Well, I bought the bike! (pics, etc.)

[knewsom]

heyyyy, HOT water! now there's an idea. I'd rather not buy stuff from Yamaha - the dealership here was a letdown, and I don't want to have to drive all the way out there again. Anyhow, I saw some floats on mikesXS, any word on whether or not those'll work for me?

https://www.mikesxs.net/mikesxs-fuel...ategory_id=4.2

Cheers,
Kris

[knewsom]

Update again!

Cool, so I've TOTALLY disassembled the bits and pieces of my carbs (well, I havent' taken the choke apart or separated the individual carbs, but aside from that...). My main jets (the ACTUAL main jets, not the pilot jets, heh) were TOTALLY gunked. One of them was so bad, I don't think hardly ANY gasoline was getting through at ALL. I've scrubbed 'em down pretty good with an old toothbrush and a rag, and they're soaking as we speak out back.

The carb body has been sprayed down and scrubbed with a toothbrush and rag, inside and out. I need to give it another once-over with carb cleaner again, but I need to go to the store and pick up some more carb cleaner before I can do that. I also need some canned air (I dont' have a compressor) to blow it all out afterwords.

Let me tell ya, there was all SORTS of gunk all over the place in there. I can't wait to get this beast all put back together, and get 'er up and running.

-Kris

PS: Selling my car TOMORROW MORNING, so time is running out to get the Maroon Baboon in working order! Yikes!

[randy]

Kris,

Don't feel so bad, when I first tore down the carbs on Swamp Thing, the main jets came out in two pieces. Each one took 1/4 turn and snapped off! Had to then remove the leftover threaded ends from the nozzles!

Good luck with the pods, do a search here for the right ones.

[knewsom]

Originally posted by randy
Don't feel so bad, when I first tore down the carbs on Swamp Thing, the main jets came out in two pieces. Each one took 1/4 turn and snapped off! Had to then remove the leftover threaded ends from the nozzles!

*yikes!* heh, at least my main jets are USABLE... then again, the Maroon Baboon wasn't in a SWAMP.

Good luck with the pods, do a search here for the right ones. [/B]

I THINK I got the right K&N ones - 52mm, right? I'm trying to decide whether to cut them for the diaphram vent hole or to use a coupling system like TC did.

I'm leaning towards cutting, to put less weight on the carb boots. Now if only they'd GET here.

Cheers,
Kris

[pathfinder]

Wait

Knewsom, on your leaking float take a pencil type soldering iron to the float in question, after about 20 seconds the gas will come out the hole. Wear safety glasses it comes out under pressure form the hot air in the float. Two thing are accomplished here, one you get the gas out, 2) you see where it came from. Worked many times for me. Unfortunatley I was never sucessfull in soldering the hole, hope you have better luck.

[knewsom]

ya know? maybe I'll just buy a new float. *shrug* I can't even FIND my soldering iron, and I was never very good with it anyhow.

[webbcraft2150]

Run the carbs thru your dishwasher, pull them out halfway thru the dry cycle, shoot carb cleaner thru every hole, blow em dry and "assemble in reverse order". Use the liquid dishwasher soap. Don't get caught by you know who. No dishwasher? Use a bucket of hot, soapy water. This would fall under the "triple clean" system. Dishwasher works good on pistons and con rods to. No dishwasher?, ante up.

[TopCatGr58]

Hey Knewsom,

Bike Bandit has the brass floats, the brass ones on MikesXS won't fit our machine, the plastic ones fit, but you would need to get ALL 4!

Here's the info on BB: 25: FLOAT 20736-001 $22.53

This is from the 78 E parts fiche on BB!
T.C.

[knewsom]

Originally posted by webbcraft2150
Run the carbs thru your dishwasher, pull them out halfway thru the dry cycle, shoot carb cleaner thru every hole, blow em dry and "assemble in reverse order". Use the liquid dishwasher soap. Don't get caught by you know who. No dishwasher? Use a bucket of hot, soapy water. This would fall under the "triple clean" system. Dishwasher works good on pistons and con rods to. No dishwasher?, ante up.

WOW, you've actually TRIED this!? You've got more balls than me, brother...

Seriously though, it won't rust the steel bits, or harm the aluminum? Did you put it in the upper part of the dishwasher or the lower? What about the float bowls? the diaphram covers? Did it make the chrome nice and shiny, or make it look worse?

I'm really intruiged here, but not sure if I'm intruiged enough to actually go through with it.

[knewsom]

Originally posted by TopCatGr58
Hey Knewsom,

Bike Bandit has the brass floats, the brass ones on MikesXS won't fit our machine, the plastic ones fit, but you would need to get ALL 4!

Here's the info on BB: 25: FLOAT 20736-001 $22.53

This is from the 78 E parts fiche on BB!
T.C.

Awesome - now all I have to do is ante up again... heh, boy these parts are addin' up!

