Solex Clone Leaking and Adjustments

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Lostboy Steve

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I have a solex clone from eBay, with a mid throttle stumble or bog. It was rideable but got terrible mileage and was aggravating. Second engine hasn't been ridden yet but my neutral tests reveals the same so far.

I find a lot of gas is pooling inside the manifold. Left side of engine (cylinders 2 and 4) seems richer than right.

My adjustments are as described in the paper that came with the setup, although I have played around a bit with minimal changes.
 
Setting it as it should be for car use will not be enough to function correctly on the bike. Add another washer seal to the float valve assembly to lower the float a bit. Then adjust the air fuel mix screw to highest rpm and vacuum. Go to minimum throw on the accelerator pump and you should be very close to the settings you need.
 
slabghost":1ta21841 said:
Setting it as it should be for car use will not be enough to function correctly on the bike. Add another washer seal to the float valve assembly to lower the float a bit. Then adjust the air fuel mix screw to highest rpm and vacuum. Go to minimum throw on the accelerator pump and you should be very close to the settings you need.

Can you explain the float valve more? I just rode it to work and it's still bogging bad. I need to goose the throttle to get it to accelerate after a certain rpm. Now that it's parked there is some fuel dripping from the body of the carb, maybe the float gasket. Again, for a brand new carb, what a piece of junk.


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Don't get discourage ...all of today's carbs are junk as mandated by the epa dimwits of IQ..after riding awhile check the plugs to see if it's running rich or lean ...things sound rich to me ...I'd take carb off and lower the float level till the bowl quits leaking ...bowl gasket can't leak unless gas is up at that level
 
joedrum":1ihp3fwk said:
Don't get discourage ...all of today's carbs are junk as mandated by the epa dimwits of IQ..after riding awhile check the plugs to see if it's running rich or lean ...things sound rich to me ...I'd take carb off and lower the float level till the bowl quits leaking ...bowl gasket can't leak unless gas is up at that level

Yeah I noticed it after it was on the side stand.


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[url=https://classicgoldwings.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=194224#p194224:yaz3oikh said:
Lostboy Steve » Fri Aug 04, 2017 8:59 am[/url]":yaz3oikh]
slabghost":yaz3oikh said:
Setting it as it should be for car use will not be enough to function correctly on the bike. Add another washer seal to the float valve assembly to lower the float a bit. Then adjust the air fuel mix screw to highest rpm and vacuum. Go to minimum throw on the accelerator pump and you should be very close to the settings you need.

Can you explain the float valve more? I just rode it to work and it's still bogging bad. I need to goose the throttle to get it to accelerate after a certain rpm. Now that it's parked there is some fuel dripping from the body of the carb, maybe the float gasket. Again, for a brand new carb, what a piece of junk.


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The float needle valve (#5) is what shuts off fuel coming into the carb. the distance between the needle valve and the float is adjusted by increasing/decreasing the thickness of the washer (#4) that goes between the needle valve and the upper carb housing (#3)

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It's just a matter of adjusting the carb to the motor that it is being used on. Keep in mind that most VW engines do not tilt side to side as it goes into a turn like a bike motor does, so you cannot really expect the carb to function 100% right out of the box... adjustments are needed.
 
I wanted to add something in here that I noticed and may be a symptom of a float issue as well. I have two fuel filters on the bike. One right by the petcock and another right before the carb inlet. So basically one pre and one post pump. All of the hose that I am using is 3/16id fuel hose that fits snug to the fuel-pump fittings. While running at idle speed the bottom filter you can see fuel swirling around but the top one never fills. It gets up to midway until it can go into the carb.

My thought is that the float isn't working and so the required fuel volume is more than the pump and lines can flow thus causing the filter to never fill completely. Am I right for thinking this?

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I would want to look at that float and valve , one thing mentioned in a post at the samba was that the float needles were cheap and when clones were purchased was best to replace needle and seat with a quality aftermarket. Also when I was researching filters I found there was a minimum fuel pressure required depending on the microns filtered, obviously the tighter the media the more pressure required but that`s just a thought, not saying it is your problem.
 
I've never seen a see through fuel filter ever actually fill up. All of them maintained an air pocket in them.
 
Good stuff in the samba forum link.....basically the the fuel shut off solenoid is a huge problem ..most carbs that have this ...the solenoid shut off don't actually do the job ...if you ever seen the first ones they made ...you see the newer ones are just junk and don't work and carb will leak down to idle feed level...if float is not shutting things down as in flow and you have full tank it can drain a lot of fuel in motor....
 
Yeah well I just went to and from work on a little over 1/4 tank. That's about 18 miles. So yeah fuel is definitely getting grossly overused. I will say on the way home it seemed way more rideable than going to work.

I agree I have to pull the top of the carb off. Don't know when I'll be able to do that though.


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When I removed my carb from my 81, I found the float was actually semi filled with fuel too, so fuel was never completely shutting off. Something else to consider and another reason to think about opening up that carb sooner rather than later.
 
Garbage. Absolute garbage. I am so angry at this point. I really can't understand. First and foremost, the mixture screw barely does anything. Seriously. All the way out vs all the way in is such a slight change something can't be right there. I checked the float height and fuel level and that seems to be fine. Adding an extra washer made it way too low. The idle air screw needs to be out fairly far in order for it to idle. Like past even with the carb body. It sounds like a vacuum at idle even with the shelter and air filter on. I pulled the carb off twice. The second time was to verify that the butterfly was closed the proper amount at idle. I'm about to order a different clone off of eBay for 65$ and see if bolting that right on doesn't work better. I'm beginning to think one of the circuits has a bad casting or some sort of restriction, or lack of restriction.


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The air noise you describe sounds a lot like the cold start enrichener circuit my solex has when it is pulled to ON. When that is on, it will run at fast idle and VERY sluggish to accelerate. I don't know if the carb you have has that circuit. Did you post a picture of the carb?
 
dan filipi":2ww6q7yc said:
The air noise you describe sounds a lot like the cold start enrichener circuit my solex has when it is pulled to ON. When that is on, it will run at fast idle and VERY sluggish to accelerate. I don't know if the carb you have has that circuit. Did you post a picture of the carb?
958dbf96726794f9d09371a0c597d0d3.jpg


Here's a picture... how about that little cap that looks like it's leaking?


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I wonder if you can bench test it, put about 5 feet of line elevated to simulate a few pounds of pressure and see where it is dripping from, the metal it is made from doesn't look so good, looks more pot metal then aluminum....a faulty casting can be a problem.
 
Somebody pin this or something. That first solex clone that came with the manifold from singlecarbconversions.com or eBay was junk. New carb is on. Instantly 1000% better even without adjusting it. Was less noise as well. Seriously. I am going to ride it and report how that goes but all hesitation and air noise is gone now so far.


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