Ready for reassembly.

[DirtieGirtie]

Well, I'm now ready for reassembly of my 2002 that day for a few years.

I found a like-new stock exhaust for $350 on Facebook and snatched it up. Mine was in good shape but had a dent on the muffler and one of the front cylinders was running lean and discolored the down pipe. I'm the pic I have the new headers on.

The carbs were a bit gummed up and the floats were WAY off. The PAJ2 jets were blocked solid on two of four. The floats were set such that they were barely closing the needle valves at the highest gas level. I have a stuck exhaust and stock survive and air filter - this is what I'm running:
Main: 150
Pilot: 40
PAJ1: 170
PAJ2: 90
Hopefully she runs decent with this setup.

The fuel filter was full of rusty crud. A new one should be here tomorrow.

The had tank looked to have just a tiny bit of rust in it, but upon draining her I found much more than a tiny bit! I have a brand new had tank ready to go back in.

The tires are old, but I have a set of new commander 2s going on her.I have the cheap progressive rear shocks ready to go as well.

And last bit not least, I bought a set of tins and have completed my painting.

Almost there!

 

[Fire-medic]

Congratulations on the work both accomplished and that yet to come.

About the carburetors, did you remove the jet blocks and the brass jets, and clean 'em? I suspect you did, but if not, this is the time to do it. I expect the pilot jets were probably blocked with solids. The K&N gasket set is a good one for reasonable $.

 

[DirtieGirtie]

Thanks, FM! I did remove and clean the jet blocks and jets.

On the magna I had a few years back a bench synch was known to get you 95% there. You used a slip of paper to feel the butterflies were set at the same point. I don't see any talk of a bench synch on this forum. Should I count on having to do a proper synch with manometers?

 

[Fire-medic]

I have several different carburetor synch gauges. The oldest is a set I got from JC Whitney, Bourdon tube gauges, 4 of 'em,



I have a couple of Motion Pro 'wet' sticks, and finally, a set of Bourdon tube gauges with more brass than a Mardi Gras jazz band. Short adapters, long ones, different threads for different bike manufacturers.



Use any one of 'em, and then swap in another set, and there's more difference in a pair of identical twins. That's a good thing, because in my experience it means I have internal validity, that other things aren't influencing my instruments, and that the instruments' values are providing similar results.

When I was young and poor, I used to bench-set the slides on my Honda 305 Scrambler with a pair of identical drill bits, based upon the value of the gap specified in the Honda manual. Gapped the same, and with the individual throttle slides' cables (each slide had its own cable, not like the bellcrank mechanisms that replaced those, where one cable, or two, in a push/pull design) properly-adjusted, voila, you have carburetion synchronization.

With the engine operating, dynamic synchronization is how to get the best results, quickest, with the least fuss. A 'bench-set/adjust' gets you in the ballpark for whatever method you choose to do with the engine running.

 

[DirtieGirtie]

Well, life keeps getting in the way, but I got the new gas tank installed. I can't believe how easy it was to put in after wrestling the old one out! With any luck I'll find the time to get the carbs, airbox, and fuel filter installed tonight and see if she starts up... fingers crossed!!!

 

[DirtieGirtie]

I got the carbs on last night after running a couple of cups of clean gas through the fuel pump... and I couldn't control myself. I knew she would not like to run without the airbox in place or the mufflers on, but I had to do it, I had to hear her... so I hit the start button.

It took a few turns, but she roared to life! Literally. She only ran for a second, if that, but with no airbox and full choke the RPMs roared up to 3k or 4k... and without the mufflers on... well, my wife was on a meditation call in the room adjacent to the garage and she said the entire zoom call was a bit startled! LOL!

 

[one2dmax]

The bike should idle perfectly fine without the airbox. It will even idle fine without the carb slides in place!

 

[DirtieGirtie]

Thanks, dmax. I found that out yesterday... I got the air box on and wrestled with the mufflers for an hour... Grrr, that was frustrating! But they are on now. Anyways, I started her up again and the RPMs immediately shot up again. I took the choke off after 5 or 10 seconds and the RPMs we're still close to 4,000. A couple of turns of the idle adjustment screw brought the RPMs down. Unfortunately it was getting late so I could let her fully warm up and see how the through response feels. My guess, based on how quickly she starts on choke, and continues to run without choke after only a few seconds, is that I'm a bit rich at idle. I'll know more this weekend.

