Uncamitzi's maintenance thread

[Uncamitzi]

or learning more about 1980's motorcycles than I ever thought I would have to.

I'm currently rebuilding the carbs on my 1980 GS850GL It's got a stock air box w a K&N filter. I recently took a trip around the western states covering Northern Utah, Idaho, Montana, Washington, Oregon, Northern California, Nevada and back again through Central Utah. My average MPG was around 30... with a 3.3 gallon tank and an extra gallon in a saddlebag I only got a little nervous on the trip back through Central Utah. But I thought I should be getting better milage.

I've been riding this bike since I first started on this forum and all I've really done in way of maintenance is replace spark plugs, seal the airbox and the airbox boots. I've replaced the tires, the stator, R/R and rewired most of the old connectors and fuse box according to the tutorial on Bassclift's site. I've spent a lot of time looking at the other things I SHOULD be doing.. but this is the first time I've actually spent the time effort and money to do the things newbies DON'T do ..to the chagrin of people like Steve and Chuck and Robert Barr.

Finally taking the advice pretty much everyone here... I finally did the valve clearances. After not doing it for over 15000 miles since I got the bike I was scared that everything would be tight and there would be some damage. I probably lucked out (jury is still out of course) with at least a bit of clearance on all the valves. I only had to replace 3 shims, and was able to swap a couple as one was loose just exactly the amount another one was tight.
I tried the zip tie method... never got it.. the shim tool however worked like a charm with just a little bit of practice.

Since I got the bike the idle and milage have sucked... I just got used to it and kept putting it off.

So.. I opened up the the carbs while I was waiting for the shims and got started... I found the #1 pilot screw had broken off and was jammed down in the hole... so looking up that little problem on Bassclift's site I realized that the person that was extracting his pilot screw did NOT have the same carb as I had.. there was no way to get the point of the awl directly onto the tip of the screw ...there was just no angle... so..after a lot of head scratching I devised this tool
[IMG][/IMG]
and applied it here
[IMG][/IMG]
With the following results
[IMG][/IMG] You can see the removed tip there ..if you look closely

[chuck hahn]

Well one things for sure..its gonna be running on all 4 cylinders properly again..which will increase the milage considerably.

No get to these items::


Check the intake manifolds for rubber cracks and / or seperations
New intake manifold orings
Brake system cleaning and over haul
Clean the hole thru the frame the rear brake lever goes thru and grease it well
Cut abut 1/4 inch off the wire ends and screw the plug caps into clean fresh connections
Check brake pads for wear and see if they are glazed over from over heating
Check the secondary drive fluid and rear diff fluid...change them really if you haventyet.

[cowboyup3371]

That's a pretty neat tool.

[Uncamitzi]

Well one things for sure..its gonna be running on all 4 cylinders properly again..which will increase the milage considerably.

No get to these items::


Check the intake manifolds for rubber cracks and / or seperations

Done

New intake manifold orings

Done

Brake system cleaning and over haul

replaced fluid completely have put 2 sets of front pads and one set of rear pads on since I got the bike

Clean the hole thru the frame the rear brake lever goes thru and grease it well

I'll look at that again..but when I was rewiring the and cleaning the contacts I am pretty sure I cleaned that area out

Cut abut 1/4 inch off the wire ends and screw the plug caps into clean fresh connections

did that

Check brake pads for wear and see if they are glazed over from over heating

brakes are wearing fine (see above)

Check the secondary drive fluid and rear diff fluid...change them really if you haventyet.

Funny story that....

the first time I checked the secondary and final drive fluids I did everything just as the tutorial on Bassclift's site laid out... except one thing... when I was buttoning up I was a bit lazy as I used my impact wrench to put the secondary gear oil filler cap on... ooops... after my trip I went to check the level the only way I know how. by taking the level screw out and adding oil until it weeps a bit...well.. that damn cap was on so tight that I stripped the soft metal of the screw in no time..IMAG0083[1].jpg I used a dremel cutter to cut a slot into it to try to un screw it with a screw driver ... broke the screw driver... drilled a hole to use a bolt extractor...broke a B&D bolt extractor.. drilled a deeper hole and used and ancient extractor that I've had laying around from my grandfather...used a pipe wrench and finally got it to spin.... (broke a knuckle when it came free)
I'm learning a lot about being lazy..and motorcycle zen... Steve has said it best

Good luck with your quest, but I will offer one small piece here.
I have said it before and I'll say it again (and again, and again, I'm sure.)

"Every shortcut you take just gives you one more opportunity to do it over."

I guess I had done more than I first reported.

