make old carbs new again

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rdvmax

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Is fuel supposed leak out (small amount) through the needle jet, around the jet needle of carburetors on a 85 v max at idle? Looking down through the bores of all four carbs.
Bike hadn't been started in three years but after changing all fluids and stopping the gas leaks i did get the bike started The pilot screws have no effect on the idle and the engine will surge. Very scary first gear tryout.
Anyway, it's been so long I don't remember if fuel is supposed to be dribbling out of the jet and needle or not.
So, has anybody looked down the throats of their carbs lately...What do you see. Thanks
 
I had one do that, while the engine was off. Fouled the plug, ran like crap. And gas was sizzling inside the exhaust after you shut the bike off. I fixed it before it burned up.
 
If you cannot clean them adequately, send them to dannymax (see his banner ad at the top of the page)and be ready for spring. You don't want your bike to catch on-fire! Don't forget to change your gas filter.
 
So is there supposed to be any gas sucked into the engine through the needle jet/ jet needle at idle?
I think my idle circuit on three of the four carburetors are clogged and I've had to compensate by opening the butterflies too far with the idle screw.
The mixture screw on one of the carbs does seem to affect the idol but the other three mixture screws have no effect on the idle. So that's what I think and thinking it's not something I do a lot of which may be obvious by my analogy.
 
Send the carbs to dannymax at the BRC Carb Shop, if you don't have the ability to clean them properly yourself. Don't forget to add a new carb gas line fuel filter when you re-install them, make sure your tank is clean, take a look inside.
 
So is there supposed to be any gas sucked into the engine through the needle jet/ jet needle at idle?
I think my idle circuit on three of the four carburetors are clogged and I've had to compensate by opening the butterflies too far with the idle screw.
The mixture screw on one of the carbs does seem to affect the idol but the other three mixture screws have no effect on the idle. So that's what I think and thinking it's not something I do a lot of which may be obvious by my analogy.

No there shouldn't be any gas at idle. Only when the vacuum gets high enough the diaphrams will pull the needle out of the seat and allow more gas into the system. Either your slide is sticking, or something is stuck behind your needle, or very doubtful but the spring is weak. Like I said, I had one do that and with the bike not running it was still leaking gas into the hot cylinder, and it would sizzle inside the exhaust pipe. I fixed it before it caught fire....... Put it this way it would still smoke after I had turned the bike off. I drained the float bowl immediately, and pulled the rack off the bike until I got the parts to repair it properly. Big risk of it catching fire if it's still leaking when the bike is off. It feeds directly from the float bowl, the other end of that gally, is the main jet.
 
Okay so the carbs came off the bike opened them up and found a hardened yellowish deposit left from the evaporated gasoline in the float bowls.
Carb cleaner had absolutely no effect on the deposits. I could scrape against it and it would come off as powder. Surely this stuff was clogging my idle circuit. I used a product called CLR which my neighbor suggested and it worked amazingly well. Did need several applications and a small bottle brush to loosen it but eventually it did come out clean. The carb cleaner and a blast of air did highlight the deposits but they came out clean as a whistle. Even the screws inside the float Bowl had deposits on them the CLR cleaned them up really nice.
The carb cleaner was used mainly to verify as a visual that the passages in the carburetor body we're clear. This whole process was very satisfying.
I reassembled the carbs. Visually set the float height. Leveled the four carburetors. Made sure the choke lever and assembly was working smoothly. Visually synchronized the carburetors with just a slight Gap showing on each of the Butterflies. Pushed the assembly back onto the bike rechecked everything sat back and I asked myself should I start the bike yes I started the bike turned over about 4 times and started right up with the choke on motor was racing eased back on the choke it settled down adjusted the choke off the idle was still high simply adjusted the idle screw to bring the idle down and the bike was running and running great.
I still May have to make some adjustments. Wet float height carb synchronization idle needles and I don't know what else is going to be wrong with this 33 year old bike with over 80,000 miles but right now I am very happy.
 
glad you had good results with the CLR. Vinegar in a 10% solution commonly referred to as cleaning vinegar will do the same thing as CLR but for much less money. If you're close to a restaurant supply store you should be able to get the 10% cleaning vinegar solution easily. You may also be able to find it at A well-stocked Supermarket or the big box hardware stores. Just check for the 10% solution.
 
