Idle issues

Start a conversation with Chacal.
The aluminum plug can be thrown out. If you want to keep dust out of the idle screw wells, there is a rubber plug that Chacal sells.

 

Well if I dont need them . Then I went worry to much . It will never get that dirty. O ring I can get some local hardware shop . But I'll get a colortune . Is the best way to count how many turn in then back out to get it close?

 

The o-rings for the idle mixture screws cannot be gotten at a local hardware shop. They are a very specific size that were made to spec for Hitachi. I've looked for generic replacements, and failed.

If you have fine-thread screws the baseline is 2 1/2 turns out from a soft seat.

 

Ok today my bike was not wanting to d ok squat. A old bike down the road has watched me work on this for the past 8 months. He stop by to chat and ask me to start my bike . So I did . He notice 2 things. One he said was to adjust my timing chain . Very easy process loosen a nut and a bolt re tighten and to shorten up my fuel line . I have a clear line and he seen air bubbles. So I did . And bamm just l I'm ke that it idles at 1200 no problem at all no high idle at all . Rode it for about 2 hour and no problems. Let it sit for a bit fires right up.
I might have over think many possibilities. But if it's running great I am not pulling the carbs. Still going t on get the other parts I need for winter make over though or something goes wrong.
I am still going to sync the carbs better if all this stays running in ng good. And by the way it acts right riding is looking great at the moment.
I have learned so much with this bike and still learning.
It's a great starter bike . To get my feet wet after 18 yrs of not ride but I really think I want something bigger. Seen a couple of 750 and 1000 in the area . There xjs h. Might pass this down to my son if he is responsible enough.

Thank you all for your help.

Tip of the day!! DONT OVER THINK IT!!

 

What kind of fuel are you using. Try switching to premium. I was prepping an xj650 seca to make it run better for sale. It was idling rough
even after a good colortune adjustment and synching with gauges. I had a brainfart and emptied the regular out of the tank and filled it with premium.
It didn't just improve, it ran way better. Suddenly it had great passing power and accelerated smoother. It was running like a different bike. At a
vintage MC show last week where all the bikes were older than "75" one guy told me he had to research which gas brands had no corn licker in
the premium. I tried Shell and the difference was remarkable. Most of the big Harley geezerglides will only run well on premium.

 

Our bikes do not need high-test fuel, nor do they benefit from it. If it ran better, then something was wrong with the bike (excessive carbon buildup in the combustion chamber maybe). The only thing that higer octane does is allow an engine to run at higher compression ratios.

Joe, given that you're in Santa Fe, isn't the range of octane sold there lower due to the altitude?

Modern HD engines require higher octane by design. More correctly, the engineering that allows the engines to work the way they do, and comply with emissions, reqires that they run on high-test fuel.

 

In santa fe regular is 86, plus 88, premium is 91. I was touring through South Dakota on a Honda valkyrie a while ago
and noticed after a fill up that the bike was using more gas than usual and was running a bit sluggish. I had been told that
Valkyries were designed around regular gas but my gut told me that some locations must add more ethanol than others.
I was with a guy riding a HD road king and he suggested I try premium. I did and the performance improved right away.
Is it true that some brands of premium don't contain ethanol ? Could it be possible that the refiners add different percentages of
ethanol at different times causing decreases in performance.

 

There are different amounts of ethanol seasonally, and it will also vary depending on location. If there is any ethanol at all it cannot be more than what is disclosed on the pump (thugh cheating is not unheard of).
Premium can often contain ethanol, but that will be disclosed on the pump. The thing about ethanol is that while it will lower fuel economy slightly, it also increases the octane of the base fuel. The drawbacks you mainly hear about are the result of letting untreated fuel sit in the tank and carbs for weeks.

I've never noticed any performance degradation when using E-10, other than a slight decrease in fuel mileage. In fact an engine that's tuned specifically for ethanol will perform better than one running on gas in terms of power output. Indy Cars used to (and might still, I haven't followed the sport in over a decade) run 100% ethanol precisely because of how much horsepower can be developed per liter of displacement when running it.

As for an XJ, there's no need to either seek-out, or avoid ethanol blends as long as it's not more than 10% (E-10).

 

Well I know theres some tools I need to add to the collection. 1. Colortune but how do I know what size, and is there other adapters? 2nd a vacuum gauge for synching.
Thought of ordering some gauges, not the kit but just the gauge it self there like 5bucks a piece. But will they ping out is my question.

 

The color tune is a 14mm for the xj . You need 4 vacuum gauges , but you also really need restrictions on the line , this evens out the pulses when engine is running.

 

Synch can be don with two gauges, but investing in a Carbtune or similar synch gauge is worthwhile. The dial gauges are just too bulky for my toolbox.
If you are on a budget you an use a homemade manometer.
How To: Make a 2 bottle synch tool

 

yep

 

Living in South Dakota, I can tell you that locally, a lot of the Premium is alcohol free. Some places you can buy regular with or without 10% alcohol. Other places only sell regular with 10% alcohol. If that is the choice, I choose the premium, just to avoid the alcohol.

When I bought my XJ new in 1985 (in South Dakota), the dealer told me never run alcohol laced fuel. I took his advice, never violated it, and carbs/bike are still running strong to this day.

 

Built this for under 20. But the problem I have is away to restrict it . It wants to suck up ATF fluid. . Any idea what to use??

 

Plastic shutoff valves (fish tank supplies). That will allow you to adjust the amount of dampening by cracking the valves to a greater or lesser degree. You'll want to use fittings to make a manifold so you can hook all the lines up to a common vacuum source (The #3 carb vacuum port is handy) when you adjust the dampening (just like on the commercial tools).

 

Would I plug off every line but one and preadjust the valves? There are 4 lines

 

You would hook all lines to a multi-T manifold that connects to the one vacuum source.
Like so, but using regular T fittings and tubing to make the manifold, instead of buying one.

Image borrowed from: http://www.zx14ninjaforum.com/messages.cfm?threadid=B22DF8A8-C4B9-08CF-873FF5D76B02C7D4

 

Got what your saying. Looks easy enough

 

I have that exact tool in the picture. Works ok. I think it would work better if the fluid was ever so slightly "thicker" if that makes sense

 

Like it might work better if it were filled with mercury

 

Yes. Buddy has one with mercury in, works really well. It's also like 3ft tall. Doubt I'd find any to put in mine.

 

I wound't bother. I have the same non-mercury version that I posted the pic of. It works well enough. The manometers I used to use in my previous career utilized water, and they were more than sufficient for setting equipment up to pull a specific vacuum reading (something we don't need to do with the carbs).
If I had a larger tool budget I'd get a Morgan Carbtune. That uses stainless-steel rods; never needs calibrated, and can never spill.