Help?

[Dre]

It wasn't a rally. It was all on my own. I left Pope AFB, NC at 6:45 am, and arrived in Moline, IL somewhere around 3:00 am. All documented and sent throught the IBA, 1000 miles in 24 hours or less, (Iron Butt Association). 84 is geat, I ride it a lot.
Start with the tank, shouldn't take more than a half hour. Work outwards from there. Don't play with the carbs yet.

I meant the Rally in Fennimore, me and the lady are planning on going...How about yourself?

[tomo]

Try blowing into the carb breather pipes a couple of times, then put the choke on and try starting her up. Has always worked for me and a few other guys on this site that have tried it. Turning the petcock to prime for 30 seconds or so can also work too, but the breather pipe trick works best. Give it a go !.

[Dre]

Try blowing into the carb breather pipes a couple of times, then put the choke on and try starting her up. Has always worked for me and a few other guys on this site that have tried it. Turning the petcock to prime for 30 seconds or so can also work too, but the breather pipe trick works best. Give it a go !.

The breather pipe is on the airbox side of the carbs correct? and this works for you when it is coooler outside? What does that do exactly when you blow into it?

[Dre]

Can anyone tell me where the carb breather pipe is?

[tomo]

Yep, the breather tubes are on the airbox side of the carbs. Looking from the back if the LH carb is No.1 and the furthest right No.4, the vent pipes on mine come off LH side of the carb bodies of No. 2 & No.4. The pipes if I recall are routed over and down the back of the airbox. Blowing into them was a trick I learnt from an old biker buddie when I built my first GS chop, which refused to start even with full choke. He just blew into the tubes and away she went. Its the only way that bike will start even now !. I think it works by priming the engine, pushing a bit of fuel through. Don`t blow too much though, a couple of short puffs into each tube is enough. Well worth a try though.

[Dre]

Thanks, I got it to start last night without the trick, It is so weird that the thing just will not start in the cold mornings... It started today a little rougher but she started, it was maybe ten degrees warmer out and it just took a long time to warm up, I started it at first without any choke and just a little blip of the throttle and then brought the choke on to about 1/3. Really weird, has anyone else had more success with starting at first with no choke?

[bonanzadave]

Is it parked outside ? Dont rule out morning condensation or dew. If you have bad plug caps that could lead to bad spark. If the plug caps have never been changed........change em. Its cheap and easy.

[rudy]

Can't say I've noticed that you checked your valve clearances. It's an easy thing to do, and you could just be chasing around problems that you don't have. If you've never checked them yourself, or had them checked at a shop, I'd put money on that being the problem. Seriously, check that first, then you can rule it out and get on to other things.

You'll need a shim bucket depressor tool (available at Z1 for cheap, or Zook for an arm and a leg) and a set of feeler gauges. The most common ones this side of the pond are based on imperial measurements and usually don't go small enough, or have the right increments. I've found the metric ones that go down to the smallest extreme of the service range on ebay. Some dirt bike racing supply company in Cali, can't remember the name right now. I'd suggest getting one of these instead of the imperial ones as it works out to about the same price, and a job done right is worth it's weight in gold.

As for how to check them, you can look it up in your manual, download a manual from Basscliff's site, or look up the how-to on his site. Either way, go to his site.

[Dre]

I have read that pdf, What is the best way to go about buying the shims and feeler gauges? I currently do not own any aside from what is in the bike. Order feeler gauges and then check all and then order shims? I would prefer to have everything I need at once if that is at all possible without dropping like a hundred bucks on shims...