Started doin' carbs tonite...wish me luck!

It's been a while since I've posted anything here, but I have been blessed wit a LOT of great riding weather this summer on my days off so unfortunately the Maxim has been idle since about May. The Maxim got LOTS of riding last year and this winter/spring when the Sabre was down for repairs...now the Maixm's gettin some sutff done!

So far: new Barnett clutch, checked valve clearences (all were within spec., thank goodness!!) , new valve cover gasket (FINALLY should fix the oil leak), lots of oil clean-up on the engine, and now the carbs.

So far I have the bowls, jets, needles, and inlet valves out. Decided that will be a good place to stop for now. So far this is going smoothly. Rick's instructions have been VERY helpful. I'll repost as this project progresses.

Best,

Tim

 

Good luck!

I've done maybe 3 pages of Rick's guide, it's not so bad... I don't think? the next step is the pilot screws, just be careful, and if you have any questions, the people here are great helpers.

I think I will have no trouble getting them apart, cleaned and back together; I suspect the hardest step may actually be putting them back into the bike... Or maybe resynching them... Hard to find a #6x32 threaded rod!

-Matt

 

Thanks, Matt.

So far I've been mostly lucky. The exception was the #2 pilot screw, which was completely fouled up. Looks as if the person who did these carbs last didn't fully remove all of the solder from the plug and attempted to remove the screw with some blockage. The slot was marred in both directions and absolutely stuck. I did get the screw out with an easy-out, but obviously the screw is mangled. The other 3 came out nice and clean, though.

I need to find another pilot mixture screw and make a thread cleaning tool. Everything else is going fine, but I'm taking a break 'til tomorrow.

 

Tim, are you working with the carbs on or off the bike?

 

Carbs off, enrichment shaft removed, tophats, bowls sliders/diaphrams, floats, inlet valves, main and pilot jets removed. Oh yeah, and pilot mixture screws :roll: . Rack still together. Still a lot of cleaning to do and polishing slider bores.

 

Well, I FINALLY got the carbs back together!. Got the new pilot screw a few weeks ago from Chacal and took my time putting everything back together. Sure glad I had Rick's most excellent guide on cleaning carbs! Bench sync is done and everything looks ship shape. All that remains now is to check/adjust the float levels and reinstall.

For now I've set the pilot mixture screws at 3 turns out. Hopefully not too much adjusting will be needed from there. Gotta leave town this weekend, but by this time next week I hope to be ridin! Thanks again to everyone here for all the articles and advice!

 

You don't need a "Thread Cleaning Tool"

You need a: M6 X 0.5 BOTTOM Tap

Bottom Tap. Flat bottomed. Not pointed.
Run the M6 X 0.5 Tap into the Hole with the Tap GREASED.
The Tap will re-cut the Threads and make the hole right for a new Pilot Mixture Screw to be inserted and adjusted.

 

Hi Rick,

Got the new screw in w/o any tapping. Just cleaned the remaining solder from the opening and drug a very fine dental pick in the threads. New screw (steel) tapped in cleanly and just a touch more drag than the others, but definitely NOT crossthreaded. Confidence is high!

 

Very well.
Carry-on.

While you have the opportunity ... smear some AntiSeize Compound on the Threads of all four Mixture Screws.

Make them easy to TWEAK without worrying about wrecking the wings on the top of one or more of them Mixture Screws.

 

Anti sieze applied to all 4.

VEEEEEEERY tweekable.

Update on tuning next week!

 

Be sure to Pull the Emulsion Tubes and clean them out "Every which way"
I polish the Brass outside by spinning them
Clear the Metering Holes with a Tool
Do the Center Hole with Pipe Cleaners twisted together.

 

This has taken WAAAAAAAAAAY too long, but I'm finally checking the float levels. When I firstchecked the float heights, all 4 were about 4 mm too high, which certainly explains the richness problems I was having. Now I have them set as close to the 17mm setting as I can make them.

I finally rigged up the tubing and levels so I can view the actual levels and here is how they ended up. They look pretty darned close to me. Any opinions? TIA

 

Closer pics:

 

The camera angles make it hard to tell. In one pic they look right on in the other they look a bit low. As long as they are about 3mm below the gasket line you have it nailed - they certainly are no too high.

 

Those all look as precise as you tried to get them. I see you have the Level on top of the rack and the "Bubble" -- Dead Centered!
Very nice.
All the Levels look right on-the-money!

So, I guess you are ready to put them on the Bike and start Dialing-In!

 

Thanks, Bill and Rick. Hopefully this weekend I'll finally wrap this up. The last item I still need to do is an electrolysys treatment for the fuel tank. Does anyone know how much of the washing soda/gal of water to use for this process?

 

I used a jar of pink Naval Jelly from Lowe's to good effect to remove tank rust. Its phosphoric acid in a jar and it works great.

Dilute 4 gals water to 1/2 jar - can use more or less mix depending on tank size. Cover petcock hole with duct tape (or fill with petcock in). Fill completely. Let the solution sit overnight in a warm place - 7 hours will do it.

Rinse well and blow out with HOT air. I set a hairdryer into the filler and left it on Low to "bake" it out. Any exposed metal will be etched by the solution so you have dry it out that same day - immediately.

You may wanna treat your now clean fuel tank with Kreem (or similar type) to seal it afterwards.

Worked for me. A whole lot cheaper than commercial tank cleaner which has basically the same ingredient. Only for light to moderate rust.

Anything with heavy scale should be done by a marine shop that treats large fuel tanks 'cause they can seal pinholes, IF it isn't too far gone.

Insurance:
Use an inline fuel filter downstream, before the carbs to prevent any future crud / sediment buildup.