No worries on my end! I’m envious of people that have the time, skill, and patience to be able to do valve work on their bikes. Or anything more intricate then the basic mechanical work.
I sadly do not. Not at this time anyway.
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What did you do in your garage today..?
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I sadly do not. Not at this time anyway.
I think it depends of the bike.
I checked and adjusted the valves on my V4 ST1100 motor. As I recall, 1 of 16 was tight and I adjusted a number of shims so they were all slightly above midrange. ST forums have tutorial videos and a huge support network of knowledgable people to assist. They also have loaner kits for a range of adjustments and repairs and I got the valve / shim adjustment kit. Contained micrometers, feeler gauges, magnet and a huge assortment of shims. Had the kit for a month as no one else needed it. Passed it on to a guy in Ohio when I was there. Hard to go wrong with that type of support.
Tracer 900 a different beast, minimal online resources, much tighter working space and a s*** load of things that have to be removed to gain access + need to have throttle bodies resynced. Fortunately have a very experience friend who does FJR shim adjustments all the time, had a good range of shims on hand, the equipment to adjust the throttle body and had just finished another guy's Tracer. So, over a few days did the shims plus a whole bunch of other things when everything was open and accessible.
The Tracer manual says do first valve check at 42,000 km, but forums say do it much earlier as valves get tight. My check and adjustment was at 24,000 km and a number were at or just below the lower spec. All valves were adjusted to about 75% of the range, so should be good for quite some time.
Why not adjust to max loose as they all tighten up over time
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Normally if you're fiddling with shims, there's only going to be one or two choices that will get it within spec ... unless you have (and need) some of the 0.025mm-increment shims that come in bikes as original equipment but don't seem to be in anyone's shim kits!
I removed one bolt and removed the slip-on muffler from the beast ... necessary for clearance to remove the rear wheel. If I do one tiny thing each day, maybe I can stretch out this tires-and-brakes job and have something to do until spring! (more likely I'll get ambitious at some point and just get it done, and then have nothing to do for three months)
I removed one bolt and removed the slip-on muffler from the beast ... necessary for clearance to remove the rear wheel. If I do one tiny thing each day, maybe I can stretch out this tires-and-brakes job and have something to do until spring! (more likely I'll get ambitious at some point and just get it done, and then have nothing to do for three months)
Can noticeably reduce power.
That seems very, very affordable and reasonable. I was pretty sure he quoted me a lot more but maybe he thought my bike was a V4 and not a V2.
Snapped my right footpeg on my bike when I dropped it doing something stupid the other day, so moved the rear pillion footpeg forward. Darn thing seemed to require removing the brake lever just to gain access. Spent the whole weekend driving around to various places looking for a circlip that would fit.
Finally a very nice lady at the service desk at Peak Powersports in Barrie was able to find a single one in the shop for me. My new favourite power sports shop. Not big but very nice people there.
Wrestled with my old John Deere 160 lawn tractor today. It wasn't running, looked like it might be the carb and replaced it with a Chinese eBay one. Still didn't work, but runs with starter fluid sprayed into the carb after all.
Started investigating the fuel pump. I could have sworn when I first diagnosed a carb problem tons of fuel was coming out of the pump when starting, but that wasn't the case today so maybe the carb wasn't the problem.
Vacuum from the crankcase fluctuates between 0-5 inHg when my Mityvac was connected directly to it, and much, much less when connected to the fuel inlet of the pump. I assume I should see more vacuum than I'm seeing at the inlet so guessing the fuel pump might be bad or need a rebuild. Never had a fuel pump problem on a motor like that so not sure what range of vacuum is normal.
Finally a very nice lady at the service desk at Peak Powersports in Barrie was able to find a single one in the shop for me. My new favourite power sports shop. Not big but very nice people there.
Wrestled with my old John Deere 160 lawn tractor today. It wasn't running, looked like it might be the carb and replaced it with a Chinese eBay one. Still didn't work, but runs with starter fluid sprayed into the carb after all.
