O'Reilly 9/15/2009

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Chloe...

Lean/Rich Carburetor Adjustments

From the best threads at : http://www.vtxcafe.com

So for the past week I have been reading dozens of threads and pages of posts. I have found tons of great pieces of advice that have worked for members, but nothing seemed to be located in one thread (you have to read...sometimes...10-20 pages before you come to an answer). PLEASE CHECK END OF THREAD FOR CURRENT SYMPTOMS/SOLUTIONSWhen members post new/edited or other symptoms/solutions, I'll add to this this thread quote and continue what has been started to prevent reading all the postings.This is what I have gathered thus far (please correct any mistakes I make because I know that I will make them) and these are by far "typical" symptoms from users:Is my bike LEAN?
Very white plugs
Popping/backfiring from exhaust on deceleration
Bike wants to die or almost dies in slow maneuvers
Blip on the throttle causes the engine speed to hang slightly before recovering
Excess fuel in Airbox (from Carburetor spitting fuel to compensate for lack there of)
Hesitation or stuttering while starting from a stop in the low rpm range (goes away when higher rpm's are achieved) Is my bike RICH?
Black/oily plugs (also caused from the dreaded Choke)
Bike hesitates when heavy throttle is applied or is slow to "speed up" (not to be confused with the 1/8-1/4 throttle turn while your bike is at a stop...the A/F screw affects the 1/8-1/4 turn while the needle/shim affects the mid to higher range)
Blip on throttle causes the engine speed to drop below idle and then it recovers
Significant gas odor while riding Solutions for LEAN:
Turn out (counterclockwise) A/F screw (start with 1/8 turn increments)
Add shim(s) to the needle Solutions for RICH:
Turn in (clockwise) A/F screw (start with 1/8 turn increments)
If shim(s) exist, try removing them if A/F screw did fix the problem Idle Speed:
900rpm +/- 100rpm
May need to be set slightly higher for colder temps Shimming Heights (per SCAR):
"Open" style airbox and after market "free flow" pipes... usually about 2or 3 shims.
Airbox flowing more air than stock design, but not in the "heavy breathing" class and/or pipes either free flow or somewhat restricted... usually about 1or 2 shims
Stock airbox (K&N filter in stock box is still "stock") and after market pipes... usually 0 or 1 shims
Stock airbox and stock pipes...tune the A/F screw for maximum performance. Shimming note (per Charlie D):
Clip positions on after market are the same as shimming up or down ( a shim for half clip position). Helpful Links:Link to help understand the workings of Carburetor. http://www.factorypro.com/tech_tunin...m_engines.htmlHere's another good read, talks about jetting, needle shimming and plug chops ect: http://crapmods.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=3604

Honda VTX Painting Engine 101

From the best threads at http://www.vtxcafe.com

I know several others on here have done this, but I thought I'd post it anyway. It may give some people just the encouragement they need to git 'r done!

Since I have a ton of stuff off the bike right now, I decided to polish the fins and paint the engine. This is another one of those "I'm glad I did it and it was worth it, but I'll never do it again" mods.

I started off by removing the tank, air intake, pipes, upper fin shrouds, clutch cable bracket, carb, manifold and anything else I could get out of the way. To file the fins down, I tried several methods to see which would get the job done the quickest with the best results. First, I tried a Craftsman file, but it was not getting it done quickly. I then got out the palm sander, put 60-grit paper on it and quickly knocked the coating off the fins.



It was too big to get in between, in front of and behind the jugs, so I taped some 60-grit strips of sandpaper to paint sticks (Easy-E's idea) and got the fins sanded down pretty well. Then I just used some bigger strips and hand-sanded those same hard-to-reach areas until I was satisfied.



In this picture, I did the right side of the fins with the palm sander and left the left side alone, so you can see just how well it worked.



Once I got the fins sanded down really well, I started wet-sanding. This was a very tedious process, but really should be done to get the maximum results of polished fins. I went through the following grades: 220, 320, 400, 600, 800, 1000 & 1500. Once I was done wet-sanding, I got out the Dremel, some polishing pads and some polishing compound and went over each fin until I got the desired look. In this picture, I did the upper fin shroud and put it back on to give you a comparison. The bottom has not been polished.



In this picture, I polished the right-side of this shroud. The left side is at the 1500 wet-sand stage, for comparison.



To get to the hard-to-reach fins, I used Nevr-Dull wadding polish and shined up the fins the best that I could.