[Uncamitzi]

That's a pretty neat tool.

I was proud of myself....especially when it worked....

[Uncamitzi]

ok...well here's the latest problem.IMAG0087[1].jpg will a solder job do here? Or do I need a new coil..

Got the carbs on and was really happy... it went into idle really well on the first crank... but then I revved it a bit and couldn't get things working..while I was pulling plugs to help figure things out.. I found a wet #1 plug.... and checking further found #1 & #4 weren't firing... checked the coil and found this...

[Uncamitzi]

Well...I may have found a deeper problem than my carbs..if there can be one ... after finding a broken wire on the left side coil and testing the resistance I soldered the wire back in place and tested the primary side.. I got 4.5 ohms.. but nothing on the secondary at the 20k setting on my multimeter.. so checking the right side.. that DIDN'T have broken wire I got 4.5ohm on the primary and zip on the secondary again... but ....it was running... I promise... can there be a break in the secondary and still be working?

[Uncamitzi]

to answer my own question...yes... it seems that even with a 0 reading across the secondary leads of the coils you can have a running motorcycle. I soldered the connections and reinstalled the coil.. plugged them in and fired it up... runs pretty smoothly ... but I'm still going to have to tinker with the airscrews it seems.

[Uncamitzi]

wish me luck.... I'm going for a test ride..... my stomach is all a flutter....

[Uncamitzi]

Well...that sucked big donkey dohinkies.. !!!! while the idle is nice and smooth... and it revs smoothly in neutral... once there's a load on it it sputters and kicks like a mule. the idle which was set at 1200 crept up to 2100 hundred shortly after getting into traffic (also..taking a test drive at rush hour is NOT a great idea) after sitting at a long stop light the idle dropped quite abruptly to 1300... after a frustrating return and what looks like a gallon of gas in a 12 mile ride in stop and go traffic the plugs looked crazy... #1 was clean almost like it hadn't fired but it was not wet and the exhaust was hot. #2 a bit sooty with a couple of clean spots and #3 and #4 soot covered like nothing had been done since my last ride (detailed in the carb exhaust fuel section). the spark on all the plugs is white/blue... not red or yellow.

There has got to be a way to set the mixtures... that's a bit more efficient....

I'm getting a bit frustrated with this whole carb rebuild thing.....

[Uncamitzi]

The good: I think the valve adjustment made the bike run smoother, I'm getting close to having the idle mixture right, and I've got my scooter up and running to get some parts.
The bad: electrical problems galore.... I had replaced the stator and rectifier/regulator and THOUGHT I had done a good job cleaning the contacts and the fuse box. But the electrical must be working right to make sure you've got the carbs working as a low battery will throw off how the damn thing runs.. (I know you all know this). starting to diagnose the problems I found a broken contact (gd plug connectors!!) on one of the stator wires, so I replaced the connector and found I had a blown main fuse. replaced that and it blew under acceleration...so I took a couple of readings on the fuse box and found that the main fuse lead was shorted somewhere. Not sure where yet but I've started by doing a thorough cleaning of the fuse box, noting what a crappy job I had done previously. That's where I am as of darkness... I'll continue in the morning.
The ugly: I'm missing some really fine riding weather

[ShadowFocus603]

Missing that riding weather is the worst. Riding I-15 between SLC and Provo is a blast I bet. Went through there a heap of times and always wished I had my bike. Going east out of SLC on 70 always looked fun too. Not to mention all the back roads that ran hither dither and yon.

[Uncamitzi]

The good: Electrical is back up with a bunch of new connectors and a cleaning and polishing of the fuse box.
The bad: still don't have the mix right... new symptoms include back fires on deceleration again, missing under load and bogging down with high throttle.
The ugly: Utah drivers ... damn idiots have no concept of what is going on around them.

Pulling the plugs to examine.. I'm betting #3 is going to be fouled again... not so sure about #4... and I didn't make any adjustments to #1 or #2... so I expect they will be the same (nice and tan)

Oh..and ShadowFocus.... the ride on 1-15 down to Provo from SL sucks a big one... It's always packed.... I tend to take the frontage road in that neck of the woods.

[Uncamitzi]

Perhaps it's not the mixture... at least at the airscrew. This last ride has me really confused. I'm still getting a miss at throttle up and load.... but now I've got both a hanging idle AND a idle kill ... the Idle will hang at 2k...slowly drop down to about 1100..and stay nice and steady for about 20 sec (average light here is about 45 sec) then drop to nothing and die. Too rich AND too lean? Hangs his head and goes back to the drawing board