Two carb questions

[Dozer]

Okay...you guys helped me with my carb ovh and it turned out great. I am VERY happy with the results. Many thanks to those who helped me with that project. Now I am helping a fellow forum member do his and I have some questions.

1. He has a 99 Interstate I think. When I took the gummed up carbs apart I noticed all of his all of his Pilot Valves were set at 1 3/4 turns. The bike had been worked on before by a dealer and just recently for carb issues I think. Y'all recomended 2 1/4 turns for my Tourer.  So the question is, are the PV adjustments the same for all Valk series with stock jets or do they differ from one series to another? Where would I set the PV's on this Interstate?

2. The bowl vent hoses attach to the Tee's between the aft carbs....number 3&5 on the right and 4&6 on the left, just as mine did. However, they go through the holes in the front stay instead of the rear stay as mine did. I am assuming its not a big deal but would it matter what hole or which stay they were in...either front or rear? I believe he is going to change to a pingle valve over the OEM fuel valve. Would there be an advantage to using the holes in the front stay over the rear with a pingle valve?

Thanks in advance guys
Dozer

[John Schmidt]

#1. It's not PV, as in Pilot Valves, but Pilot Jets/screws. As for the 1 3/4 turns out, that's what is often used with the #38 slow jets. You might want to take one out and see what size is marked on the side of it, if it's stock #35 then 2 1/4 turns is about normal.

#2. Doesn't really make any difference, they're overflow tubes that dump on top of the engine.

[Thunderbolt]

What John said.  Agree on both points.

[Patrick]

The pilots are originally set at 1.75 turns and most get opened another .5 turn to help improve drivability..
When 38s are installed then the general consensus is to set them at 1.5 to 1.75 turns..

[Dozer]

Alright...its semantics guys... but you know what I meant. The slow jets are stamped 35, mains have 100 stamped on them.

So its not a matter where the bowl vents dump as long as they dump and there are no uphill bends. Agreed?

The pilot valve, pilot needle valves,  jets pluggers, pointy things or whatever you choose to call them,  get set to 2.25 turns out, no matter what series valk it is.  Is that right? These things are going to 2.25 turns out...as in 2 & 1/4 turns out from fully seated.

Okay...Thanks Guys
jd

[salty1]

I think you got it Dozer! The 35 slow speed jets are OEM, should have 1.75 turns out on the pilot screw from seating for non-Cal types. Cal types get 2 turns out. FWIW

[Dozer]

Well POOP!! Which is it for 35's?  Pat & Salty suggest 1.75 +.25 and John says 2.25 and Thunderbolt agrees with John. This is worse than talking obama politics!! 

Okay guys...how about this? I set the needles to 2.0 (Pat). Do you think that would that do the trick and make his bike run happy?

Now in retrospect, I am wondering if I should go back to my Tourer and reset them to 2.0 from 2.25 or would 1/4 turn not make a difference one way or another? I have close to 800 miles on it since I did the carbs and it seems to run okay. Whats the general consensus? Would I notice 1/4 of a turn or not?

[Mr.BubblesVRCCDS0008]

Dozer are you working on Poor OldHarrys bike in Baytown? Maybe I can help if you are. My bike has 155k on it and I've never syn my carbs or adjusted the the pilot screws. I'm afraid to try and turn them after all these years. Don't think I could handle it if it ran any better.

[Patrick]

Dozer,, 1.75 + .5 = 2.25 .. At least by my math it does..

Most of these bikes come with pilots set at 1.75 [ 1 and 3/4] and they tend to run better at 2.25 [ 2 and 1/4] whether 49 state or Ca..

[Dozer]

ROTFLMAO! Not only can I not read without glasses or use proper terminology, I cant seem to add either! Screw these golden years!!

Its a good thing I can laugh at myself or Id be crying!

Thanks for correcting me and thanks again for your patience and help. Y'all are the best. Okay, I am going back to my dumbass box now.....

[Patrick]

I certainly understand.. I'm trying to make the best of these golden years myself..

[Old Geezer Richard]

  Hey Dozer , thanks for bring up this question , because I'll be needing to yank out my carbs and give them little suckers a good cleaning or two  .... Hey Dozer by the way , WELCOME TO MODERN MATURITY , I'm with ya friend 65 yrs. young this coming Dec. ....  Thanks the Geezer 

[Dozer]

You are welcome! Modern maturity?? LOL Hummm, is that the PC term for old fart?? LMAO

Seems like theres a number of us "modern mature" guys here. I'm leaning towards a young 69 myself. Thank God there are Trikes now to help share the Valks rep of "Geezer Cruiser". LOL

Just jump into those carbs...there is so much available help here its hard to go wrong, and if you do screw it up, there's always someone here to help uscrew it. Patients goes pretty far on this site.

