jet kit carb tuning

[ladybrid]

ok
I am so frustrated I am past scream to quietly wacking head on wall.

the cobra pipe on, all good and fine
uni filter on, all good and fine

factory pro kit in as per instructions, with stock pilots (yes, yes I know, but bikes are around and running like this, baby steps)
at first all appears fine, but now it stalls and cuts out like it has run out of gas, but with no warning sputter.
motorcycle cohort monkeyed with idle and pilot screw and it seemed a little better.
tried again, went up a hill, stall and cut out again, barely made it home, came to a stop and it dies.
exhaust does not smell like it is running too rich.
opinions before I take it apart again?

float bowls accidentally messed with maybe? need adjustment?

something not seated properly?

less washers? (currently the one fat one off of old stock needles, + 1 half mm, on advice of motorcycle cohort... this I'm not feeling right about) more washers? move clip up or down?

something stupidly and obviously to everyone else not hooked back up right?

pffffff, my brain is full... I think I'm turning back into a fluffy girl and loosing my wrench monkey ability.

whimper  

[The Buddha]

OK I'll take a crack...fuel or vacuum lines hooked up wrong...so try in prime, try opening the drain and see if you get a good flow of gas...etc etc Do you remember if you opened the upper petcock...
Cool.
Srinath.

[ladybrid]

At this point I know nothing...
but I will check...
on prime runs better...

grrrrr

-thump-    -thump-   ow   -thump-

[scratch]

Idle adjustment screw?

[ladybrid]

sorry, all my technical jargon is used up especially after reading all the carb info in the Clymer manual over and over for the past 12 conscious hours... which is not enuf to troubleshoot new jetting

gesturing wildly and pointing to "that thing" doesn't translate very well over the computer

[miket]

I'm with Srinath here. My vacuum hose got disconnected at the petcock when I was dropping in the airbox, and I didn't notice. Took me half an hour of cussing to find out.
See a picture here:
http://www.angelfire.com/mt2/mikesgs500/rejetting/

[ladybrid]

Ok, anyone online?
Finally got back to this.
Not a hose issue, all fine.
Petcock fine.
Was running too rich according to nice black spark plugs.
floats bowls appear to be at the right height and filling fine (15 mil?)
So
took it back apart.
clip at #3, one .5 mil washer (took out stock washer)
now starts fine but once given throttle for a bit bogs and stalls and won't restart, as if no gas, but the bowls are refilling fine.

[Rashad]

Ok, anyone online?
Finally got back to this.
Not a hose issue, all fine.
Petcock fine.
Was running too rich according to nice black spark plugs.
floats bowls appear to be at the right height and filling fine (15 mil?)
So
took it back apart.
clip at #3, one .5 mil washer (took out stock washer)
now starts fine but once given throttle for a bit bogs and stalls and won't restart, as if no gas, but the bowls are refilling fine.

Hmm.. if it was rich, and its bogging and stalling and not restarting it sounds like your flooding it. It sounds like your idle screws and/or your idle adjustment is out too far.

[ladybrid]

not flooding, spark plugs are dry

sorry, I can't figure this out, and my mechanic friend can't figure it out, we are completely stumped
we've managed to kill the battery in the process, luckily we have a charger.

[ladybrid]

Ok
after another take apart and put back together
it's running
I don't know how
or why
and at this moment, I think I will just leave it at that
and have a drink

[The Buddha]

Ok, anyone online?
Finally got back to this.
Not a hose issue, all fine.
Petcock fine.
Was running too rich according to nice black spark plugs.
floats bowls appear to be at the right height and filling fine (15 mil?)
So
took it back apart.
clip at #3, one .5 mil washer (took out stock washer)
now starts fine but once given throttle for a bit bogs and stalls and won't restart, as if no gas, but the bowls are refilling fine.

The GS is laughing at you...and your mechanic friends...But my guess is that this is what happened...When the slides were put back in the spring wasn't put in right...Might have not seated right...happens often on these cos the small diameter of spring it uses...A nighthawk (old CV keiheins ) has springs that are ~ quarter sized...and will never not seat when you put it back in...and when you blip the throttle a few times and it tried to rev but the uncooperating slide dont lift right and has it not getting the mix right and it stalls...however if you never blipped the throttle it will idle fine....cos it doesn't use the slides when at idle...It will idle fine but tends to stall when blipped and released...and all of a sudden...bam the spring seats fine and the bike behaves normally. Sometimes it is much worse and you have to take it apart...and you never realize it cos the tops pop off anyway under spring force...and when you dont find the problem and put it back together...you seat it properly and the problem vanishes...only to re appear at your next sleight of hand...
Cool.
Srinath.

[ladybrid]

that actually totally makes sense, because nothing else does!
will hopefully have a chance to put it thru it's paces tomorrow nite,
(being a mom with too many hobbies and kids limits the bike time), but we put it away in running condition,
ended up with needle clip in the #2 space with one .5 mil washer and stock washer, screws at 3 turns out, may still need to fiddle with that and the idle, but
pfff that was an insane way to spend a really hot Sunday.
all I can say is I'm glad I had company, I would have been a wreck taking it all apart and putting it back together all on my own... and my mechanic friend had nice heavy hose scraps in his tool box that were perfect for replacing what was cracked all the way thru (the small piece on the bottom of carbs that ends up facing the front of the bike)
that petcock removal that is posted here is tempting just to not have to deal with all the hoses!

oh! and discovered that PO had removed the tube between the carbs and the charcol box... still don't know what "drilling" was done to the jets.

[The Buddha]

OK lemme take another wild guess aboout the drilling part...To set the mix screw did you have to drill anything out?? If not...that's what was drilled...of course the PO could have drilled various other things...but usually people dont do stupid things to their bikes...dont kill me... I said usually...
Cool.
Srinath.

[ladybrid]

lol
nice disclaimer,
no I didn't have to drill to get to the mix screws... but I was kinda working on the assumption that he'd done more to the bike than just adjust the screws... maybe not, there wasn't any other sign of monkeying other than the tube to the charcol box being absent.  He had made a very big deal about the jets being drilled, so I thought perhaps the shop had actually re-machined the jets.

[The Buddha]

Yea...people stoopid like that...He might not have understood when they said that the brass plugs were drilled out from the top cap of the air mixture screws. BTW did it have the stock 122.5 jets or were they different...and if it was 122.5 see if the hole dia was 1.225 mm or bigger...if bigger it was drilled...else it was not.
Cool.
Srinath.

[ladybrid]

it had the stock jets, but I can't figure any way to measure that small to see if they were drilled out... but it's moot if the frilling thing will keep running nice now!

[The Buddha]

Find the drill that fits in best...one of the numbered ones...and measure with a accurate vernier or some like that. If one is too loose and one dont fit...then well its between the 2...if it was drilled one of the drills will fit...and pilots...well no way to drill those I think without using jewellers drills or somehting.
Cool.
Srinath.