Lucas Carb Cleaner

[GS1100G]

OOOOOOOOOOOOOoooooooooooooo AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH..... shiney... pretty colors... can I have those??? I don't use a polishing wheel but they don't have dirt on them when I am done... And neither does those... how much is this carb dip

[doctorgonzo]

I paid 20 bucks for a can (it's in a gallon paint can) but have seen others talk about getting it for less.

[Zook]

Be VERY careful with Simple Green, it doesn't like aluminum and some paints.

BTW, valves do not "rattle" due to low octane fuel, you are hearing detonation due to incorrect timing or carbon build up, which raises compression.
The noise is an early combustion (pre-ignition) or the fuel ignites too quickly and the rods take a beating.
Fix the problem or you will need higher and higher octane fuel.

The reason for higher octane is to slow the combustion process so you can use higher compression in order to extract more energy (power) from the fuel available. gas has a finite # of BTUs available, low compression gets some of it, higher compression extracts more, but they must boost the octane to slow the combustion to prevent detonation.

[mighty13d]

Be VERY careful with Simple Green, it doesn't like aluminum and some paints.

Never heard that about Simple Green before. I sprayed it down all nice and wet at the car wash, then liberally applied the Simple Green, scrubbed it down and took my merry little time rinsing it off making sure that I got everything over several times so I didn't have any left over suds in some crevasse. I'll keep an eye on it though. It did make my bike smell really nice!

[GS1100G]

well with the valve "problem" I am not going to tare down the bike so i can run cheaper fuel, I will just have to run a higher octane fuel... I will not rebuild until it hates 92 the we will fix said problem

[doctorgonzo]

Too tight valves can burn up. If it's a new to you bike, valve adjustment should be near the top of the "to do" list. It's really not that bad or expensive. Less than 50 bucks (buying gaskets, shims, etc...) and can be done in an afternoon even by a first timer.

[Zook]

If you want to decarbonize the combustion chambers Put some Seafoam in the tank-follow directions!
The stuff really does work.

[RageZro]

well with the valve "problem" I am not going to tare down the bike so i can run cheaper fuel, I will just have to run a higher octane fuel... I will not rebuild until it hates 92 the we will fix said problem

Running higher octane than needed can carbon up your heads and valves to the point where performance is lost as well as risking damaging your engine. It's not about being a cheapskate on fuel, it's about the compression to fuel octane rating needed for your specific engine.

Once you've carboned up the heads and valves you will hear the "87 octane fuel knock" as the carbon is causing predetonation to happen to the faster burning lower octane fuels than slower burning higher octane fuel. You will be spending more money and time if you burn a valve or worse from running 92+ octane. One last point on 92 octane or any top octane your gas station sells, they don't move it fast enough for it not be more likely stale than the lower octane fuels they sell.

A little gasoline factoid:
Due to the poor condition and quality of gas over the years the old urban myth was born that if you ran a tank of the "good" gas (high octane = Hi-Test, Ethyl) you would clear out all of those problems you were experiencing from being cheap and using the "regular" gas. In truth the early hi-test/ethyl gasolines had the only additives to help your engine, they were actually closer to the octane stated and old engines with higher compression that required lead for the heads actually got that lead proportioned correctly in hi-test whereas in "regular" it was not so true. Gas companies have short cut the low end fuels for decades and still do in states like here in Ohio where there aren't any purity laws that hold them to their claimed octane. Indiana has this law and 87 is 87 not 85 or less.

The thing that a lot folks don't know is that oil companies don't use "pigs" any more to separate the types of fuels they are piping around the country. I have found that a lot of folks think that gasoline is shipped by truck... wrong, only from the local depot to the station. It is piped all around the country. They used to put a "pig" in the pipe which is basically a solid plug that is pushed through the pipes by the pump pressures between fuel types. So you had say diesel on one side of the "pig" and gasoline on the other side. Now they don't do that they let the fuels mix at the point where they meet. This is a tramp mix that is supposed to go to places like power plants and such to be burned where it won't matter. I have my doubts that this is always practiced and that some of this tramp fuel is getting into the supply chain. Add poor in-ground tank maintenance, ethanol and you get some pretty crappy gas. The fuel in the bottoms of these tanks is not good and don't trust that filter in the pump as it doesn't get the service it needs often enough. Filling up when the delivery truck is there stirring up that dredge in the bottom of the tank is like playing Russian roulette that crud won't get into your tank.