Finally got the 1200's OEM carbs overhauled and installed. Took a while to scrounge the missing parts so I had a complete set, sold the single carb manifold I built plus the carb, $130 which is more than I had in it. That worked out fine because by the time Ebay and PayPal took their cut, I broke even which was OK with me. I converted a Valk petcock to manual and ordered an inline fuel shutoff from Aircraft Spruce. It's made to mount in a panel so I can hang it on the left side. Plan to run the fuel line from the petcock to the shutoff, then down to the carbs. The Valk tank I got from Eddie(Tropic Traveler) and adapted it to mount on the 1200, removed the original tank and tossed it. Full of rust and pinholes. The only problem with that tank is the petcock is too far back and can't be accessed straight out like on the Valk, two sections of the frame interfere. So, I'll just turn it on and leave it on, letting the inline shutoff take care of that part of the operation. Then if removing the tank is necessary, since I have it hinged at the back you just need to remove the front bolt, tip it up and turn off the petcock by hand. That way it won't leak when you remove the fuel line. Remove the rear bolt and lift it off. I've found I don't need a fuel pump with gravity feed. I hang an external tank on the front and drop a line to the carb fuel line, runs fine.
Today I used the carb sync gauge set Rita got me for Christmas. Darn bike was rattling the windows according to Rita, was running quite rough and really loud. I hooked up all the lines at one time and started the bike, having already warmed it up. Synced the two right side carbs and what a difference with just those two, the RPM increased a good 500. I backed that off and synced the left two carbs, same result. Backed off the RPM to ~1k and then synced the left and right sides to each other. What a difference in both noise and smoothness, also noticed it uses much less fuel than the single carb setup I had mounted previously. The old Wing has a unique method for carb sync; sync each side together, then a third screw syncs the two sides to each other. Worked beautifully with the gauges, I'm almost tempted to buy two more and make a six cylinder sync gauge out of it to use on the Valk. Darn thing still has a small drip oil leak right over the left header. One drip and all the skeeters are gone.
Thinking seriously of simply making a shield to bolt up under the engine and over the affected header pipe, just to keep the drops off it. Otherwise it means I'd probably have to pull the head on that side just to try and find the source, which wouldn't be guaranteed either.
Getting back to the tank, it has 3-4 small dents in it. I plan to sand it down thoroughly then try filling the dents. Not sure what to use, is Bondo any better than it was back when I was 17 and driving a Bondo Bandit? Or would it be better to use lead? It's been a few decades since I've used either method so looking for the best approach from someone with recent experience. Any help out there?
