81 XS650 running but have issues

But I think the factory used thick ones for a reason, to help insulate and isolate the manifolds and carbs from engine heat. I've always used the thick ones installed as shown (sealer on one side) and never had any leak issues. I do check the torque on the mounting bolts several times after initial install to compensate for gasket compression. There is a lot of that on these thick gaskets.
Fair point 5T, and I may well follow your methods.
 
So i noticed on the left side intake (problem area) on e of the bolts wasn’t tightening up and stripped out. Not sure if that had anything to do with my problem but may have. Had to put in a heli coil and seems good now. Gotta wait a little while then tighten them again, throw the carbs on and see how it did
 
If it was me I would smear permatex on both sides of the gasket ..and have it sorted / fixed tight once for all
Yamabond has good reputation but newer used it myself
Not to much
 
Cleaning stuck gasket remnants and sealer off those intake mounts is a P.I.T.A. That's why I only seal the outer side to the manifold. I want the gasket to come off with the manifold, not stay or get stuck to the motor. I just went through this with my '83. The P.O. was gasket sealer crazy, putting it everywhere. He even put it on the large round alternator cover, lol.
 
Cleaning stuck gasket remnants and sealer off those intake mounts is a P.I.T.A. That's why I only seal the outer side to the manifold. I want the gasket to come off with the manifold, not stay or get stuck to the motor. I just went through this with my '83. The P.O. was gasket sealer crazy, putting it everywhere. He even put it on the large round alternator cover, lol.
A little trick I used to use on air cooled VW's was to glue the valve cover gasket to the valve cover with weatherstrip adhesive then install and let sit over night. the next day I would put a thin coat of RTV on the head side of the gasket, spray some WD-40 on the head mating surface and install the valve covers and let sit up overnight. next day, pull valve covers and use an X-Acto knife to remove all the excess RTV.. The last step is very important. I could race all year on one set of gaskets and I pulled them off every race to check clearance. I know that even using the word RTV is blasphemy to most, but it worked.
 
I put everything back together. Still sucking air on that gasket area left side. I’m going to just put a little Yamabond on the other side and seal this bitch up on just the left side. My luck i have some sort of hair line crack i can’t find and this won’t work but i have extra gaskets so who cares. I almost might just buy extra intake boots and have them ready with new gaskets maybe like 5 sets just to make it easy 🤦🏼‍♂️
 
So tried the gasket seal and it helped seal the intakes up good. Still having same issue though. Tried to fine tune where i sprayed when looking for a leak. It seems the choke area was sucking in air bad. Also noticed on a side note my fuel T was very cracked. So long story short i ordered everything for my carbs like new choke plungers and seals along with new billet fuel T and other seals to rebuild my carbs. The other times i did the carbs i skipped the choke area and didn’t “completely” take the crabs apart to clean every single little thing. Figured best option for me right now is to do a complete clean and make sure I’m 100% sure the carbs are good. I also ordered two more carb boots with new clamps. Figured this was better than spending money to someone to fix it. I want to figure it out so i understand. So let’s hope this works!
 
About to get these carbs done

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(If you’re scoping out my old Ricky Carmichael rc bike it’s not for sale 👌)
 
Question, the new choke plungers i got have a different end to them that the bar uses to grab and open them. Everything else about the plungers looks the same. Am i missing something? Do these new ones need a c clip in that groove to catch the bar? If so i didn’t get any. Also found a ball bearing when disassembling not sure where it goes
 

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Not good at carburetors
The balls sits on the rod giving it steps clicking in ( sounds wrong in English but perhaps the meaning is obvious )
If you ask me I think it is the wrong part.
I beleive the fork need to give force both ways inwards and outwards
 
Here is what the old ones looked like. You think these are worth saving or using?
 

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There were two types of choke plungers used. The bare metal ones like your originals were used on '80-'81 models .....

ChokeRodBoss.jpg


On the '82-'83 models, a plastic bushing was added retained by an e-clip. Your replacements are this type .....

MixPassagePlug.jpg


VacLineClip.jpg


The clip on the choke rod also differs. The slot that fits onto the choke plunger is different widths. Yes, I think you can just clean up your old choke plungers and use them. You really don't have a choice, lol. You don't have the plastic bushings for the new choke rods and you can't buy them anywhere. And the clips on your choke rod wouldn't fit onto them anyway.
 
Looks like there might be a couple rough spots on one of your old ones, smooth off anything that sticks up, very fine sand paper like 1000 grit would work.
If when assembled the vacuum slides pass the drop test your choke seals are fine.
might rub a bit of sil-glide or such on the rubber ends.
I'll put a bit of wintergreen oil on rubber like that, then a couple minutes later sil-glide.
 
There were two types of choke plungers used. The bare metal ones like your originals were used on '80-'81 models .....

View attachment 217624

On the '82-'83 models, a plastic bushing was added retained by an e-clip. Your replacements are this type .....

View attachment 217625

View attachment 217626

The clip on the choke rod also differs. The slot that fits onto the choke plunger is different widths. Yes, I think you can just clean up your old choke plungers and use them. You really don't have a choice, lol. You don't have the plastic bushings for the new choke rods and you can't buy them anywhere. And the clips on your choke rod wouldn't fit onto them anyway.
Ok, is there anything i can do to help the old plungers. Like maybe stretch the spring a little for a little more tension back to help seal. Or just clean them good and put back
 
Looks like there might be a couple rough spots on one of you old ones, smooth off anything that sticks up, very fine sand paper like 1000 grit would work.
If when assembled the vacuum slides pass the drop test your choke seals are fine.
might rub a bit of sil-glide or such on the rubber ends.
I'll put a bit of wintergreen oil on rubber like that, then a couple minutes later sil-glide.
Ok great thank you
 
those should work fine, the original choke plungers are mostly good. smear a little bit of light grease or oil on em.
 
Do i smear grease or oil just on the shaft or on the sealing part also?
sil-glide or a of a touch of synthetic grease including the rubber, NOT a heavy smear a bit on your finger rub it on the parts should be nearly invisible not glops of goo. Sorry but use of WAY too much grease, gasket sealer is often found on old bikes I work on. 5t likes "red rubber grease" for these spots.
 
so dipped carbs, cleaned every little thing really good. Both floats measure 22mm. Did slide test for vacuum leaks. Everything should be perfect with my carbs. Get it back together and now right cylinder is off. Still same basic issue where i can still rev it up but harsh stumble at the bottom. I double checked everything with my intake boots and clamping hardware is straight. I guess the next step is to check my plugs, then Check my timing is still good and the valves are in spec. What drives me crazy is that it ran so good for a minute then this. Gotta keep checking stuff i guess

 
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