Long story short, carbs have been stripped and cleaned and the bike still runs pants, bogs, misfires etc. it’s not rideable. New spark plugs fitted, all sparking great outside the engine.

i did notice that the pilot screws were all about 1 3/4 turns out, one was about 1 5/8 out, but inside one of the carbs itself someone had scribbled 2 3/4? Which makes me think all my carbs might be a whole turn out?

what’s the default factory setting, or any settings you guys have that seem to work which I can use as a starting point please? The bike has never run sweet in my ownership and I think this may have something to do with it.

thanks!

 

2.5 turns from lightly seated seems to be the 'normal' starting point.

 

cheers, I actually found in my Haynes manual it says 3 turns out, which definitely improved things but still not great. I need a new fuel pump too it would seem as mine is toast when bench testing and can’t hear it firing up when on the bike, even pressed to my ear. I’ll try 2.5 turns and a new fuel pump! Cheers

 

Good luck, in the interim you could just try gravity fed from an aux tank as it will work fine.

 

Thanks - that’s what I’m currently doing as I read on here it seems to be a solution but having little joy frustratingly! I’ll keep playing with it. At the moment it runs as if it’s misfiring. Very lumpy, boggy and hesitant (and also very loud and rattly sounding). Feels like petrol starvation to me so I’m holding out for this fuel pump to see how we get on! Like when you’re riding and you’re running out of fuel and it starts lurching violently before dying! Haha

 

Hmm, it should run fine with the aux tank so I suspect you have another problem with the carbs or associated hoses. These carbs can be a sod to get properly clean.

 

Damn. I stripped the carbs down as much as I could see possible without seperating them, cleaned with carb cleaner and an old toothbrush and they looked spotless from what I could see, but I get what you’re saying. You can’t see or clean really where the needles and pilot screw slot into - I tried blasting it with carb cleaner in there but maybe that wasn’t enough. I’ll see if tweaking the pilot screw makes any difference with a fuel pump installed and if that’s still hopeless.. I guess the carbs will come off and go for ultrasonic cleaning!

 

Unfortunately carb cleaner has been neutered due to the most active ingredient being removed (Chlorine I think) so in reality does no more than a superficial surface clean. Need to use a PEA based cleaner, micro brushes and ultrasound bath to be really sure of a deep clean.

 

I’ve helped friends with their carbs before when they swore they were spotless. They are very surprised when I show them the crud that comes out after a couple rounds in the ultrasonic cleaner.
The one I have is not a professional grade one or super expensive. But it does a great job in working things free.

 

damn! Like your friends I swore mine were spotless. Now I need to work out if it’s worth me buying a small ultrasonic cleaner or paying someone to clean them for me! Not sure which is most cost efficient. I’ve got 2 bikes running carbs, so it may be worth me buying a machine myself.

are they safe to use on all carb components, or do I need to strip the carbs of anything not made out of metal?