great news... fingers crossed!

 

those idle jets are legendary for getting blocked.

Once trick I learned - start the bike from cold, let it run for a few seconds (badly!) and check the downpipes - the cold ones are the ones with blocked jets.

 

Update: yesterday went for a ride. Letting out the clutch is a bit of an adventure as the bike really wanted to stall, every time I started it moving. I'm assuming that the clutch plates might be a bit bound together from sitting. However, a bit of nursing and I got it up to about 60 cruising on an old highway near me. It shifted fine on the road, had to keep the throttle pretty wide open to get much power out of it but it ran reasonably well. Periodically would also suddenly gain some power as though something had loosened up a bit. Stopped at the local motorcycle shop to hang out for a bit and then ... 😒 ... it really didn't want to start. Absolutely nothing. Cranking and cranking, throttle or no throttle, choke or no choke, not even popping or stumbling until I finally got it to start again after about 15 minutes. Relief, so I headed back up the highway, got up to about 75, and then it just died. This time there was nothing. Got a ride from a friend and came back with the trailer.

Next step, see if it fires up today, ride it locally although it's easier on an open road since I don't have to keep stopping and starting. I think I'm going to have to pull the carbs (which I really didn't want to do cause it's such a pain to get them back on, especially not knowing the condition of those boots) and I picked up a new set of plugs since I was at the shop anyway.

I'll add that the riding part, when it was moving, was sooooo much fun. 😁

 

They are certainly a fun bike to ride, unfortunately I think you will need to get the carbs off.

 

Something for the boots if they are hard. People on here from time to time will use a mixture of wintergreen oil and alcohol to recondition the rubber. I’ve not tried it myself but everyone who has says it works well. That’s assuming there are no severe cracks.

 

Any preferences on parts suppliers? I went on Amazon and found plenty of people selling carb rebuild kits and carb isolators, unsure of quality or whether there's much difference.

Update: decided to pull the trigger on the Amazon order just to get it coming before I leave for the weekend. Discovered that it won't be delivered until August. That is garbage. Presumably shipping from China. So... new mission ...

...find one that ships sooner.

But the kit I was going to order:


says it fits 1987 to 1990

and the next kit in line, which delivers sooner, says fits 1987 to 1989.


Can anyone confirm that the 1990 bike has the same carbs? The Honda exploded parts diagram has the same initial part number of 16101/2/3/4 for the four carbs respectively and for both 1990 and 1989, but the 1990 has a second number of -MT6 and the 1989 has a second number of -MN4.

I don't want to wait til August as I have time now to do these projects, but I don't want to waste a week ordering the wrong parts.

Thanks in advance.

Can anyone clarify

 

This is pretty common on old bikes. Clogs from petrol tank takes couple of rides to work their way to carbs, then clog it up.


Carbs are actually perfectly fine. It's cleaning out the clogs they need. Jets are metal and never wears out, so no need to replace them. Just clean and unclog them. If replacing anything, ONLY get brand-new factory OEM parts from authorised Honda dealer.

Problem is rebuild kits are aftermarket and parts don't actually conform to OEM standards. Jets sizes won't match and won't even match themselves within same kit.

Main issue is always secret hidden passages in carb-body. Lots more surface area for clogs to build than jets. And you can't see inside these passages, so easy to over look. Those 90-degree bends really love to harbour clogs. Best to use test-tube type brushes and PEA-based fuel-system cleaner. Definitely works way, way better than Seafoam, which has high percentage 30-40% isopropyl alcohol (ionic solvent). Which doesn't work very well on dried petrol plastic deposits. Need non-polar solvent to work on dried petrol plastic.

 

Update: I think I ran out of gas on the highway and that's why it quit. 😳 I had put in a gallon or so and am thinking that the combination of running it quite a bit before riding, then the riding, plus the fact that there was probably gas leaking through the overflow while riding. I pulled it out of the trailer yesterday and it didn't seem to have any gas so added a bit, then it fired up and ran (poorly). Still going to pull the carbs.
Thanks for the carb pics. I'll get some PEA cleaner and keep working on it.

 

Pilot jets cleaned (three different cleaners but the Amsoil PI seems to have done the trick. Reassembled and installed carb bank, fired right up. Rode it about 30 miles yesterday (plus stopped and filled it with gas cause, you know. 🙂

Also, both titles arrived in the mail so apparently no problems

Runs like a dream. I'm headed to Texas on Saturday, then on to the '88. Hopefully just as easy. 🤞

 

Fantastic, great result... On with the riding.