Carburetor tuning continuation...

Ok, so after doing some more research I found out that the Pilot Jets that Mike has are for Mikuni VM style carbs, I happen to have the Mikuni BS carbs. These VM Pilot Jets look as if they are the same but the metering orofice is located near the screw head end instead of the tip. The look and fit as if they are interchangeable but they are not. It's no wonder I've been chasing my tail for the past week or so. Now I need to find the BS style Jets.

After shopping around and checking everywhere this evening after work, I finally found a place that could could order these Pilot Jets even though they did not carry them. I can pick them up on Wednesday...

I got home and decided to fiddle with the bike some more and would try to find the VM Pilot Jet that seems to be the closest equivelent to the BS Jet that I need, there seems to be approximately 20 points difference in jet numbers so I'll jump down to a # 25 VM Pilot which should be close to a #45 BS Pilot. I got'em swapped out and she fired right up but then quite suddenly and I couldn't get here started again. The lights seemed real dim so I put the charger on her and gave her a few minutes, turned the key and the lights were real bright, so I gave her a kick and she started right up again. I then decided to take the charger clips off the battery and the negative lead was so hot it burned my thumb. I shut her down and Mike and I tried to trace the problem to see what was wired wrong.

After messing with the wiring for another hour or so with Mike and I butting heads on what needs to be changed we decided to throw in the towel and call it a night. I don't doubt Mike's abilities, but his suggestions don't compute with my brain. I don't understand enough about the circuit in order to troubleshoot any problems that might arise later.

Tomorrow is another day...

Carburetor tuning continuation...

Since putting in those #50's didn't make a difference, I figured I might as well step up to the #55's, then I tried the #60's. Still nothing... Starts right up, but she won't run at idle, she slows right down and quits without me juicing the throttle.

So since none of those Pilot Jets seem to make a difference I guess I'll have to bite the bullet and take off the valve covers and check & adjust the valve lash. This wasn't quite as labor intensive as I thought it was going to be, and after all that she still didn't run any better.

I'm really lost... I wish I knew what I was doing...

Carburetor tuning continued...

Since changing the Pilot Jet to the #40 made no difference last night, Mike decided to give his buddy a call at Lakes Motor Sports to see what he recommended. His suggestion was to go the opposite direction with the Pilot Jet size and check the valve lash and make sure they were within spec which happens to be .005 +/- .001.

I figured the easiest would be to swap out the Jets again, so I put in #50's and played around with the idle and mixture screws, to no avail...

Time to put the bike away and go put the boat in the water for tomorrow's adventure at Quake on the Lake...

I'll get back to this on Sunday...