Hi again folks. I have two questions, one easy and one difficult.
easy: So, I plan to be hooking my abused carbs back up this weekend. Never actually opened. sigh.
From my reading, it seems like if I hook the lines back up properly, I should be able to just put the main petcock on PRIME for a while.... an the floats should eventually turn off the flow when there is enough.. and then I crank the starter for "a while". Anything else I need to know?
Is it possible to "flood" the carbs? I've heard it could be, but then I read that link that adidas gave, and it sounded like the floats are supposed to stop flooding from happening?
difficult: I'm guessing, sight unseen, that my bike has not bee rejetted to match the K&N drop-in.
But.. what if it has?
If I get the restrictor, and put it on, and it has been rejetted... what are some external (non-take-the-bike apart) signs I can look for? anything?
There seem to be some good ideas at
http://www.bikechatforums.com/viewtopic.php?t=194975
but I'm also wondering if the change in jet size for merely the drop in, is really going to make much difference in this stuff at all, lol.
Stuck floats will flood the carbs. Otherwise, nope.
When the bike is on, the fuel valve is open due to the vacuum. Gas is flowing freely as if the petcock was in prime. What keeps it in check are the floats and needle valves in the carbs. If they were stuck, there would be some flooding even when driving normally because nothing would stop gas from filling the carb bowls.
Make sense?
External signs? Only if they changed screws. Then even that would not indicate changed jets.
I have a K&N on one bike. With or without the restrictor it runs. I suppose after a while I could check the plugs for lean, normal or rich then decide if the restrictor should be on or off.
Run without it until you get one. If plugs show lean, then put it on. If plugs look perfect, don't put it on.
Make sense?
Quote from: adidasguy on September 14, 2012, 10:12:48 PM
Run without it until you get one. If plugs show lean, then put it on. If plugs look perfect, don't put it on.
Make sense?
yeah. although I suppose I might need to get fresh plugs, mine look kinda old and ugly now :)
I found this nice simple comparison chart:
(http://www.motorcycleforums.net/forum/attachments/sportbikes-sport-tourers/27747d1342389980-carb-clearner-20078200487_3plugcondition.jpg)
It also mentions that I'm supposed to cut the engine after running at whatever rpm for a while, to properly test.
Is it okay to do that in neutral? some posts on here I think seem to say its supposed to be in gear only.
If the carbs are off the bike at the moment, why don't you just open them up and see what jets are in there?
cant. screws are practically welded in there and Im not gonna attempt to drill them
Quote from: Phil B on September 15, 2012, 08:10:41 AM
cant. screws are practically welded in there and Im not gonna attempt to drill them
Agreed...chips from drilling are the last thing you want around a carburetor :nono:
(http://home.comcast.net/~stykers/screw.jpg)
When you say "a while", I just wanted to add that when I put my carbs on and set it to Prime, within a few seconds I hit the starter and it fired up. SO it really doesnt take long at all.
Quote from: Suzuki Stevo on September 15, 2012, 08:17:40 AM
Quote from: Phil B on September 15, 2012, 08:10:41 AM
cant. screws are practically welded in there and Im not gonna attempt to drill them
Agreed...chips from drilling are the last thing you want around a carburetor :nono:
(http://home.comcast.net/~stykers/screw.jpg)
Huh... whats that thing between the screw and the pliers?
Quote from: Phil B on September 15, 2012, 08:44:30 AMHuh... whats that thing between the screw and the pliers?
You don't make shavings if you do it correctly :thumb:
(http://home.comcast.net/~stykers/screw01.jpg)
use vice grips to take off the float bowl screws, then replace them with allen head ones from home depot.
Quote from: Phil B on September 15, 2012, 08:10:41 AM
cant. screws are practically welded in there and Im not gonna attempt to drill them
I'm guessing you've already hit them with WD-40 or PB Blaster and let them sit a while?
Quote from: salamander on September 15, 2012, 09:29:30 AM
Quote from: Phil B on September 15, 2012, 08:10:41 AM
cant. screws are practically welded in there and Im not gonna attempt to drill them
I'm guessing you've already hit them with WD-40 or PB Blaster and let them sit a while?
Yeah. There's *no gap* between the head and the carb body. Just runs right off.
I need to go to a custom printshop, and order something.
"I took my bike apart, and reassembled it, and all I have to show for it is this lousy T-shirt"
:-}
At least I got it to fire up again, after 4 weeks of being dormant.
