Guss's '80 special - it's alive!

[5twins]

Yes, remove the mix screws and their associated parts before attempting to force carb cleaner through the circuit. One of those parts is a small o-ring and the carb cleaner can destroy it .....

As far as the technique for cleaning the pilot circuit goes, I've outlined it numerous times already on the forum here. Do a search and it should come up. If you find some of my pics missing from the thread, let me know and I'll replace them.

 

[Guss80special]

Ok. I put in the new pilot and main jets. I could barely stick a single thread of electrical wire through the old pilot jet as Gary said to try, so I just slammed the new ones in. The old ones look really bad and I can't imagine cleaning them again the new ones have some sort of stamp on them, but it's so small I can't tell if it's a box in a box (mikuni) or not . after some tense moments of wondering if I had enough gas in the tank (so I switched to reserve) it started idling really nicely and I was able to throttle up I promptly put the seat on and rode it up and down the ally a few times. Even got to second gear. More troubleshooting to do regarding gas level and maybe petcock positions, and re test my floats, but I feel like I'm moving forward thanks to all the great help from you guys!!!

As for the air pilot idle screws. I took them out. Every thing but the little o ring came out. I took a picture with flash and zoomed in. I think the o rings are still in there? So I chose not to do a deep clean of the passages for fear of destroying that wee little o ring. Thanks for the tip!!!

Should I get new ones? should that o ring have slid out?

And as promised, see pics of my right and left switch housing paint removal job (right side is just loose so I could show the bare metal that is positioned directly under the housing.... and my temp headlight fuse fix

Cheers,

 

[650Skull]

get a small wire and make a hook to get them out...........be gentle sometimes, a po will have screwed the screws in real tight and the rings get squashed

 

[Lou]

Hi Guss good to hear your making progress!

I have some old VWs too (67 squareback and a 70 camper bus) and their carbs also have the rubber O rings..they easily get damaged especially when removing jets to clean etc. They like to get stuck in the passage but like Skull says just hook them out. If they look too worn or tear, definitely get new ones (If you have time to wait for shipping or can get em local, Id say get new and dont bother trying to re-use old ones) If they are missing, worn or not set correctly the jets may cause air leak or wont deliver fuel correctly giving a lean condition. I keep a handful of new ones stashed away for my Vdubs...

Id also say use carb cleaner or compressed air to clean your jets. Be really careful about trying to clean the passages since its possible to actually cram dirt further in there and cause bigger headaches.

 

[Guss80special]

Ok. Thank you... I'll get new ones for sure.

 

[5twins]

The o-ring size for your BS34 mix screws is 1mm thick x 3mm I.D.

 

[Guss80special]

Nice. Thank you!

Any advice out there on where to buy in Calgary?

 

[Lou]

Others might have a specific idea, but in the States a good hardware store with large selection of nuts/bolts/etc will also carry some o rings...here in Hawaii the Ace Hardware Store has some, but none that fit my VWs.

 

[Guss80special]

Ok. Thanks. I'll check around town, but a quick look at amazon shows this. See pic. 50 pcs for $4.95. Sizes look correct.

 

[Lou]

$4.95 sounds great to me. You can now have extras for the next 24 times you pull out your jets . OR, you can go spend hours being frustrated trying to hunt 2 O rings down at the local HW shops that are the right size and save $4

 

[Guss80special]

Right on! Thanks for the tips

 

[5twins]

I try to buy all my o-rings in bulk. I don't care if I never use them all, it just bothers me to have to pay $1 or $2 for one freakin' o-ring, lol. Another you may need now or sometime in the future is the one on the float needle seat. It is 1.5 x 7.5.

 

[Guss80special]

Great. Thank you

 

[MaxPete]

Nice. Thank you!

Any advice out there on where to buy in Calgary?

Hi Guss:

I'm in Windsor, ON so I get your question. Try an industrial supply place - they usually have a big selection of o-rings. Try searching for a Parker-Hannifin parts seller or service place. Parker is a big provider of power hydraulics equipment and so anybody who sells/services it is likely to have what you need.

Pete

 

[robinc]

Hi Guss:

I'm in London, ON and didn't have any luck finding small carb o-ring sources in town at any of the rebuild/o-ring supplier shops.
Did a forum search for McMaster Carr and put together an order of all the little o-rings, e-clips etc. that one might need. You can include specialty hardware items etc. Shipping on an order like that was very reasonable and arrived within a couple of days.
Caveat: McMaster Carr will only ship to Educational Institutions or Businesses in Canada so just make sure you include your 'Business' name in the ordering info.

 

[Guss80special]

Cool. That's for the tip!

 

[MaxPete]

Gusses Two Cylinder Vibrating Busses Inc. - perfecto!

 

[Guss80special]

Ha ha. Good one!!

Update. Got the bike legal on the weekend! Passes the out of province inspection no problem. took it for a 12km ride and I must say I'm impressed. Runs pretty good. There's some tunnimg to be done for sure I suspect.

For example. When I give it a good shot of throttle it burps and stutters btw 2900 - 3100 rpms then smooths out again. Also, tends to idle very low as the bike warms up. Stalled a couple times at lights. I've been experimenting with the idle screw a bit and will continue. Tried 1.5, 2 and 2.5 turns. Will try 3 tonight.

Right signal switch is iffy while riding. Fine when the bike is not running. I'm thinking vibration.

No issues finding neutral at all

Thank you Peanut for all you help and loaning me some parts for my inspection

 

[5twins]

Lower idle when cold is normal for these older carb equipped bikes. You'll need to tinker with the idle speed setting a bit to find the "just right" spot where it will idle (but very slow) cold and not too fast once it warms up.

Best mix screw setting will probably depend on whether you have the U.S. or Canadian spec BS34s. The U.S. carb set has fixed, non-adjustable needles in the slides and 135 air jets. The Canadian carb sets got adjustable needles and 130 air jets. U.S. carbs like 3 to 3.5 turns out on the mix screws. Canadian carbs will probably require less.

 

[xjwmx]

The iffy signal switch -- dig inside the switch and you'll find three wires soldered into three contacts, like little pots. After you reflow the solder there it might help. The old maxim is nobody has working turn signals before they do that... Dying at lights, I'm in the habit of keeping the throttle a little twisted at lights; wants to die at idle (or at least pretend it's going to) unless everything is perfect, incl. alignment of the Heavens.