know a fair bit but sometimes I doubt myself for some reason. I don't know why, but I don't think I know much until I get into the job, then I realize that I've done it all before and know how to do it. I rebuilt just about every single part on my 84 Mustang that's carbed and I did a bunch of work on my 84 Mustang SVO (injected 4 cylinder turbo) and then I did work on my 03 Jeep wrangler and 2 of my other cars (clearly you can tell I have a problem since I'm 21 and currently own 4 cars). I watched and aided a guy in rebuilding my Ninja's carb...then I got pissed at myself because I realized how simple the job was and if I'm careful and slow, I can do it all myself.

My issue is that I don't always know which holes should be plugged or go to another whole or what...which I'm guessing can be answered here on the forum.

The bike is a toy and an escape from every day life, so working on it shouldnt' be an issue for me. If I get stuck or can't do a job, then I'm sure it'll be much cheaper for me to ask someone else to do it quick rather than doing the whole dang thing.

I see post #63, my bad.

Now I'm angry that I dropped it off at those guys but **** happens and I'm indecisive at times and get a little freaked out.

Rebuilt kits for the carbs look like $100 or less and then jets are super cheap. I can rebuilt the carbs and clean them out in a few hours by myself and then see where it's at before I buy carbs at all.....hmph...I should have listened to you guys to begin with ;P

[dbeardslee]

I've been wrenching on cars since I was 14 or so (21 now), so I know a fair bit but sometimes I doubt myself for some reason. I don't know why, but I don't think I know much until I get into the job, then I realize that I've done it all before and know how to do it. I rebuilt just about every single part on my 84 Mustang that's carbed and I did a bunch of work on my 84 Mustang SVO (injected 4 cylinder turbo) and then I did work on my 03 Jeep wrangler and 2 of my other cars (clearly you can tell I have a problem since I'm 21 and currently own 4 cars). I watched and aided a guy in rebuilding my Ninja's carb...then I got pissed at myself because I realized how simple the job was and if I'm careful and slow, I can do it all myself.

Sounds like you're a good candidate for the tasks at hand. I say go for it. You'll get a lot of satisfaction by doing to work yourself, plus you'll save a boatload of dough. And through the process you will become one with the bike. It's all very zen.

[Xarik]

Sounds like you're a good candidate for the tasks at hand. I say go for it. You'll get a lot of satisfaction by doing to work yourself, plus you'll save a boatload of dough. And through the process you will become one with the bike. It's all very zen.

Yeah I'm realizing that now. I figured it was just a simple job for the mechanics to do, but it sounds like it'll be much more and I'd rather just do the job myself rather than paying someone tons of money to do it. I'd rather learn how to do this and save money for the looks of the bike rather than losing a ton of money and having a bike that looks great and saying "Yeah, I don't really know what they did, but it looks good"...I'd rather say "Yeah I got a piece of crap and made it look like this!"

You better believe that I'll be posting on this again though ;P

[kboehringer]

"Yeah I got a piece of crap and made it look like this!"

Xarik,
That's the attitude that is needed to have a cool bike or a cool car (Mustang for you, T/A for me). I've also been "wrenching" for many years but didn't have the skills or knowledge to do most of what I have done on my bike without the guidance of the guys on this forum.

I am a "Hot Rod" guy deep down in my heart and I frequent the local car shows. There are several guys at those shows that can not even answer very SIMPLE questions about their rides. We call 'em "Check Book Hot Rodders" and they get little or no respect within that community. Often their cars are nicer than mine in many ways.

However, I carry an album of my car from the time I had the thing drug into my yard until today....... Seems the car show judges like to see dirty finger nails and photos of a guy doing his/her own work too. I frequently come home with an award or trophy and my car is NOT the nicest in the parking lot.

Don't be a "Check Book Hot Rodder", do as much as you possibly can by yourself and be able to take real pride in what your driving. The rides feel a whole lot better on that bike too knowing that you have good work done under your backside!

Very Respectfully,
KURT

[TopCatGr58]

Hey Xarik,

Congrats on coming to the proper conclusion that this is a DIY project!!!

Now, folks have answered most of your questions, but I wanted to provide a little more info from what I just read in your latest posts.

The bike wouldn't start after putting the new NO LIP pods on...but you said that the battery seemed to wear down pretty quickly. That tells me that the battery wasn't very strong/charged to begin with! The ignition system is fairly dependent on good voltage levels. It's a known fact/occurence that when the battery voltage drops below ~10.5 V during cranking that the ignition won't fire and so the bike won't start even though the engine can still crank....just ever slower and slower!

So...first thing when you get it home is to put the battery on a proper charger, get it back up to FULL POWER, even afterwards put a spare car battery jumped onto the bike battery to provide plenty of cranking power and can help keep the voltage UP, and it'll probably start!

As for carb kits....you don't need or want them...most that you will find will be the K&L brand JUNK. You need to buy GENUINE MIKUNI for any of the parts you may need to replace....which shouldn't be too many...providing the parts you take off stay in good shape, not stripped/broken screw slots, etc.!

