WHo is getting tired of seeing my questions? Anyone? I really appreciate the help.

My new question: I have seen some stuff about cleaning the carbs, and checking valve clearances. My bike has 35K.....Is it time for all that?

For those who can't tell, I am basically attempting to restore this bike to as much glory as possible and keep her running good.

Thanks

 

Dude I have pestered these guys way more, and all are very helpful.

 

I would to be safe, the valves are every 16000, so you're at 35000, probably time for the second one cause people don't tend to send things in if there is nothing noticeably wrong. The carbs I would synch after doing the valve adjustment since that's every 8000, it should smooth up the idle. Past that if you're really ambitious look into drop tuning it.

 

I'm in agreement with dyracuse. Time for valves and carb cleaning. I just need to take that advice too. I got my red F3 a couple of years ago with 10K and it's got 35K on it now. Haven't done valves or carbs on it yet. My bike runs so good right now I don't want to tip the apple cart so to speak. We're planning on a N. East coast trip sometime in latter part of July, hit DC and NY, NY if possible. I'm thinking I should do it before then.

 

Well, mine that didn't seem to need to be "tipped" had less than a thousandth of lash on some of the valves, so get on it.

 

DC & NY? Ya know PA is in between the 2 Holla when ya hit the area

TBH I think I upped to the F4i simply to avoid checking the valves on the F3. Now I got another 13k before facing that

 

Yeah, and if you're coming up 81, I'm about 5miles from you once you hit PA. Just letting you know in case you need anything at all, bud.

As far as carb cleaning..... I probably wouldn't touch them if the bike is running good. Why tear them apart if you don't have to? Run some seafoam through the tank.

On the valves, yeah... I'd probably check them out. I check valves on just about every vehicle I buy. Most don't, tho.

 

Trout... Seafoam?!?!

What is that, and where do I get it?

As for the valves, How much am i looking at to have them checked and replaced if needed?

Regards,

 

Seafoam is something that you can add to your gas / oil to clean out varnish and deposits. You can get it at most parts stores (Pepboys / Autozone / NAPA) and Walmart. It's the lazy man's carb clean.

It will not be as effective as actually pulling and cleaning the carbs by hand. But it can help with minor issues. It's not to be used with every tank either.

It can also be used as a fuel stabilizer for storage

 

I live in DC, let me know if you're in the area. I have 70K on my F3 and I have yet to adjust the valves. I have one that is .001 out of spec and I feel it's just not worth adjusting. The rest are good to go. I highly recommend checking them though since the bike is used and who knows if the PO even kept tabs on that sort of stuff.
If you dive into the carbs, most likely you're going to find that o-rings need to be replaced. There are several o-rings between the carbs and inside the carbs that just get old and need to be replaced. In addition, you'll probably also find that the carb insulators will need to be replaced. If you do the carbs, budget for something in the area of $250 for parts. If you're hard pressed for cash, you can disassemble and reuse the old o-rings if they aren't cracked or damaged.
When assembling the carbs, you'll need to sync them. The motion pro carb sync tool a good for this or just search around for making your own vacuum gauges.