You don't... you hang upside down from the ceiling.
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New to me XS 650...
- Thread starter Kevin Werner
- Start date
When installing the new jets (or any jet for that matter), don't use a big old screwdriver, it will make them too tight and you'll have difficulty removing them in the future. I don't know what it is about jets but they seem to get even tighter after they've been in there a while. For install, only use a stubby screwdriver or one of those little knurled bit holders I showed you a few posts back. These will get the jets plenty tight enough, but not too tight.
I have a finger knob driver, I couldn't get the jet to start threading, then of course it fell out into some unseeable recess.
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Well, that's a bummer, lol. Honestly, it's easiest to deal with these float bowl mounted jets if you remove the bowl. You have to anyway to get the pilot jet out because it screws down into the bowl from the top. It ends up inside when the bowl is mounted and has no outside access.
My standard procedure is to put some of whatever caulk, sealer, liquid nails I have open on the screw driver tip when I am feeding a blind screw, but, that might be a bad idea with a jet.
A perfectly fitting screwdriver will help with that. Unfortunately, it's difficult to find any American screwdrivers that do that because Mikuni jets are metric and have metric sized screwdriver slots on them. So, I've taken to custom grinding my own bits to fit perfectly. For the small round mains, these Bosch 8-10 slotted power bits work well .....
https://www.ebay.com/itm/4015729723...WvLO0GX7Dw%3D%3D|clp:2334524|tkp:BFBM6pzoqZxf
Grind the length and width down a little and they can be made to fit perfectly .....
They won't fit down in past the drain bolt threads unless you narrow them down a little, as shown by the unground bit on the right here .....
https://www.ebay.com/itm/4015729723...WvLO0GX7Dw%3D%3D|clp:2334524|tkp:BFBM6pzoqZxf
Grind the length and width down a little and they can be made to fit perfectly .....
They won't fit down in past the drain bolt threads unless you narrow them down a little, as shown by the unground bit on the right here .....
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Oh, that looks nice, but you may need to shorten the tip a little to get to a fatter part of the blade for a nice, tight, perfect fit into the jet slot. I only use new jets for checking the fit so you may want to wait for them to arrive. On a used jet, the slot is often buggered a little and now bigger than new.
Thanks, again. 5Twins should I move my comments, questions, progress to "What have you done to your XS today" thread?
50 mm hex bits and 132.5 main jets arrived today. Between babysitting 8, 11 yr olds and a 9month granddaughters I managed to exchange non Mikuni 137.5s with Mikuni 132.5s with a lot less drama than last time. One jet I had to put a 1/4 " open end wrench on the hex bit to remove. The new idle was 3000 rpm. I had to adjust the throttle stop AND give a little slack to the throttle cable to make it behave properly. Then with reinforcements arriving to supervise the young ones I was able to spend some quality time in the saddle. There is a touch of bubble at 3000 rpm 3rd gear. That is indicated 30 mph but an upshift loading the engine a little makes it go away. With the 137.5s it would burble at that 4th gear 30. Improvement is very nice but... I will order 130s to try out. I still need to pace an auto with a known accurate speedo to evaluate my speedo accuracy. I think it reads a little high.
GPS speedo app on your phone.....................
Yes, one of the first rules of jetting is that when you think you're right, try the size above and below to confirm. There's really no way around it, dialing in carbs is going to get you extra jet sizes that you may only use a short time once for testing. But, the $20 to $30 you may spend on extra jets is still way less than a shop would charge you to do this. And you'll now have all those jets in case you ever do this again to another bike, or change the mods on yours and have to re-do it.
Thanks gggGary but I am still rebuilding my riding skills so fiddling with a cell phone, riding a straight line etc might be bad idea for me. Also, I have checked my 2016 Ford Escape against my GPS so I really just need a nephew, or Mrs to have 10 minutes to drive my car, set the cruise at 40, 50, 65 and 30 on a 10 minute loop around my home. The bike sounds so good that if my speedo is off the wrong way I am going to attract the attention of the constabulary.
My biggest concern was that, blind and carb on the bike, the driver was firmly seated in the slot. After checking alignment it was easier for me to hold alignment with the thumb knob bit driver and add torque with an ignition wrench. It took a fair amount of force. Of course the slot was weinered up in both directions when I examined it. Finger tight in on the new jets.For removing jets, especially old really tight ones, I use penetrating oil, some heat, and a T-handle holder for the jet bits .....
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Yes, I knew after I ordered 132.5s that I should have ordered 130s. I will probably order 130 and 127.5, then lift the needles on one or the other. I have 4 brothers, three of them have GS750, CBX, H1, Katana (the original), CB750, CB1, RD350, etc experience. Older brother had a Laverda Jota once (is that a recommendation or a death sentence?). When any show up in 2022 spring I would like the XS to be close and steps thus far are encouraging.
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When you install the jets, you can go ahead and use that finger bit holder. It will let you tighten them good enough, just not too tight. Finger tight won't be enough. Make them tight but only as tight as that little finger bit holder allows you to. The problem arises when you use full size screwdrivers to install them. You can easily make them too tight with a big, full size screwdriver.
I installed the jets firmly with the finger knob. Spell correct tries to make it finger know. ??? I cleaned up both sets of plugs with carb cleaner and a tooth brush. Neither set has a lot of miles. But, while running errands today I did pick up a new set. AC I think. Even if they are shit, they will give me a valid color read. The cleaned up plugs, after 20 or so miles showed a medium tan insulator so I am getting close. 30mph and 40mph no burbling if I select a higher gear.The problem! The problem is I can't resist rolling on 3k to 5k rpms ever.
So the end of the season is here. What is the consensus, full tank or empty? I did fill up ethanol free 91 octane but it is easy to drain off if needed. The pipes will come off so I can put the bike on a bike jack for compact storage. Then I can at some point check the needle jet size and verify the bowls are clean. Of course I will drain the float bowls.
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