I painted the shrouds tonight. I soaked all the shrouds in a bucket of dishwashing soap and hot water to break loose the grime. Then I carefully cleaned really well in between all the fins using a sponge. Once I was satisfied they were cleaned well, I scuffed them up with this product from Ace Hardware, which is equivalent to a red Scotch-Brite pad.



Then they were rinsed well and dried using my air compressor. After letting them dry a little longer, I taped off the fins using 1/8" pin striping I bought from AutoZone. It worked perfectly. I also took off all the grommets and used blue painter's tape to cover the rubber nuts so they wouldn't get painted.







Then I went out to the garage, covered everything with towels, blankets, tarps and anything else I could find so no overspray would get on the bikes or anything else. Then I layed the shrouds down on some cardboard and followed the instructions for the DupliColor Semi-Gloss 500-degree paint. I sprayed two light coats within 10 minutes of each other, and then a third heavier coat. I also used a flashlight and peeked into the spaces in between the fins and sprayed where appropriate for uniform coverage.



After about an hour, they were dry to the touch, so I took them inside, sat down on the couch and started pulling the pinstriping off. As I pulled them off, I got that same _____-eatin' grin like I had the day I brought her home!











Okay, so here was today's agenda:

* Woke up at 7am ready to rock. Ate breakfast and filled up with caffeine.
* Scrubbed down the entire surface to be painted with the red pad.
* Went back over the fins with Nevr-Dull Wadding Polish.
* Washed the engine with dishwashing soap, hot water and a sponge to get in the nooks and crannies.
* Rinsed engine with fine mist from the water hose and spray nozzle.
* Blew out all the remaining water with the air compressor really well.
* Let engine dry.
* Taped down all exposed threaded holes, exhaust ports, manifold ports, spark plug holes, inlet between jugs and any other place I didn't want paint (used blue painter's tape).
* Pinstriped fins (OMG...I don't care how much money someone would pay me to do this...uh uh...no more!).
* Wrapped all other areas with blankets, foil, newspaper...basically anything that did the job well.













Then it was finally time to spray. I did three coats again, just like I did on the shrouds. I also went back out and touched up areas in between the fins where it needed it. All in all, I almost used 2 full cans of paint!











And I'm done!! The bottom fins will need to be touched up a bit from the paint bleeding behind some of the pinstriping, but no big deal. I'll also touch up around the manifold ports, too.





















And.....I'm happy! I'll post final pictures after I'm done with all the other crap I have to do to the bike. It'll be another week or so before I get my carb parts in.

Headlight Modulator/Silverstar Ultra

Observing the cagers over the past few months, I have become more attuned to the "invisible" concept. My latest mod is an effort to improve my visibility.

Last night I installed a Comagination headlight modulator combined with a Sylvania Silverstar Ultra bulb. Only took about 30 minutes The headlight modulator is plug and play - pull off female connector on back of bulb, plug that connector into male plug on modulator, plug female connector from modulator into bulb.

The final step is routing the electric eye (very tiny) cable through the hole in the back of the headlight and up to the clutch cable. The eye is tie wrapped to the clutch cable with the eye pointed up. The purpose of the electric eye is to turn the modulator off at night so that the high beam works normally. Gave it a test using a bright flashlight - worked as advertised. Modulator worked nice too - about one cycle per second.

Caught up all the spare wire with the existing wire tie in the headlight and Gorilla taped the encapsulated electronics module in the back of the headlight. Buttoned everything up and took her for a run.

The Ultra bulb is awesome on high beam - very bright white with a long reach. Low beam was also very bright but aimed somewhat down so not much reach - which leads to the rest of the story. I decided to reaim the headlight.

I did a Google on motorcycle headlight aim and got a number of hits - virtually all the same instructions ( I will leave out the details.).

I took all of the required measurements, laid out the appropriate target on the back wall of my garage, positioned the bike and turned on the low beam light. Yep, about 3 inches low at 17 feet away from the wall. (I have a large garage and the floor is perfectly level.)

Pulled out my handy small Phillips screwdriver and began adjusting the vertical adjustment screw - in and out. The beam never moved. Tried the horizontal adjustment screw just for the heck of it. The beam never moved.

Decided it was time for a Woodford/rocks. I will disassemble the headlight again one night this week to see what the heck is going on. I did notice a rather complicated assembly on the back of the lens/bulb holder. Something is clearly hung up back there. I'll post some pictures when I figure out what is going on. Any suggestions from the Forum are certainly appreciated.

Bottom line modulator (Comagination, $77 including shipping) works great and was an easy install. The Ultra bulb (Advance Auto, $45 for a pair) is a vast improvement. Proper aiming will take some further study.