Okay so I checked the wet float Heights after the bike was leveled and found 1 carburetor with the fuel level measured exactly right but the other three carburetors had the fuel level to high, and slightly out of spec. I decided to leave it that way and proceed with fuel screw adjustments and carburetor syncing. The bike idled fine and seemed to take throttle very well but after riding a bike I did notice that at partial throttle, pulling away from a stop sign, it did stumble a bit and then catch up. A gentle throttle would amplify this situation. So I'm going to pull the carbs once again after I double check the wet fuel levels. I hope this is a rich condition and will be rectified with the proper fuel level in the float bowls. This setup includes an aftermarket headers and exhaust and a stage 1 jet kit. I will try to read my plugs I expect them to be a little black and the air cleaner might have to be replaced. At 65 miles an hour the engine runs very smooth and at WOT is strong but at 40 to 50 miles an hour I detect a slight roughness. I hope this all means rich and the fuel level will fix it.
 
Roughness is often lean. Like someone once told me, rich is smooth and lean is fast.

What do your plugs look like?

Mark


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Sean's kit will probably fix you right-up, assuming your passageways aren't clogged and the fuel level is OK. If you have a full exhaust, and install Sean's Morley's Muscle carb kit, I bet the next time you are off your sweet-running bike long-enough to post, it will be, "why, oh why didn't I do this sooner!? :ummm:

Okay so I checked the wet float Heights after the bike was leveled and found 1 carburetor with the fuel level measured exactly right but the other three carburetors had the fuel level to high, and slightly out of spec. I decided to leave it that way and proceed with fuel screw adjustments and carburetor syncing. The bike idled fine and seemed to take throttle very well but after riding a bike I did notice that at partial throttle, pulling away from a stop sign, it did stumble a bit and then catch up. A gentle throttle would amplify this situation. So I'm going to pull the carbs once again after I double check the wet fuel levels. I hope this is a rich condition and will be rectified with the proper fuel level in the float bowls. This setup includes an aftermarket headers and exhaust and a stage 1 jet kit. I will try to read my plugs I expect them to be a little black and the air cleaner might have to be replaced. At 65 miles an hour the engine runs very smooth and at WOT is strong but at 40 to 50 miles an hour I detect a slight roughness. I hope this all means rich and the fuel level will fix it.
 
[email protected] Sean Morley, see the banner ad at the top of the page. 'Morley's Muscle'

Sean's built many different VMJax bikes, and he is very free with his advice to help you out. If you buy the kit, you will have an experienced tuner of VMax bikes to help you get it set-up correctly.



So where do I find a Sean Morley muscle carb kit?
 
Sean Morley responded. The performance carb kits are available. Thank you. In the meantime, I had to double check the wet float level because some of the levels we're out of spec to high. This time they all checked exactly the same but on the low limit. I guess things have settled in since my initial test ride. I did readjust the A/F needles from 2 1/2 turns from the seat to 3 turns, then resynced the carburetors. Took the bike for another test ride. The off idle bog I was experiencing before has much improved especially since reacquainting myself with the characteristics of my VMAX. Not being so timid and choosing the right gear, not lugging the bike during low-speed maneuvers certainly helps. I experienced front wheel lift at wide open throttle during the 2-3 shift and a slight dizziness from the G Force. You know what I mean like when the blood gets drained from your head.
On to my next problem. The bike doesn't stop very well. I ran my finger across both sides of both rotors and they are soaked with brake fluid, I think.
I'm going to start a new thread in the brakes section. Make my brakes new again.
 

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