 

[DirtieGirtie]

Pic from this morning as I was leaving for work...

 

[Fire-medic]

Besides the idle screw, out-of-balance carbs can cause erratic idle. Make sure that your push-pull throttle cables have sufficient slack to idle properly, as too-tight cables can cause rpm's to soar. A pinched cable housing can cause the cables to hang-up too.

 

[DirtieGirtie]

To clarify; I adjusted the idle screw... the one that when you tighten it down will open the butterflies a bit more, and when you back it off the butterflies close and lower the RPMs.

I haven't messed with the idle mixture screws yet (the one on each carb that adjust the amount of fuel going into the carb at low speeds). These are the ones that I'm thinking are too rich right now... or mabye the Vmax isn't as cold blooded as other carb bikes I've had. Do they normally require choke to start and stay running for the first minute or so on a cold (40F) morning?

After that I'll do a proper synch as you suggest... assuming it doesn't get much colder in my garage!

 

[PATMAX]

Besides the idle screw, out-of-balance carbs can cause erratic idle. Make sure that your push-pull throttle cables have sufficient slack to idle properly, as too-tight cables can cause rpm's to soar. A pinched cable housing can cause the cables to hang-up too.

Now I don’t have to mention that Phil !

 

[Fire-medic]

Now I don’t have to mention that Phil !

 

[DirtieGirtie]

Sounds like this might be a common issue with the throttle cables getting hung up. I'll verify this weekend. When I had her running for a minute I did unscrew the idle screw AND push down on the throttle connections between the carbs, but I'll make sure. It seemed strange how far out I had to turn the idle screw to get the RPMs down.

Thanks for passing along the knowledge!

And FM, I believe I also owe you a thanks for pointing me to Seymour Alumi-Blast paint (in a different post you mentioned it to someone). That stuff is AWESOME! Hopefully the next pictures will show my results on the painting front.

 

[Fire-medic]

Sure, you're welcome. I think Seymour invented the spray can. I always get very good results with Seymour Alumiblast.



One of its advantages is that even if you have a rashed-up set of scoops, you can do a bit of bodywork to them, and the Alumiblast will have them looking great. I've considered using it on a set of engine side covers, or the entire engine. Since VMaxes are always black engines, it would be a very different appearance. H-D Sportster's used to have silver cases and black jugs, w/silver fin edges. I think that would be a good look on a VMax. Of course, there are no 'fins' but there are those wide bands, on the cylinders, and Exactrep has those replacement engine cylinder drain covers that give the appearance of wide cylinder fins.

Here's a polished engine.

 

[DirtieGirtie]

I did exactly that; I bought a set of cheap crashed scoops and refinished them.

I was able to let her warm up for 5 minutes and the throttle response (without a load) seemed very nice. Do I think I'm going to leave the carb synching for the spring.

I got the rear tire swapped out and mounted in the bike, the new shocks are on, and the treat fender is back on. Here's how she looks tonight.

 

[DirtieGirtie]

Here's a view that shows the front of the scoops.

 

[DirtieGirtie]

I'm not sure which side panel I'm going to keep. The stockers on the left or the swoopy exctrap ones down on the right side. Thoughts?

 

[Fire-medic]

Throw the seat on it so we can see how if looks w/the exactrep sidecover.

I spy a SuperBee!


Anyone who was around in the 1970's for Yamaha's distinctive paint, will recall the paint by 'Molly' of Molly Designs, a broken black stripe, trimmed in white. I'd like to see someone do an artist's rendering of that on something like DirtieGirtie's yellow paint.

Kenny Roberts showing the others 'how it's done.' Note the paint and the leathers color scheme.

 

[MaxAtLast]

DG -Beautiful work. Also, it's great to see others without a full shop getting it done (not that we don't all want one!). I'm marking this thread for all the good stuff covered.
FM- Great flashback to Kenny Roberts!