I started typing before checking what year it was....so if you have the newer model with the Viton Tipped float needles, then you may need to replace them as part of getting them to not leak/flood, along with the O-ring for the float needle seat.

And don't use GOOGLE, use the SEARCH Feature on our site, along with just asking. Remember to try to use the same thread so that we can see what the original problem was, what you tried, what was suggested, then tried again, etc, easier to follow in the same thread.

Looking forward to your BUILD thread!
T.C.

[Xarik]

It has begun

I'm not sure if I should start a whole new build thread or wait until it's all done, but you guys have been following me thus far so I guess I'll make a post here .

I just picked up the bike at about 6:45 and got it back to my apartment around 7:45. That in itself was one heck of a trip and almost killed my buddy who rode it off the truck on the ramp and it almost fell off. It got caught on the exhaust clamp so we had to readjust everything...that bike is heavy when you have to just lift it straight up and push it over lol.

We finally got it back to my apartment and I was able to get a whole bunch of my tools from home to my apartment finally (I moved into this apartment in January and haven't had a huge use of them till now). So now I have a small toolbox, my rolling stool and a small bit of tools and necessary items...one of the most necessary item being the bike!!!!

It's nice to finally get a darn good look at it and see what I'm dealing with. I think the most annoying bit will be the frame for the seat and then the electrical (At least I'm hoping the most annoying bit won't be the engine!)

I started by closing the petcocks and taking off the hoses...found out real quick that the petcocks don't close all the way and do a slow but steady dripping from the tank, even when closed...had to figure out what I could do in order to still get the carbs out.

Loosened all of the clamps on the hoses between the carbs and the engine (not 100% on the name, but I put paper towel in the holes just in case) and then I took off the pods so I didn't have as much to deal with. From there I took off the throttle cable (which was really easy because mines messed up). Now the entire carb setup was just hanging by hoses...making me realize how very little is holding those in (HUGE thanks to dbeardslee for the carb bracket, that'll be very good for it).

Now I had to figure out how I can get the carbs out with the tank dripping...I decided I could just clamp a needle nose vice grips onto the hoses to hold the fuel back...well, I only have one clamp and there's 4 hoses from the petcock, but what I did find was that there were only two hoses going into the carbs and then the others were going into some other thing (Someone feel free to tell me what that is in the image).

Then I proceeded to take off the thing that had 4 hoses going into it and found it didn't leak any fuel, so I decided I was clear to clamp the two hoses going into the carb together and then take the carb out

Having it on the bench, I think I might have one heck of a job ahead of me . 30% of the screws and almost stripped with a few being completely stripped and I'm realizing now that the other 70% of the screws are VERY tight and will likely strip if I tried to get them out, so I need to figure out what the heck I'm going to do with that.

Past that, I flooded my garage with the smell of fuel along with a ginormous puddle of fuel from the carbs and a bit from the hoses. This is very annoying because it's a big enclosed structure and I ended up using a bunch of paper towels to clean that up, however it was completely expected.

At this point, I have the carbs sitting in an oil pan with a bunch of paper towels around it just in case there's some that I missed while tipping it over and getting as much out as I can.

Realizing there is so many screws that are stripping or stripping, I fear that I may need to replace most of them (and probably should replace all of them) with stronger ones that don't strip so easily. Any suggestions would be AMAZING!

Here's some pictures, please yell at me if I should start a new thread or tell me what to do otherwise

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2


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4


5

[dbeardslee]

On the gas dribbling from the petcocks - you've got a thing on the SG called the octopus, and it's a vacuum operated diaphram that turns the gas on to the carbs when the bike is running, and shuts it off when it isn't. Or at least it's supposed to. My F model had vacuum operated petcocks, not the octopus, so I'll let others weigh in on the best way to handle the octy.

Here's my advice on the carbs - get yourself four containers, label them 1, 2, 3, and 4, and use them to keep the parts separated for each carb. I usually start by removing the slides, their springs and the caps, and setting them aside. Then I can turn the carbs upside down and remove the bowls, floats, jets, fuel valves, and emulsion tubes. You may have caps over the mixture screws, and if you do they'll need to be removed. Be VERY careful removing the pins that hold the floats in place. Spraying them with a little penetrating oil is a good idea, and I use a small punch being careful to tap (not hammer) them on the center of the pin to get them started. DON'T HAM FIST THEM. You want to use gentle persuasion, not brute force. Otherwise those little towers that hold the pins have been known to break off. Take your time and be gentle.

[Xarik]

Squeaky clean

Hey,

So today I have the day off and I wanted to try and take one of the carbs apart. Here's a couple pictures of what I've come to...I've hit a brick wall and can't figure out what I need to do next because I know I haven't gone far enough :P.

