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Learning about carbs is a pain in the rear end but if you take the time to figure them out and how to clean them and set them up they are pretty reliable. You can't leave them sit for years and then just start them up like an EFI bike but we should be glad of that otherwise half of us wouldn't have gotten our first bike for dirt cheap. I've gone well over 100K miles on a few different carbed bikes and (after the initial PO unfucking/improper storage de-gunking and setting up) haven't ever had to have them off for maintenance. Really outside of people who don't know what they're doing going in and loving things up the biggest reason people have carb trouble is improper storage (which leads to a whole hell of a lot of the first issue).
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Oct 4, 2013 03:10
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| # ? May 21, 2024 11:21 |
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I converted my car to fuel injection and own a carbureted bike. I will say unbiased that both run equally well when working but price-per-repair carbs require a hell of a lot more money to run right. With EFI I can weld a wideband O2 bung to my header/exhaust and tune via a computer. With a carb I can do the same but I have to take off the carbs and use all new gaskets to ensure my AFR isn't altered due to chaos-theory-level ambience from the depreciation of parts consistently exposed to elements and ethanol-based fuel. The only cost to tuning via EFI is my own time dedicated to research and tweaking. With carbs, there's no avoiding sinking money into them if you want them to run as well as EFI. Self-correcting fuel systems are the set-it-and-forget-it of automotive insanity. This is barring the costs of adding a crank/spark sensor, tricked ECU, injectors, and what have you. 
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Oct 4, 2013 03:27
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60 bucks a gasket is loving insane-o pricing. You could probably buy 2-3 sets of carbs and assemble all the parts you need out of them for half that. But if they'll do the job right, sometimes it's easier to just throw money at it.
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Oct 4, 2013 16:53
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It's $60 per float rebuild kit, so it's not that bad. It's also the cheapest non-"aftermarket" I could find online. The guys basically said they would do the needle jets without the kit if I wanted but every motor they've worked on required at least one new gasket if they haven't been open in a few years of questionable history. They said the labor wouldn't be any more expensive than the current job either, just they'd want to do it as a precaution if they were to tune the bike. I brought up buying several carbs and cannibalizing them but they said that there's no way the carbs would have parts in the working order necessary for it since every part on my carbs that would need replacement are the parts that go out the quickest due to the aforementioned downsides of carb design. But hey, high-tuned engine needs high-tuned care, I guess. I'm just gonna be happy to start commuting by bike again. Gotta get my 13 minute car commute down to 5 by bike.  ps I MISS YOU
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Oct 4, 2013 17:04
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Xovaan posted:It's $60 per float rebuild kit, so it's not that bad. It's also the cheapest non-"aftermarket" I could find online. The guys basically said they would do the needle jets without the kit if I wanted but every motor they've worked on required at least one new gasket if they haven't been open in a few years of questionable history. They said the labor wouldn't be any more expensive than the current job either, just they'd want to do it as a precaution if they were to tune the bike. What bike/carbs do you have that the emulsion tube shits the bed? Looking at that picture you posted earlier, the wear pattern would be on the main jet on my carbs. Main jets are cheap as gently caress, and easy to swap, but that may just be a function of Mikuni VMs. VMs are finicky to tune, but once they dial in, I like them. They also can be restored from pretty much any state of decay, so I find trashed sets on eBay for pretty cheap, cannibalize them fro spare parts, etc. Unless a body has a broken choke tube or a really badly blocked pilot fuel passage (which is hard to access, pinpoint tiny, and frequently eats brass fuel screw tips), you only need o-rings and gaskets to rebuild them.
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Oct 4, 2013 17:21
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What is a float rebuild kit? Are you just talking a new set of floats? These are not a part of the carb that needs super tight tolerances just buy the cheap aftermarket poo poo. I can see only buying name brand needles/jets/etc that need to have very close manufacturing tolerances but floats are just blobs of plastic.
