Choosing one, navigating this forum is more important. Until a few years ago my experience working on bikes was oil changes and making exhausts louder. This forum and a bunch of members guided and inspired me. Choosing to rebuild a garb set suggests that they have some problem or other. When you describe the problem, a member might have a suggestion (guess) on a repair action. a running issue might be an incorrect needle height, air screw adjust, diaphragm failure, dirty or clogged jets and/or passages. Each can be addressed with the carbs still in the bike.Thanks Kevin for answering my question. I have downloaded a carb. rebuilding report provided by this forum and it looks very comprehensive. Thank you for being patient with people like me who don't have a lot of experience working on motorcycles or navigating forums.
As @Wingedwheel suggests check the intake boots (carb to cylinder head manifolds). Spraying carb cleaner or WD40 around those helps identify intake leaks. Know too that the XS650 is a rather cold blooded beast and you sometimes have to nurse it up to operating temp before setting the idle speed to the ~1200 rpm spec. Then follow the standard procedures, sync the carbs, reset the idle , adjust the air mix, reset the idle. Every step is going to change your idle speed a little. I ride ~1/2 mile gently after a brief warm up before I remove the choke/enricher. Then the idle is almost good. A gentle mile further and my idle settles inHey Kevin, thanks for the info. I have a 1975 XS650B. When I start it up it pops and misfires. As it warms up the idle rises to over 3000 rpms. Any ideas?
Carb cleaner, yes.Spraying carb cleaner or WD40 around those helps identify intake leaks.
@Jim is entirely correct about WD40 residue. I live on a quiet street literally 200 yards down a gentle slope from a coin carwash (and conveniently a discount liquor storeCarb cleaner, yes.
WD40, no. WD40 leaves an oily residue all over everything (it's messy).
Carb cleaner, brake cleaner and elec contact cleaner all evaporate quickly, leaving no messy residue and all are flammable.
Soon as the cleaner finds a leak, engine vacuum sucks it in and you'll get an increase in rpm.
Use the provided straw and you can be very precise at finding leaks... without leaving a mess.
) so residue does not bother me. If my bike doesn't refire after a hosing down I can coast in neutral to my garage.Please make sure you are charging at roughly 13.8v-14.4v at the battery when the revs are at 2000-2200 rpm. If you are seeing only 12.2v -12.4v you need to back track and check alternator brushes and magnets, regulator adjustment etc.Thanks for that info Kevin. I did discover that my battery was no good and bought a new one. It now starts right up. I will see if it runs any better and let you know.
Thanks Kevin. There's a lot to this.
You can see @gggGary put alot of organizational thought into that post. A weak charging system can cause all sorts of gremlins. I do not know what our ignition coils are step up count is. If they are 100:1, an uncharged battery reading 11.7v ( and degrading, weak or dead charge system) is a spark of under 12k volts where a charging system delivering 14.2v is a spark more than 2kv hotter. These are 50 year old bikes. I have a little DVM wired into my head light shell and velcro taped on my bar centers, on both my bike (brown wire, ignition switch hot) that gives me a good relative check of what the charging system is doing. Because there is switch loss to that wire it is NOT battery voltage but ~0.5v less. A relative indicator . Less than $10 for piece of mind,Thanks Kevin. There's a lot to this.
I would also check for vacuum leaks at the throttle shaft seals. On 50 year old carbs they most likely leak...As @Wingedwheel suggests check the intake boots (carb to cylinder head manifolds). Spraying carb cleaner or WD40 around those helps identify intake leaks. Know too that the XS650 is a rather cold blooded beast and you sometimes have to nurse it up to operating temp before setting the idle speed to the ~1200 rpm spec. Then follow the standard procedures, sync the carbs, reset the idle , adjust the air mix, reset the idle. Every step is going to change your idle speed a little. I ride ~1/2 mile gently after a brief warm up before I remove the choke/enricher. Then the idle is almost good. A gentle mile further and my idle settles in