I opened up the other side of the carb and it's just the diaphragm (which is in tact and seems good)

Also, the image with the little needle looking thing and the other thing with a screen: Am I replacing the thing with a screen? I'm guessing that's a main Jet, otherwise I'm completely wrong and the main jet is the screw that goes on one of the top peaks...I'm going to do some more research here and try to find my answer, if anyone has a writeup with pictures, that'd be amazing!

cleaning carbs by Lane Schwartz, on Flickr

cleaning carbs by Lane Schwartz, on Flickr

cleaning carbs by Lane Schwartz, on Flickr

[dbeardslee]

On the top tower, down inside is the pilot jet. It takes a thin screwdriver to remove it, and you have to push down firmly to keep it from getting stripped.

Below that is the bottom of the emulsion tube. You have to push them out, and I used a wooden dowel and a small hammer to tap them out. The slides must be removed first before you can remove the emulsion tubes. It's also a good idea to hit both of those parts with penetrating oil before you try to remove them.

[Xarik]

On the top tower, down inside is the pilot jet. It takes a thin screwdriver to remove it, and you have to push down firmly to keep it from getting stripped.

Below that is the bottom of the emulsion tube. You have to push them out, and I used a wooden dowel and a small hammer to tap them out. The slides must be removed first before you can remove the emulsion tubes. It's also a good idea to hit both of those parts with penetrating oil before you try to remove them.

Wait, how do I get the emulsion tube back into that lower one if it took a hammer to get the darn thing out? Also, what are the slides and how are they removed? :P

[Xarik]

I don't have an image, but the diaphragm is held on by a glue or something...is that supposed to be light that or is it just supposed to slide out?

[dbeardslee]

Wait, how do I get the emulsion tube back into that lower one if it took a hammer to get the darn thing out? Also, what are the slides and how are they removed? :P

Once you get the tunnel and the emulsion tube clean, they'll go in pretty easily. But when they've been in there a while they sort of become one with the carb body.

If you look inside the bell on a carb, you'll see a big brass thing in there - that's the bottom of the slide. You have to remove the caps on the other end of the carbs, then stick your finger into the bell and push up on the slide. Then you can pull it out the top of the carb. And be careful with the rubber diaphrams.

After you've got the slides out, then give the emulsion tube and pilot jets a good shot of penetration oil - Free All, or PB Blaster, or the like. Let the penetrating oil do it's thing for while, and then you should be able to remove the parts. And do your best to keep the penetrating oil off rubber parts. It probably won't hurt them, but it never hurts to exercise caution.

[dbeardslee]

I don't have an image, but the diaphragm is held on by a glue or something...is that supposed to be light that or is it just supposed to slide out?

There's a little groove that the diaphram seats into. There shouldn't be any glue on it. If you look closely you'll see a little tap on the outer edge of the diaphram. It usually works best to start by popping that out, and the rest of the diaphram should come out easily. A pic of the diaphrams would be helpful if you suspect somebody glued them in place.

[Xarik]

There's a little groove that the diaphram seats into. There shouldn't be any glue on it. If you look closely you'll see a little tap on the outer edge of the diaphram. It usually works best to start by popping that out, and the rest of the diaphram should come out easily. A pic of the diaphrams would be helpful if you suspect somebody glued them in place.

Perhaps someone decided to put a gasket made out of...something?...around the outside of the cover over the diaphragm. I was able to get under the diaphragm with a small flathead and push around carefully dislodging it. There is still residue from whatever was used to seal it in place (see the images)

After getting the pilot jet out with a small screwdriver (and I'm pretty sure I've basically stripped it), I then pounded (gently) the emulsion tube out...oh my gosh is that thing absolutely nasty. I'm guessing it isn't supposed to be green and have ever whole plugged from gunk?

So I just pulled out the main jet? (In the image)? At this point, I should toss more parts into the chemdip (anything without plastic or rubber) and start considering purchasing a jet kit for the bike right?

Here's a link to my flickr album rather than linking every image: https://www.flickr.com/gp/19420753@N06/S6f95T

[dbeardslee]

Yeah, it looks like somebody used some kind of sealant on those. Might be able to clean it up a bit with some silicon lubricant and gentle rubbing on the diaphrams. I wouldn't go nuts on it, though. The important thing is that the diaphrams don't have any holes in them, and that they're seated in the groove properly when you put the tops back on.

When I mentioned stripping the pilots I wasn't talking about the threads - I meant the head where the screwdriver goes. If it was me I'd buy some new mains and pilots - they're cheap, and you'll know exactly what's in it that way if you can't read the numbers off what you've got.

A lot of brass parts will turn green like that - but those are definitely pretty doggone greenified. A good soak in the parts cleaner should do wonders for them. And don't forget to clean the holes they came out of, as well as the bores for the slides. They need to be able to move easily up and down, and you don't need any foreign material gumming things up.

And don't forget to remove the air jets too - you'll find them in the carburetor bells.

Looks like you're doing a great job so far. Be patient and keep up the good work.