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Oct 4, 2013 17:29
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It's the actual gaskets and o-rings that surround the float needles and floats. I have an '01 Bandit 1200. It's not the emulsion tubes themselves that wear-- it's the "jet needle", which is the assembly/hole area above them that the "needle jet" rests against. If my bike were stock, I'd just do the rebuild myself (I've done it on a Ninja 250 and Virago so far with great success-- except the Virago was still a Virago 750 afterward) but given the nature of a larger jet kit and bore and different cams, there's no way I'd get it running better than a race tuning shop would. If I'm already dropping this much coin, I'll just eat another two or three hours of shop labor to have a bike that I am positive will run perfectly for a long time. Then I can finally put this 20w-50 oil my bike really should be running without worrying about burning a quart of unicorn blood every 400 miles. 
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Oct 4, 2013 18:02
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Somebody took the bolts for my headlamp, (and only the bolts for my headlamp  ) so I had to come up with something stopgap until I can get replacements. Yeah I think that'll work. Also ran seafoam through the engine and that seemed to fix my low gear power problems, so hooray.
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Oct 4, 2013 20:43
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Xovaan posted:It's the actual gaskets and o-rings that surround the float needles and floats. Wouldn't something like this solve your gasket issues? http://www.ebay.com/itm/01-06-SUZUKI-GSF1200-BANDIT-NEW-K-L-CARB-CARBURETOR-REBUILD-KIT-18-5082-/370866079769 Isn't the bike running now? What is there to get running after you fix the carbs? Can't you just match settings?
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Oct 4, 2013 21:34
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n8r posted:Wouldn't something like this solve your gasket issues? I looked through his fiche, and cannot tell which part suffers these oblong wear.  I think it's 12 or 13. Even then, I don't follow how distortion at that point would have such an effect on fuel mixture, since the (easily replaced) main jet (#15) and actual needle (#9) take most of the abuse. I suppose at WOT the needle is clear of the main, but how would mid-throttle be rich in a way that a fresh needle and/or main jet doesn't fix? Of course, CV carbs frighten and confuse me. Mechanical slide supremacy, etc.
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Oct 4, 2013 22:13
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#13 - the needle jet is the item that could theoretically oval out with the needle bouncing around. I'd wager it take a lot of miles for that to happen.
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Oct 4, 2013 22:16
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n8r posted:#13 - the needle jet is the item that could theoretically oval out with the needle bouncing around. I'd wager it take a lot of miles for that to happen. Wouldn't #12 and #15 take the brunt of that wear, though?
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Oct 4, 2013 22:21
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n8r posted:Wouldn't something like this solve your gasket issues? It would, but they specifically said they wanted OEM and I'm okay eating at home for a week to balance out the cost since there's nothing I can really do about it. The bike runs now, but it's pig-rich and getting about 30mpg city and burns metric fucktons of oil due to the aforementioned problems. After this, the only thing to do is get a GSXR1100 steel basket clutch because otherwise I'm going to eat through stock Bandit clutches like crazy when I get all of my lost power back. Unfortunately, I do not know the bike ran like after being tuned with the still-functioning jet kit, so any attempt at matching original values would be a shot in the dark. Part of them installing it is tuning it with a wideband until it's right which is a peace of mind I'd love to have. n8r posted:#13 - the needle jet is the item that could theoretically oval out with the needle bouncing around. I'd wager it take a lot of miles for that to happen. I believe it's actually #12 (and the o-ring between it and the emulsion tube)-- on the '01 Bandits it's two parts (which is good, because that tube is way more expensive) The reason it's a big deal is because that added area causes a lot of fuel to dump into the engine when you want to do a GoFast. A new needle or main jet may remedy the issue, but does not fix the other half of the problem. I just want a 100% running bike again. After this I'm sticking with fuel injection. 
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Oct 4, 2013 22:24
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Xovaan posted:
Actually on Alpha-Sports, #12 is $37.00 and #13 is $27. Pricey of course (and never buy parts from Alpha because they charge way too much).
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Oct 4, 2013 22:32
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How could a carb issue cause the bike to burn oil? Are you sure something else isn't the issue? How did you come to the conclusion that those two parts were the ones causing the problem?
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Oct 4, 2013 22:33
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n8r posted:How could a carb issue cause the bike to burn oil? Are you sure something else isn't the issue? How did you come to the conclusion that those two parts were the ones causing the problem? Running super rich would consume oil, since the excess fuel washes the oil from the cylinder walls. Not sure how much oil he'd lose that way though.