Started investigating the fuel pump. I could have sworn when I first diagnosed a carb problem tons of fuel was coming out of the pump when starting, but that wasn't the case today so maybe the carb wasn't the problem.
Vacuum from the crankcase fluctuates between 0-5 inHg when my Mityvac was connected directly to it, and much, much less when connected to the fuel inlet of the pump. I assume I should see more vacuum than I'm seeing at the inlet so guessing the fuel pump might be bad or need a rebuild. Never had a fuel pump problem on a motor like that so not sure what range of vacuum is normal.
I had a similar problem years ago and it was a plugged hole in the gas cap. See if it rims with the gas cap off. Hope it is that simple.
Next time you need circlips send me the measurements or swing by. I'm not that far away.
Vacuum operated fuel pump? Blown diaphragm? Shouldn't build much pressure, what happens if you feed carb from an elevated tank?
Grr. I meant to check if the cap was venting properly.
Thanks @GreyGhost, very generous of you. I'll keep that in mind!
Yes, Mikuni vacuum operated fuel pump. I opened the pump and the diaphragm looked to be OK. What's the approximate vacuum one would expect to see? Could it be less than 1 inHg?
I assumed that the range of vacuum at the inlet ought to be close to what you see from the crankcase.
I didn't have an elevated tank to use today. I did have one of these, which would have been perfect, but lost it in the spring.
But now I'm wondering, what would feeding the carb (directly?) by gravity show? I know that with fuel provided at the carb inlet it will run.
Or did you mean trying to feed the pump by gravity?
Also got to play with my new Optimate charger. That thing was able to recover 2 batteries I had laying around which my other smart chargers couldn't charge. If I had that a year ago, it would have already paid for itself.
I didn't see runs with carb with full bowl in your post. Dumping fuel in the throat runs any engine with a choke, the carb may not be providing proper fueling.
I haven't diagnosed a vacuum fuel pimp before. Can't help you with specifics.
If it were me, I would put fuel line out of pump into a container at carb height and start the engine on propane (torch wide open but not lit in the carb throat or airbox should do it at moderate rpm). See if gas is pumping.
That is incredible. How do they keep people the tools from never returning? Is it all based on reputation, trust, or is there a deposit that gets made to secure the tools?
Ah I see. I was focusing on the pump not being able to draw fuel from the line.
I was thinking of doing something similar, spraying starter fluid into the throat and seeing if increased RPM produced enough pressure to get the pump to work.
But if the starter isn't enough to provide adequate vacuum to draw fuel, then that must be a problem too, no? I can see (new clear fuel line) that with the starter trying to start the engine, gas does get drawn just past the filter but no farther.
Reputation and trust, no money or deposit required.
Guys spend $200 - $300 putting kits together with special tools for valve shim adjustment, steering head bearing replaement, wheel bearing replacement etc........ Kits are shipped to you and shipped back to owner or to the next user that has requested them.
I'm been on various ST forums for almost 20 years. I've attended dozens of events in Ontario, New York and Ohio over the years and organized many events in Ontario. Know 100+ members and I'm sure my username is recognized by many more. Never heard of anyone abusing the privilage and I suppose if you did word would get out to people and you'd be cut off.
As per Brian P's comment the 75% range was where the existing shims and available shims in the kit fell. When doing the math on the existing shim, the min and the max you likely find that you have limited options in a shim kit unless you want to special order a number of shims and then wait to complete the job until they are available.
In a similar but slightly less altruistic manner, I know of some specialty tools that get "rented" and shipped around. Stuff you only ever need one time. Pay $50 to the guy that bought it and you get on the list and it will show up at your house. You use it and he gives you an address to send it to. Saves you buying a one time use tool for hundreds, original buyer makes enough over time that the occasional thieving dick doesn't ruin the program.
I thought these mowers had gravity fed fuel delivery?
Some like to put the tank under the seat. Not sure what nuggybuggy has. If tank is gravity feed and this is just a vacuum shutoff and flow stops at the filter, we have a culprit. On that note, has filter been changed in the past 30 years?
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