Carb overhaul cost

[buggrin]

With so many carb threads I'm just throwing this out for general info....... I'm orig owner of 78E approx 60K miles. Bike has never been stored dry, so always had gas in system. Occasionally will sit for a couple weeks or more without use. Carbs have been done once (don't remember what was done) at least 15 years ago and didn't need it again until recently. Low speed ports obviously plugged after reviewing the info in here.

Anyway, I didn't want to get into them myself and so started looking for somebody I could trust -- a real wrench, not a parts replacer. After talking to many people around here, found a small shop run by a guy who fits the 78 vintage. Talked to him 45 minutes (like me, this guy has lived too long to be in a hurry) and decided he knew what he was doing.

Two weeks and $275 later the old gal is as strong a ever. He said it was amazing the thing would run at all cause the carbs were really nasty. Told me a few horror stories about what unknowing people have done to this type of carbs.

If you take yours to a shop for this work, make sure you know which guy will be doing the work, and be sure he knows what he's doing. If they won't take time to talk to you go somewhere else.

I usually ride 2 up with a full fairing and always get over 45mpg. No change with the new setup. I admire you guys who tear into your own carbs but wonder about some of the low mileages I see posted. Me thinks there is some art to this carb tuning/overhaul stuff.

[DeanR]

Wow, 45 mpg. I'm usually in the upper 30s and thought I was doing pretty well from the sounds of things here, but maybe it should be a bit better!

[prometheus578]

I used to get a steady 40mpg, till I added a large windscreen. Am somewhere in the mid 30's. Obviously then drops lower based on speed and load.
An Afterthought: Hhmm... just changed front brake pads. (Left side was really worn) Caliper was frozen and dragging the brakes. Haven't checked mileage after doing the repair, but can imagine that it went up.

[motoman]

.That's some pretty decent mileage Buggrin! I wouldn't dispute that at all, but these somewhat differences in mileage have alot of factors involved. I know that when I bought my 81H (tourer) new, the best I would get on a long trip was 43-46mpg, that with stock jetting. And at 6,500ft. elev., I'm sure it was on the rich side, even though the numbers were at a lower(4-5,000ft.elev.) being traveled. Also the speed limit was at the 55mph mark then too, even though we pushed it another 5-7 over that. If anyone says they didn't then on these bikes, they're just fool'in themselves! Now that I have bought the same bike back 15 yrs. later, and put in an 81 motor of extremely low miles on it, using the same carbs, jetted and float level settings to somewhat correspond to the 4,700ft. I'm at, my mileage is lower than used to be(at an average of 36mpg). At those numbers, I am also running faster out there on the interstate than we used to. As my memory serves me well, way back in the day, if I ran a 200+ mile stretch at 70-80mph, my mileage would go from the 45mpg@60mph to 34-36mpg@70-80mph. The difference running at 4,000rpm and at 5,000rpm, for extended periods, and even a bit higher rpm if your at 80mph for sure knocks the s#*it out of any fuel economy. There are alot of other factors involved, wind, hilly or flat, person twisting the right hand,etc. that have a lesser effect in an auto than on a bike. Now once I have the carbs syn. I'm sure if I was being attentive to trying to get the 45+mpg with two -up.......I could make it happen.....most likeley won't cause when I jump out here on the interstate I'm gonna be runnin the 75-80mph, enjoying the tune of the exhaust at that speed, which I don't get to hear on the 'way to quiet' Honda ST at 80+mph, which by the way gets a 48-53mpg at that speed with 2-up.

[xj11john]

I would definetly agree with Motoman that there are alot of factors to take in concideration for MPG on these bikes.

One to concider for those with seemingly low MPG,
How long do you let your bike idle warming it up?- that uses gas-of course you want to let it warm up, but if you let it warm for along time that is gas used with no miles on the odometer.

Did you let your bike idle for some time tuning it up? maybe sometimes pretty rich-used gas there.

So my point is-sometimes if you forget to take those factors into concideration and then use the same tank of gas to judge your MPG-it could be off.

I realized this and am going to wait for next full tank of gas to determine where my MPG sits now.

just my .02 cents.

[red bandit]

hey guys, just some more input here. if i crank on mine alot i get 30 mpg, if i take it easy i get 38 mpg. thats with full fairing and hard side bags and truck, standard model. to bad you didnt get ahold of me first. i'd have cleaned your carbs. for awhole lot less. not trying to make you feel bad, next time ask around on here. red bandit

[gaffer77]

i get 25mpg on my special 79 SF model constant 90mph

[motoman]

With that input from Gaffer......that pretty much rest the case of mileage, as it drops alot at higher rpms. Thes bike have and make the torque......the only thing Yamaha missed the boat on was not making the tranny a 6 speed. Then they would have had the quickness from the low gearing and the extra gear for some 80+mph cruising at around 3,500rpm for some great mileage and engine longivity! That would have givin the bike the best of both worlds and made the H model the ultimate tourer that the Wing and Beemer couldn't even compete with.

[buggrin]

Thought about posting here for a cleaning but one of the reasons I wanted the job done by somebody else was I didn't want to pull the boots and screw them up. Had a bad feeling they would be real stuck after this long and figured this guy was a lot more experienced at sweet talking these things. I enjoy doing some work on it but you gotta love drop off and pick-ups when you can trust the person doing the wrenching.

Yea, the mileage is mostly put putting around here with not much high speed sustained time. When we (the XS and me) were much younger the wrist was much more flexible and I imagine the mileage dropped off some. I know tires last a lot longer than they used to...... I have been suprised at the consistency of the mileage either two up or alone and over different terrain

[graybird78]

had my carbs redone by shop specializing in older bikes.charged me 250.00. bike just never seemed to run right. finally couldn't take it any longer, took carbs off myself. none of the floats were the same, and 2 of the carbs float post pivots were bent and rusted up. fixed it all myself. now runs very good. wouldn't hesitate to do it my self again.