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Oct 4, 2013 22:35
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Yeah, I was running rich and I had the bike on the gas analysis machine to figure out when my rich condition was occurring. We took off the tops of the carbs and saw the hole was ovaled and he was 100% certain that this was the cause of the problem.
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Oct 4, 2013 22:38
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Tamir Lenk posted:Running super rich would consume oil, since the excess fuel washes the oil from the cylinder walls. Not sure how much oil he'd lose that way though. Yeah when I fixed my fueling from super rich to close to stoich, I easily halved my oil consumption.
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Oct 4, 2013 23:59
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Xovaan posted:ps I MISS YOU I miss you too buddy 
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Oct 5, 2013 04:13
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Part of the reason I got my ninja relatively cheaply is because, in addition to his general ignorance, the PO had attempted to resolve the notorious wheelie nose problem and failed. He seemed to think it was basically unfixable without buying a new ram air duct. He was wrong. This is my ugly, temporary but extremely effective fix. I'll make up some proper brackets eventually but for now I'm enjoying having working mirrors, a readable instrument cluster and a bike that doesn't do a flipper impersonation on every bump. Droopy droop nose    Fixed with a 20 dollar trip to the hardware store and an hour of time. You can just see the PO's failed attempt at a fix where he used 1.5mm alloy and just put the stress back in the exact same place. Surprise, surprise; the alloy tore like paper just like the plastic does on a factory bike.
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Oct 5, 2013 06:31
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Today, I stripped out one of the Torx bolts holding the rear brake disc on, I tried torching it, hammering it, even using an easy out, and it isn't budging an inch, the head is completely stripped now, and the only option looks to be cutting it, unless someone here has some brilliant idea on removing stuck bolts on a Buell
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Oct 5, 2013 06:58
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Halo_4am posted:This morning is 2 months later and the light fell off. I got stuck in some hardcore rains between then and now so that may have had something to do with it. V-Max subfender. Now with more welds!    The tabs are from the stock bracket. Cut, bent, and welded on. It's not pretty, but fortunately it's not visible to anything but the rear tire so I don't care. Sort of looks like a headcrab.
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Oct 5, 2013 19:56
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I let my parking light on overnight last friday. Roadside assistance helped me out in the morning and a nice man with some cables in the afternoon. Does anyone know what voltage my battery needs to be at to still be good? P.S. you can't bumpstart an efi bike. Fyi. 
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Oct 5, 2013 19:59
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Ya you can you just need to have enough power to run the pump and injectors. Disconnecting the headlight helps in a pinch.
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Oct 5, 2013 20:09
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If it sits at less than 12 after charging things won't be looking up for that battery.
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Oct 5, 2013 20:38
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ReverendCode posted:Today, I stripped out one of the Torx bolts holding the rear brake disc on, I tried torching it, hammering it, even using an easy out, and it isn't budging an inch, the head is completely stripped now, and the only option looks to be cutting it, unless someone here has some brilliant idea on removing stuck bolts on a Buell Penetrating oil - soak for a few hours. Can you cut a slot across the head to get a fat flathead in position? If so, soak in p-oil for awhile, then see if your impact driver with a flat head doesn't work. If that fails, get some lefty drill bits and a centerpunch, and drill that bitch out. Start with a smallish bit and work your way up in size. HTH
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Oct 5, 2013 21:49
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Geirskogul posted:If it sits at less than 12 after charging things won't be looking up for that battery. Thanks!
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Oct 5, 2013 22:45
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Z3n posted:Ya you can you just need to have enough power to run the pump and injectors. Disconnecting the headlight helps in a pinch. That or a solid squirt of ether starter spray in the intake and force the fucker to start by comperssion 
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Oct 6, 2013 14:08
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Sir Cornelius posted:That or a solid squirt of ether starter spray in the intake and force the fucker to start by comperssion Good old piston-killer.
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Oct 6, 2013 19:07
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After months of owning the bandit I finally changed the mirrors.
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Oct 6, 2013 21:18
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Geirskogul posted:Good old piston-killer. Urban legends. KARMA! posted:After months of owning the bandit I finally changed the mirrors. 
Sir Cornelius fucked around with this message at 21:36 on Oct 6, 2013 |
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Oct 6, 2013 21:32
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You're right. Ether has a much more explosive...explosion than gasoline (gasoline has a very slow explosive front speed) and I should say it's more of a bearing-killer.
