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Mitchapalooza
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« on: July 01, 2020, 01:00:39 PM » |
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Hi Folks,
I've obtained quite a lot of help from this awesome forum in the past, and am really hoping for some now. I've got a 98' Standard Valk that sat for a bit too long over the winter without riding and unfortunately, the damage had been done as far as varnish, etc. It would start right up, though the number 5 carb (throttle side rear) was leaking. It had done this before, though corrected itself previously.
Now, it was definitely leaking fuel no matter what I did, so I decided it was time for a carb rebuild.
I removed the carb bank and had ordered new RedEye float needles/springs, carb body gaskets, intake/stack gaskets and O-rings for carb drain screws. It looked like it was coming from the bottom of the body, so I assumed that it was a possible failure with the gaskets or stuck float needles.
It took me a while to get around to the project, but eventually got it all put back together. At first, she wouldn't start, though it ended up being a poorly charged battery. I went ahead and bled the clutch while I was at it, drained old fuel from the tank and put in a couple of gallons of fresh 89.
After a sufficient charge, she started up, though it took some choke and convincing. At first, the throttle response wasn't great and I had to give it some gas to keep her running. I did go ahead and check the petcock functionality by blowing through the body with it closed/open, and it functioned just as it should.
After running it for a couple of minutes and coming back to it the next day, she started right up and idles where it did before. The issue is, I noticed spray coming from the rear clutch side (Cobra 6x6) exhaust from all three pipes. Zero spray from the throttle side.
I believe this to be fuel coming from the left/clutch side exhaust and I'm kind of at a loss, as each carb was meticulously rebuilt the exact same and each float bowl had plenty of spring with the new springs/needles.
To me, this would indicate a stuck float that is flooding the carbs to the point of getting into the exhaust. I tapped on each carb body with a screwdriver handle to see if I could get a different result, though I'm still getting fuel coming out of the left/clutch side when I rev her up. In fact, I can actually see it pooling a bit at the exhaust tips - scary!
Though I probably should have, I didn't do a desmog on this go-round, as I've never had a vacuum issue on this bike. As far as I know, everything was put back together as per the Clymer Manual. The only thing that I may have botched was one of the air hoses coming from the rear of the PAIR valve is kinked after I got the airbox back in. If I have to take her apart again, I'll just order a desmog kit to eliminate that potential hassle/failure.
Fires right up otherwise, just can't figure out if there's something else I can do aside from pulling the carbs again and going through my work on the clutch side. I doubt it has anything to do with the vacuum line going from #6 to the petcock, but I suppose that could be the case somehow. I'm a decent mechanic and have successfully rebuilt many carbs on bikes, ATVs and Rotax engines.
What I did:
-Carbs rebuilt on the carb bank and double-checked that they are in sync regardless
-Pulled all jets and left in ultrasonic cleaner overnight
-All bowls, floats, pins cleaned and checked for issues - found none and came out great
-High, Low, Idle jets cleaned with piano wire and checked in light to ensure no blockages
-Old adhesive meticulously cleaned and new carb gaskets installed
-New carb drain O-rings installed and each pressure tested with Mity-Vac to spec
-New RedEye vacuum caps and EZ retainer rings installed.
-Petcock tested for functionality
-New stacks/intake O-rings installed
-Ensured there is fuel in every carb by cracking drain screw
-Pulled each plug to check for fowling/flooding - they all look the same and don't smell of gas too badly
I live in Fort Worth in the DFW area and any/all help that you fine folks could offer would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Mitch ???
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