It was misfiring like a mad thing until the choke kicked in and raised the revs... which it didnt, until about 5 seconds.... kinda creepy.
and it didnt even do that at first... until I checked the carb bowl drains.... which were empty... which meant of course I'd forgotten the tank petcock ;)
But hey, a running engine is always nice! Now I need to get a hold of a replacement engine bolt before I ride it seriously...
What.. the.. heck.
GSs are strange, mystical things.
the whole reason I suffered through the "try to take carbs apart" ordeal, was to rejet... to make my jets definitely match my drop-in k&n filter that PO had installed.... so I could get better mpg than my standard 56.
for those who missed the fiasco... it was a failure. I couldnt manage to remove the carb screws, so I ended up just putting the whole thing back together. after re-oiling one little dry spot in the filter.
I noticed how much better it was starting after the reassemble for a while. but that mostly went back to normal.
But now I completed my first standard 3-long-commute days. I put on 138 freeway miles.
and... I got 60.mumble mpg.
What... The....
I've *never* gotten as high as 60 before.
I didnt change anything :icon_eek: how can it be performing better anyway?? :dunno_black:
In some ways, i'm happy.. but the engineer in me is reaaally UNhappy, that I dont know WHY it's doing better. :icon_neutral:
Oddly, I thought it would be a little *worse*, since there was some amounts of traffic, and I ended lanesplitting a fair amount, going 30-40-ish, at higher than normal revs to make more noise. 6k-ish, where I usually let it sit around 5k when I'm doing that slow.
I wonder if it was that, more than the reassemble, that did it.
56 to 60 could be anything. Most likely just the way you drove this time. You did oil you air filter, which would reduce air flow a small amount. If you are running lean due to the K&N, then less air would be good for it.
aha... thanks. so in theory, adding in the restrictor i just accquired, might be even better, if it has not been rejetted.
Theoretically, yes.
Quote from: Phil B on September 28, 2012, 07:03:50 PM
aha... thanks. so in theory, adding in the restrictor i just accquired, might be even better, if it has not been rejetted.
K&N says with restrictor it performs exactly as stock air filter.
Without it, rejet because too much air goes in and makes it a little leaner.
I tried them. No difference (with restrictor). Then when I found you had to take them out, clean them and oil them up. OOooooohhh - so much work. Decided easier to just throw away stock filter and replace - 20 seconds maybe - than do all that cleaning.
If I did rejetting then maybe. Stock jetting - I'm too lazy to wash an air filter. Would rather be riding or building another bike.
Wheel .... second full tank refill.
This time, I got 59mpg, with more of a non-stop regular commute riding thing.
(143 miles, 2.42 gallons)
I never get that high, usually.
So, it's not just my riding.
winter blend vs summer blend fuel make a difference?
Ive always heard winter blend is supposed to give better mileage but then again, so will non ethanol based gas
Typically winter blends contain more ethanol and cold weather additives, so your gas mileage should decrease.
Hmmm.... Maybe I got it backwards then?
You got the relationship between ethanol and gas mileage right, at the very least. :icon_lol: The idea behind winter blended fuel is to prevent the fuel from freezing. Easiest way to do that is to add more alcohol.
Quote from: RossLH on October 11, 2012, 12:12:12 PM
You got the relationship between ethanol and gas mileage right, at the very least. :icon_lol: The idea behind winter blended fuel is to prevent the fuel from freezing. Easiest way to do that is to add more alcohol.
Isn't the freezing point of gasoline -97* F?
Didn't cars go for decades until the political activists and earth muffins forced us to add alcohol to limit oil imports (though can't figure out if we import oil, why do we export some of our oil? Couldn't we reduce dependence on foreign oil if we just stopped exporting our own crude?)
Quote from: adidasguy on October 11, 2012, 12:29:21 PMIsn't the freezing point of gasoline -97* F?
Didn't cars go for decades until the political activists and earth muffins forced us to add alcohol to limit oil imports (though can't figure out if we import oil, why do we export some of our oil? Couldn't we reduce dependence on foreign oil if we just stopped exporting our own crude?)
Correct, and the freezing temperature of ethanol is a good 75°F colder than that. The political reasons behind ethanol fuels are a little more complex than I care to get into.
Quote from: RossLH on October 11, 2012, 12:12:12 PM
You got the relationship between ethanol and gas mileage right, at the very least. :icon_lol: The idea behind winter blended fuel is to prevent the fuel from freezing. Easiest way to do that is to add more alcohol.
ah, we're having a little problem with regional differences. Califurnaiay aint like that.
Aint no freeze problems here! So California winter blend is more regular. Whereas summer blend is "special" , to decrease pollutants or some guff, I think.