The average cost for a DIY complete carb cleaning seems to be around $100. Honda get around $600. Thats just about everything except for the slow jets, ACO valves (air cut off) and floats. The last two get pretty pricey but I havent read about many people having to replace them. Just the O rings, bowl gaskets, a float valve or two...and thats about it.

[Dozer]

Dozer are you working on Poor OldHarrys bike in Baytown? Maybe I can help if you are. My bike has 155k on it and I've never syn my carbs or adjusted the the pilot screws. I'm afraid to try and turn them after all these years. Don't think I could handle it if it ran any better.

Hey Mr B! Yes, I am helping Poor old Harry. We are having fun with it. I did everything to his that I did to my sons and I am hoping for the same results. I just wasnt sure if the pilot needle valves were set the same on all valks. Kinda looks like they are unless they have bigger aftermarket jets. I'll be starting to put the rack together tonight and maybe try to install the finished assembly Sat or so if my work sched permits. Harry has been very patient with my screwy work schedule. If nothing else, they sure look nice and clean and pretty! LOL

[Mr.BubblesVRCCDS0008]

Ya'll have fun, sat. is opening day in the woods so I'll be trying to lessen the number of deer killed on the highway as much as the law will allow. Bought a new 50 caliber muzzler and can't wait to try it out. It is a beast. 295 gr. hollow piont 100 grs. of powder, should drop them in their tracks.

[Dozer]

Atta boy Mr B...get Bambi and his whole family!! I am a PETA member...People Eating Tasty Animals! LOL Although, I do prefer Elk over Deer. Good luck in the woods and try to not get yourself mounted on someones wall! LMAO

Are you using Black powder or Pyrodex?

[Mr.BubblesVRCCDS0008]

white hot  powder  pre formed (2) 50 gr loads and powerbelt 295 gr. hollow points.

[Dozer]

Ahhh, pre-formed...fast and easy...

[JaysGone]

Just carb a question guys in thisd post vane.

From my carb world you set the PMS screw from a lightly seated position.
Is it this way for the Valk or from fully seated??
As I havent touched the carbs on my bike yet.
They are a take off set from unknown bike and Im getting 32ish mpg 45-65ish mph.
I have yet to take a real trip on the slab to get a highway number.
But my mpg numbers seem to be "normal" to low from some indicated here.
Plugz look good so I dont feel Im running rich.
But as from day 1.
Ive never had to use the choke<enricher> to start the bike.
So that to me does indeed say rich to me in most cases.

Thanks in advance.

[Ricky-D]

Ive never had to use the choke<enricher> to start the bike.
So that to me does indeed say rich to me in most cases.

Being in Florida I would say that is pretty normal.

I need the choke only on the coldest days here!

***

[JaysGone]

Normal for a Valk then??
I do indeed need to use the "choke" on all my other bikes to start them regardless of the outside temps when the engines cold.

So what your saying is Im OK and should just leave them be.

[Ricky-D]

Sure, I'd say so!

I used to use the choke all year but this year I found it really isn't needed during the warm days of summer.

Of course, I always give the throttle a blip to get the motor started. Did the same when I used the choke but found It (choke) wasn't necessary to get the motor running.

I most always let the motor warm a bit to get things normalized.

My motor, which I am not sure if it is normal, seems to need a minute or two to run smoothly and idle in a good manner when I first start it in the morning. Warm or cold weather doesn't make any difference.

When the weather is cold the bike will not idle well (cold), if at all without the choke and with the choke it will increase the rpms up to around 1500 and then as it warms it will idle to up over 2000 rpms.

Now this summer I found the choke is not necessary on the first start-up and I can hold the idle for a short time with the throttle and then it will idle very nicely without help right around 900 to 1000 rpms.

I use non-ethanol gasoline, premium grade (93 octane).

