Any ideas?

She's almost done. A couple problems remain to be solved before I can pass it on to my son. Carbs completely torn down and soaked in cleaner. All gaskets replaced. All manifold boots replaced. New air cleaner and plugs. All valve lash within spec. No, right on spec. Plugs running a nice light gray. All that and the idle is still erratic. Starts with the first push of the starter button when the choke is open. Takes a long long time to warm up so I can close the choke, and even then sounds like it's missing. If I leave it idle too long it will load up and die. Runs great on the highway but above 6K it feels like it's dropping out. Not much, but I can feel it kind of pulsing as it screams up towards redline.

 

Forgot, the other problem is that when backing it out of the garage, I noticed that if I turn the handlebars to the right, something locks up the front wheel. I jacked it up and the wheel spins with no hangups at all and the caliper isn't loose, I flushed the brake line and other than being just a little more spongy than I like, (old rubber hoses I think) the brake seems to work fine.

 

Did you do a running synch on your carbs?
The caliper body itself should be loose, it needs to pivot ever so slightly. The mounting bolt is a shoulder bolt designed to allow for movement. Put stainless steel braided brake lines on and rebuild the MC and caliper. When jacked up does the wheel still turn if the handle bars are turned to the right?

Curious location for the front turn indicators.

Your son is fortunate to have a Dad like you... he won't really appreciate it until about his late 30's.

 

.Sounds like your synch is off to you have a pulsing sound from the pipes or a popping? This is an idication , will bike idle smoothly or does it "load up" I use the 4 vacuum gauge set up to synch my carbs , but can be done with a single gauge in a pinch . Or make a mommeter out of baby bottles.

 

Your son is fortunate to have a Dad like you... he won't really appreciate it until about his late 30's. [/QUOTE]

+1!!!!!!!!!!!

 

check your front wheel bearings. when you turn the wheel any play in the bearings will let the wheel tilt on the axle

 

+1!!!!!!!!!!![/QUOTE]
He turns 40 in November.

 

That was my first guess. But unfortunately I spilled all the mercury out of my very old Motion Pro balance tester and you can't buy mercury any more. I've ordered 4 vacuum gauges and related connectors and hose but it will be awhile as the gauges are coming from Malaysia.

 

Will do. The PO had painted the wheel all satin black so he probably had the wheel off. I didn't see any wiggle when I tried to move it from side to side while the wheel was off the ground but if the nut wasn't tightened properly that could be the problem.

 

You're right on the brake lines. I put them on my 91 Virago and the difference is astounding.
As for the turn signals, the bike came with a different headlight and the turn signals you see. I put an OEM headlight and mounting bracket on but the turn signals are non-standard. I thought the location was proper though.

 

that is where the 550 turn signals mount but it looks like you do not have the rubber stays installed on the front as the rear are mounted.

 

The axle nut was no where near the 76 ft/lbs. that the book calls for. I torqued it down and that solved the original problem, but I noticed that the hole in he end of the axle where you put the cotter pin to lock the nut is about an eighth of an inch from the outside of the nut. That means That the PO forgot a spacer or washer. Tomorrow the wheel comes off so I can find what's missing.

 

spacer on right side fits into seal called
COLLAR
90387-15734-00
, spacer between wheel bearings.
1SPACER[/paste:font]
90560-15116-00
then a washer under nut

WASHER, PLAIN
92990-14200-00

could be you have the wrong castle nut

NUT, CASTLE
90171-14020-00

$6.18
$4.20
1

 

The front wheel problem is solved. It appears that the PO tightened the pinch bolt on the right side before tightening the castle nut. Since the castle nut was only slightly tighter than "finger tight" there was some side to side play. On top of that, the washer under the castle nut was missing. Got it all back together right and no more binding. Now two more problems have raised their ugly head. The petcock didn't shut off when the engine was shut down so I installed a kit in the petcock. Didn't make any difference. I saw some corrosion inside so I just ordered a new petcock. Being the forgetful old man that I am, I had to go with the vacuum operated one. The whole petcock costs about the same as the kit. "Imagine that" The valve cover gasket is leaking. Not bad, and I could probably fix it with form-a-gasket, but guess I'll just order a new one. The idle seems to be getting better. Started it up yesterday and after a couple minutes shut the choke down and it continued to run. Must be the Seafoam. I'm not much of a believer in those things, but figured it couldn't hurt.

 

valve cover leaks are likely caused by bad donuts replace them first see if the leak stops.