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Oct 6, 2013 21:34
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Geirskogul posted:You're right. Ether has a much more explosive...explosion than gasoline (gasoline has a very slow explosive front speed) and I should say it's more of a bearing-killer. You seem to know what you're talking about regarding exploding explosives. Disregard everything I've ever said and listen to professor Geirskogul.
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Oct 6, 2013 21:44
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Sorry, I was playing KSP while posting in a second window and I didn't really care much at the time about your bullshit. Diethyl ether's flame front speed is around 300cm/s, wheras a stoichiometric gasoline/air explosion's is around 50cm/s. This is very fast, and can cause a bit of bucking and knocking. Combine that with how diethyl ether, propane, and butane (the main components of "starting fluid") are all very good at washing lubrication off of the cylinder walls and anything else associated (sometimes the piston pin, etc if you use too much) means bad news if it is abused. On an engine that already needs the use of starting fluid, this can mean broken rings or bent rods if something binds. It can also wash away any oil on the cylinder walls, possibly lowering compression (if it is on an aged engine that has a much higher wet compression than dry due to wear), causing even more problems.
Queen_Combat fucked around with this message at 22:25 on Oct 6, 2013 |
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Oct 6, 2013 22:23
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Geirskogul posted:Sorry, I was playing KSP while posting in a second window and I didn't really care much at the time about your bullshit. Diethyl ether's flame front speed is around 300cm/s, wheras a stoichiometric gasoline/air explosion's is around 50cm/s. This is very fast, and can cause a bit of bucking and knocking. Combine that with how diethyl ether, propane, and butane (the main components of "starting fluid") are all very good at washing lubrication off of the cylinder walls and anything else associated (sometimes the piston pin, etc if you use too much) means bad news if it is abused. On an engine that already needs the use of starting fluid, this can mean broken rings or bent rods if something binds. It can also wash away any oil on the cylinder walls, possibly lowering compression (if it is on an aged engine that has a much higher wet compression than dry due to wear), causing even more problems. I didn't suggest you run on ether as your main fuel. To bump-start an EFI bike with a dead battery, it'll work without throwing any pistons through your head. Anyway, now people have my suggestion and your warning.
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Oct 6, 2013 22:35
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My bike has a GYTR slip-on that the PO installed. While I don't dislike the pipe, I don't love it either. I'd like to replace it, but I want to eventually swap to a full exhaust system and can't justify spending the money right now. I've been planning on painting my rearsets and kickstand in the coming months. A few days ago I got the idea of painting the pipe to color match my bike. After work today I went and picked up some high temp matte black rattle cans and got to work.  I put two coats on it before leaving it to dry. I plan on adding a few more coats tomorrow and replacing the bolts with black ones. Here's hoping the thing doesn't look like complete rear end.
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Oct 7, 2013 00:22
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Did you forget to add an 'after' pic?
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Oct 7, 2013 09:11
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Snowdens Secret posted:Did you forget to add an 'after' pic? Haven't taken an after yet. It is still taped up and was left hanging to dry overnight. I'll post once I recoat it and reassemble the can. EDIT:  I've looked all over for any type of black flat washers and every hardware store has only zinc. So I decided to sand down the old ones and paint those as well. I think it came out alright and I like it more than I did. I'll paint the mounting bracket when I take off my rearsets to be powder coated. tjones fucked around with this message at 21:51 on Oct 8, 2013 |
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Oct 7, 2013 12:55
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Removed the rear wheel!  Got the tire off! Image forthcoming.  Edit: two space heaters were not meant to run on the same 15A circuit. Safety Dance fucked around with this message at 03:54 on Oct 8, 2013 |
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Oct 8, 2013 03:43
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| # ? May 21, 2024 11:21 |
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Sir Cornelius posted:I didn't suggest you run on ether as your main fuel. To bump-start an EFI bike with a dead battery, it'll work without throwing any pistons through your head. Anyway, now people have my suggestion and your warning. Just to be clear, this all means I can get rid of my battery and starter and just use the ether and lighter I already carry around to start my bike?
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Oct 9, 2013 07:46
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