***

[Dozer]

For those who may be curious, the carb ovh came out well and I think Harry is happy with it. I got to his place around 10 AM and we installed the bank, runners, air box and filter, ect. We got it to the point of starting, attached a gas can and hit the start button. She fired right up. After warming up I sync-ed the carbs....I was able to get them with in 1/2"hg of each other and the most I had to turn a sync screw was 1/2 turn. Pre-syncing works! Then I adjusted the idle speed to 900

We let the bike run for 15 min or so, killed it and rechecked all of the work we did. Harry did a DYI desmog that worked out well. He got a pingle and that eliminated all of his vacuum lines. He got his vacuum caps for the runners from Dead Eye. We installed them then fired it up again to check fore leack and grimlins. Bike sounds great...no popping or hesitation that I noticed and throttle accel was instantainous.

He still had a lot left to do when I left at 1330 but the bike is running. He has an I/S and there were several things to put back together before he could get ot off of his big lift. I sure did like that lift!  I cant speak to drivability yet but I think its gonna be just fine.

So once again guys, thanks for your help and advice! Thats what makes this a great site

[JaysGone]

Glad you got his bike up to snuff.
And allowed me to find out my bikes for all intents and purposes normal.

I do have a question for you Dozer regarding the caps Redeye uses in his kit.
I used synthetic or silicon caps on everything when I cleaned up the POs desmog job.

Will silicon hold up down there??
Or should I have used black rubber ??
What type of caps are in his kit??

[Dozer]

No problem Jay...I not exactly sure where you want to use the silicon. The caps I refered to were the ones on the intake tubes. They look like rubber and have a "finger pinch" clamp on them. I imagine silicon would work there if it were the high temp kind. As you know, those tubes get hotter than hell.

As for the desmog thing, the hose Harry used looked like the OEM
hose with a big bolt threaded into it. I dont think any kind of temp or pressure would affect those things no matter what! LOL  I dont know what comes with Dead Eyes Stealth mod (partial desmog). As for Silicone in that area, again sorry, I dont know.

Personally, even though its a lot more work and more permanent, I really liked Dead Eyes Shiney desmog mod. It really cleaned up that area nicely. No tubes left there at all.  But then again, riding down the hiway at 70 MPH, who's gonna see it anyway?? LOL

I am still anxious to know how his bike runs on the road though...

[JaysGone]

I just used a mixture of different sized caps on evey hose and or clamp thing that had a rubber type cap on them.
All the black rubber type the PO had used were drying out and or torn.
I put stainless bolts in all the intake runners except the 1 for the vaccum to the
petcock.
Then zip stripped them to give them a little more hold.
So far they have held up well for over a year.
If I had known better at the time Id have figured out a way to plug up the larger chromed or stainless.
Maybe I could have used some JB weld but didnt want to make it semi permanent on the larger  lines left up front and on the one on left rear.
But so far its all holding as there isnt a lot of heat in that area.
I do look at them every now and then.
But have no plans on pulling the carbs anytime soon for a real good inspection.
I guess Id know if 1 was leaking in the way the bike would be running.


This may all be moot anyway as the Valk might be going into storage.
Im halfway through negotiating for this little deal.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/2010-Honda-Goldwing-Motor-Trike-GL1800-/190745841786?forcev4exp=true

[Dozer]

You will probably never have any more problems with it Jay.
Man thats a slick looking trike you are dealing on. Hope it comes to pass for you. Are you gonna dump your Valk then or what?. Did I mention that Harry has a Valk Trike? Looks really nice too

[JaysGone]

i just cant see spending the $$ to trike out a 14 year old bike.
That one has 10K on it and the bike is worth it to me done already.
Id try to sell or give away both the Valk and R* pay down the loan with that money.
I was going to trade in the Z28. But I couldnt do it.
So tommorow Ill find out the loan terms.
A nice size chunk of cash down, finance the rest for 3 years.
But pay it off in a few months.
They can ship it to me.
Then Im done and over with it.

[JaysGone]

You will probably never have any more problems with it Jay.
Man thats a slick looking trike you are dealing on. Hope it comes to pass for you. Are you gonna dump your Valk then or what?. Did I mention that Harry has a Valk Trike? Looks really nice too

Its in Austin.
You wanna go pick it up for me?????

[Dozer]

Hehehe, its an interesting offer Jay and Austin isnt that far from me....if I had the time not to mention the liability.  Ax me in a year....I hope to be retired then and will be looking for something to do!

However, I do have a buddy that fits that catagory...and he rides a Harely Trike. If you have a delivery issue maybe he could help if you like..

[JaysGone]

I hope to have this wrapped up by tomorrow or I wont pull the trigger.
This is what Ive wanted for 2 years.
But.
With me wanting and needing are 2 different things.
I want this.
Dont need it yet.