[webbcraft2150]

The carbs were stripped down. Did not seperate the bodies or take apart the enrichner linkage. Diaphrams were NOT attached. You can't get em clean if they are not taken apart. Treat the diaphrams with tender loving care and watch how they come off so you get em back the right way. I used the hot soapy water rinse when I took them out. If you use the liquid soap, you wont risk getting a little chunk of soap stuck in one of the passeges. Chrome caps came out nice and shiney. While they were apart, I polished the outboard float bowels. There is alot of work involved in doing a carb overhaul, not difficult, just alot of work, hence the "triple clean". I popped the $35 for a "carb stick" from Dennis Kirk. Worth every dime, just ask Duct Tape. It is less than an hours labor from any bike shop and you will always have the tool. I always thought mine ran well till I used the carb stick, after using it, it was like a whole new bike. Smooth idle and vastly improved throttle response. My wife has gotten used to me using household stuff to work on things. The only time she got miffed was when I converted our only bathroom into a paint booth and she had to go next door. Oh, and the time I used her high $ turkey baster to suck crappy brake fluid out of my master cylinders. Or maybe when she found my BB Mopar pistons in the oven, or was it the piston pins in our tiny freezer, no, the most trouble might have been using the electric fry pan to heat oil to soak a chain in it. Oh screw it, I just stay in trouble all the time.

[knewsom]

Originally posted by webbcraft2150
My wife has gotten used to me using household stuff to work on things. The only time she got miffed was when I converted our only bathroom into a paint booth and she had to go next door. Oh, and the time I used her high $ turkey baster to suck crappy brake fluid out of my master cylinders. Or maybe when she found my BB Mopar pistons in the oven, or was it the piston pins in our tiny freezer, no, the most trouble might have been using the electric fry pan to heat oil to soak a chain in it. Oh screw it, I just stay in trouble all the time.

ROTFLMAO!!! Holy hell, your wife must be the most patient woman on EARTH! Mine's upset that I have the Maroon Baboon in the GARDEN (under the covered shed), let alone my office, where I'm working on the carbs... Heck, if it started spilling over into the bathroom or the kitchen, I'm afraid there may be dire consequences.

That being said, she has to work at 9, and I don't have to work 'till 1... I wonder if I can sneak a carb dishwasher load while she's at work..... sounds like a bloody great idea, anyhow!

I'm probably going to shell out for one of those 4 paralell stainless stell gauges that works exactly like the mercury type, but uses solid bars instead of merc, so it can't get sucked up into the engine! It's like 60 bux or so, but I figure it'll be worth it to be idiot proof (kindof necessary around casa de Newsom.)

Anyhow, I just got wind from Fedex that my partsnmore delivery won't get here until may 2nd. TOTALLY unacceptable. Wait a week and a half to get these carbs back together!? GET REAL! I'm going to call FedEx, and see if I can't upgrade my shipping.

-Kris

[knewsom]

"choking" on water

well, I tried the dishwasher technique, didn't work quite as well as I had hoped.

My choke now seems to be full of water, and when I took the carbs out of the dishwasher, every piece of steel was covered in a white powder, which I take to be ferric chloride? Anyhow, I freaked a bit, and doused the whole thing in WD-40 as soon as I got it out.

now there's no more white stuff, and the choke moves about jsut fine, but there still seems to be water in there, and I'm a little concerned about my rubber seals and stuff.

The carbs look pretty durn clean, though...

In other events, my oil filter screw was stripped BARE, and I had to use vicegrips to get the filter housing off... even then it was nigh on impossible. My oil is mostly all drained, and now I'm just wondering, "how do I get the old filter out of the housing!?"

And in far, far, WORSE events, sadly, I noticed my tensioner is bloody MISSING, unless it's recessed in that gaping hole in the front of my engine. It SHOULD be a screw/bolt coming out of that hole, yes? and if it ain't, then I'm royally ****ed, yes?

*sigh* I'm starting to fear that the Maroon Baboon is cursed - I'm going to do a Ju-Ju cleanse when I put the new oil and plugs in.

[randy]

knewsom,

if you're tensioner is actually MISSING,

DON'T START THE ENGINE

can you post a picture of the "gaping hole"?

[knewsom]

Randy,

heh, my engine isn't starting any time soon! I still have to fix my gas tank, finish rebuilding my carbs, put in new oil and plugs, change the fork oil, seals, and boots, get a new front tire and mount it, clean and oil my bearings (and possibly replace), bleed and clean my brakes, figure out why my front and rear brakes are dragging (if they still are after flushing with new DOT 3), disassemble and regrease the entire drive assembly, replace the gear oil, and put it all back together. Now that I think about it, it's probably a GOOD thing that I won't get my parts order (which includes my carb rebuild kit and air filters! d'oh!) until next Friday - That'll give me time to get caught up on all that other stuff!

I think I may actually have a tensioner, and be missing the PLUG..? It still looks like there's SOMETHING bolted on the outside of the engine, with a lock nut and such, but I didn't see anything inside the hole. It's GOTTA be there though, because the engine ran before, and I got great compression results. Oh yeah, I forgot a few things to add to the list - if I DO have a tensioner, I need to adjust it, and I also need to check my valves. Phooh! This really is quite a project!

Cheers,
Kris