Valkyrie Riders Cruiser Club

I've had my Valk for about 2 months and love it. So comfortable and powerful and unique. Yep, it has 6 carbs and is 20 years old. Old school is an understatement. You better love wrenching a bit because their aint a lot of folks who work on these dinosaurs. I must be mental because anything other than perfect and I have to "get to the bottom" of it as in decel popping and sputtering and things squeaking and other things leaking and....well you get the idea. I have had a decel popping since purchase and of course I pulled the carbs and did the 3/4 job on them and then the popping was still there and of course I blame the only 3/4 carb job I did but.....when I purchased the bike along with a bunch of other stuff mainly hydrolic oils changes  I also replaced the 0 rings on the headers not with the copper ones but with a thicker style 0 ring and I believe they are the source of a lot of my popping and stuttering. I have been gentle with the torque wrench and spanners but have tightened them down no less then 15 times and each time I get the nuts to turn a little bit. The past few days the popping and sputtering has decreased significantly! Of course it could be the 6 cans of B12 and the constant fiddling with the fuel screws that contributed but I'm thinking the header O rings I purchased didnt squish down under 7 ft lbs and it took a lot of little squishes to get a seal, actually I have gone to 8 ft lb on the torque wrench yep I'm living dangerously. Or......I could be all wrong.

       Has it been desmogged? Did you replace intake O-rings? Are all 18 carb clamps tight? Yup-you read it right-18 carb clamps. If it is desmogged is the one vacum line to operate petcock in good shape? As in newer? RIDE SAFE.

Also is it a stock exhaust?

They all will backfire on decelerations. You just don’t hear it as much with stock exhaust. If you have already checked for any air or vacuum leaks, and it’s more than normal, check the air cut valves. One on the side of each carb, if they’re not working right it will cause backfire on decel. I haven’t had to do this yet so not exactly sure how. Others will chime in.

stock exhaust
desmogged
pingel pet rooster (haha spell check changes it to rooster)
6 new vacuum caps
18 clamps tightened 18 times
6 cans B12
6 new intake 0 rings

AND....... I believe the popping and low rpm stumbling I was blaming on others things was in fact an exhaust leak from the 6 new exhaust gaskets not crushing down under 7 ft lb of torque until the 15 time. They were sort of silvery looking about and eighth inch thick.
Next time I'll get the copper ones.

The air cut off valves will be checked next carb removal and cleaning.

How often do you plan on removing the carbs?  I’ve had my ‘97 over 18 years and the carbs have never been out. It runs perfectly. I too have a Pingle petcock not a pet rooster. If you messed around With the carb adjust screws then it’s not going to be right until you do a proper sync.

I have a digisync tool and have synched the carbs a few times. That's my point. There are other factors other then the carbs that contribute to a rough running Valk. Mine is running much better than when I picked it up. Although when these bikes sit around the carbs can get gunked up.

         No cracked or fouled plugs? Are all the spark plug boots fitting snug? Do you have any water or signs of water in spark plug wells? There Are drain holes in each spark plug well. Good CLEAN FRESH fuel?  As you might be able to surmise I'm runnin outa rope!  :2funny: RIDE SAFE.

the OEM gaskets are (folded- rolledcopper) with a seam and I believe some sort of high temp resistant fiber core,  Thanks for the reminder I had my exhaust off a while ago and have been meaning to check it.  One side was good other had one real loose nut, another so-so, two a bit loose and 2 good.