New to me - ‘95 Honda Shadow VLX600

[Melnic]

Very nice and clean looking. I had started to help a co worker find a shadow in the spring and we had a few prospects then he decided not to get into riding again

Are you able to wet set the floats on that carb?

Have you opened up the front Master Cylinder to look at how bad the fluid is?
I don't trust used non running bikes w/o at least bleeding in new fluid if not rebuilding MC and caliper which I have had to do every time except on a 2007 Sportster which just needed new brake fluid. Bike was running fine when I got it.

 

[bosco659]

Junk on a float needle seat from "somewhere in the fuel system" would be my #1 guess.
Worth a try pull the float bowl drains run/pump some fuel through. Would be nice to catch everything in a container to see what's coming through.
Replace all the fuel lines? Fuel lines shedding rubber internally common.

Thanks I’ll try to drain the carbs to see what comes out. I cant remove the float bowls insitu, they have to come off. The fuel lines have not been changed. They are made of some fancy material, maybe some silicone type material? I had a good look and these’re wasn’t any obvious signs of deterioration. Hope they don’t need replacement. I had a Quick Look on line and was surprised they aren’t terribly expensive. Fancy molded pieces though.

 

[bosco659]

Very nice and clean looking. I had started to help a co worker find a shadow in the spring and we had a few prospects then he decided not to get into riding again

Are you able to wet set the floats on that carb?

Have you opened up the front Master Cylinder to look at how bad the fluid is?
I don't trust used non running bikes w/o at least bleeding in new fluid if not rebuilding MC and caliper which I have had to do every time except on a 2007 Sportster which just needed new brake fluid. Bike was running fine when I got it.

The fluid in the master cylinder looked clean but I will flush it out. I’ll have to go back and recheck float level. They are a weird carb because the float bowls sit at a very sharp angle.

 

[bosco659]

 

[bosco659]

Can’t wait to see it at Paris

Message sent…

 

[TX650A Van Islander]

Nice work already!
You are already in the deep end - congrats on this acquisition

 

[bosco659]

I tried draining the fuel bowls and ran more gas through them. The fuel was squeaky clean. I started it back up and both cylinders were belching out black / brown smoke when I revved it up from idle. Sustained higher rpm’s didn’t seem to generate visible smoke. When I disconnected my fuel test tank, the fuel in the clear hose (1/4”) iirc, dropped down really quickly and it seemed faster than it should have perhaps indicating sticking needle valves? Odd thing is, both cylinders are doing the same thing. If it was a bad needle and or seat I thought it more likely that it wouldn't be both. The other puzzling piece is when I first got it running, it wasn’t running rich.

Any other thoughts on what else might be going on?

 

[OHRider]

Choke stuck open, slide not going all the down or needle too high, float level too high, over sized main jet.

 

[gggGary]

Float needle tips swelled or degraded when they got back in contact with fuel?

 

[bosco659]

Choke stuck open, slide not going all the down or needle too high, float level too high, over sized main jet.

Pretty sure the choke is sealing off well. I stretched the return springs a bit to make sure they’d sit tight. With the plungers bottomed out in the carb body, there is slack in the cables telling me there aren’t hanging up. They were stuck when I got it though.
Slides seems to be free and drops nicely to the bottom. They only go in one way so I couldn’t have messed that up.
I do need to reconfirm float height though. I’ll do that for sure when I get the new needle valves and seats.
Not sure what size the mains are but the kit I’m getting has all the stock sizes.
Needles are only adjustable with shims on these carbs. They appear to be in the stock position.
Thx for your ideas.

 

[bosco659]

Float needle tips swelled or degraded when they got back in contact with fuel?

Now that’s an interesting thought. Maybe that’s why it ran ok at first then poorly an hour or so later! I believe the needles are original and probably had a hard life going through two rounds of bad fuel from storage. These bits are in the ordered kit so it will when I swap them out I’ll put them under the magnifyingmaglass and see what I can see. The po also cleaned jets with carb cleaner and by poking things with fine wire. May have done some damage to the pilot jets too? Thx

 

[bosco659]

Todays messing around - drained 28 year old coolant (new stuff ordered - Honda coolant not much different in price than other off the shelf brands); cleaned out the master cylinder and flushed the brakes (big container from the m/c, jar from the caliper - dirtier with some floating junk), rerouted the trickle charger wires. Once I get the parts I can do carb rebuild #2 and do an oil change. Also waiting for a fuel filter from China.
Coolant drain is a pita. Can’t get the drain pan under the bike so I put two scissor jacks under the swing arm to raise it high enough (stand it up vertical). This is something I’ll have to figure out going forward if I keep the bike.

 

[bosco659]

Got the bike running half decent without dismantling the carbs. Turns out a YouTube suggested mod on the slide vents was incorrect. Once venting to atmosphere, the rich condition was eliminated and if anything it’s running a bit on the lean side just off idle. To properly assess the running condition I need to ride it and clean out the build up of gunk in the cylinders. That won’t happen until the springtime.
I discovered a decent way of getting the rear tire off of the ground. A motorcycle scissor jack did the trick.
While the tire was in the air I decided to clean up the rear wheel as best I could. I removed as much corrosion as I could (easily) and that’s going to have to be good enough. Cleaned and polished other shiny bits and touched up scratches on the black frame. Next cosmetic task will be the front wheel. I plan to meet with a vapour blast guy this week to see what he can do with my corroded engine cases and valve covers.
A piece of steel wool on the end of a brass brush made cleaning easier on the fingers.

 

[bosco659]

 

[Jim]

with a vapour blast guy this week to see what he can do with my corroded engine cases and valve covers.

You can do a lot yourself with just a rolok disc on a die grinder and a buffer...

 

[bosco659]

You can do a lot yourself with just a rolok disc on a die grinder and a buffer...


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Yes, I may end up doing that. I’ll get a price from the vapour blast guy, he charges $100/hr. Once I get his time estimate it will help me make a decision. I have to keep the cost on this bike relatively low in case I decide to sell it early next season.

What color Rolocs do you use?

 

[bosco659]

I use this type of disc (not specifically this brand). They also have a purple, really aggressive disc that’s supposed to be good for stripping finishes but I wonder what it would do to the aluminum?

 

[Jim]

Those are the three I use, brown, red and blue

 

[gggGary]

For a lot of it I use Dico blue wheels. 240 grit, I'll ocastionally use the orange (120) for badly pitted pieces.

I prefer to work wet (spritzer bottle)
https://dicoproducts.com/products.php?gid=5
These are also useful

but not as durable as the dico wheels which last stupid long.

 

[OHRider]

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I have the same jack works great. Maroon \ brown and white 3M pad work great easer on the fingers.