New GL1100 and suspected carb issues

[joedrum]

yes if air filter is clod up ..it will screw with power and rpm ..especially cv carbs as this condition effects vacumm too ....on 1100 carbs if idle is basiclly coming from main it robs the main circuit and can cause problems but idle ok but not great like some 1100 do that are in tip top shape ,,and when the main kicks in it has plenty of gas ... so nothing off table yet in my opinion

 

[thesteve]

So I finally had a few minutes to bench test the carbs. I'm not seeing any fuel spray from 2 and 4 when the throttle is pumped. 1 and 3 spray a decent amount of fuel so I think the accel pump is working.

I was looking through the forum and found a number of people have converted these bikes to use EFI. I've actually done that same conversion in the past on an old Suzuki Katana. Seeing how easy it is with the GL1200 throttle bodies has me thinking I might go that route with this project...

I'll certainly keep everyone up to date with the conversion progress.

 

[slabghost]

Fuel injection was an option on the 1200 a couple years. Adapting it to an 1100 has it's own issues.

 

[thesteve]

Yeah, it certainly won't be without issues. But I've done EFI swaps on a couple other motorcycles and honestly I prefer working on fuel injected systems anyway. For the cost of the new gasket set for the somewhat leaky carbs I can pay for about half of the conversion. I figure this will add some "cool factor" to the project as well.

 

[joedrum]

yes to be quite honest the FI projects havnt been all that successful ..except for restoring dated FI 1200s from 85-86 limited and sei bikes ...most other moderin FI projects not so good... go for it steve you seem confident :BigGrin:

 

[thesteve]

I saw at least one that looked complete and running on ngwclub.com. The two I did myself were back in 2008, build thread here for the first: https://katriders.com/vb/showthread.php?t=84789

The Katana suffered from hard starts due to what I now believe was a weak starter motor, it just wouldn't crank quickly enough to catch even when jumping it from a running car. Being my first motorcycle, I thought the lazy cranking speed was normal for bikes. It was also oil/air cooled instead of water cooled, so I was never able to get the coolant temp sensor calibrated in a way that would handle all possible starting conditions. Other than the occasional need for a jump, it worked really well. The followup EFI project was a 97 GSXR, which worked much better. No issues with that one, but I ended up selling it relatively early on for something more comfortable.

It's funny reading through that old thread. I was so much younger back then and looking back made some rookie mistakes while going through it. Hindsight is 20/20 of course, but I think I could have got that working perfectly with a few more years of experience. Fingers crossed, but I think the Goldwing should be pretty easy to complete and tune.

 

[zman]

There was a guy over on NGWF that did that.
https://www.ngwclub.com/forum/viewtopic. ... l+injected

 

[thesteve]

His was interesting. He welded up adapters to have rubber tubing connecting the throttle bodies to the GL1100 plenum. He's also not running a fuel rail and relying solely on o rings to hold those pressurized injectors in. Not saying he's wrong for doing it that way, but that's a risk I wouldn't want to take.

User socrace on that same forum had a cool build: https://www.ngwclub.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=47&t=25983

He took the GL1200 plenum and throttles and chopped .6" from the middle to mate it to the 1100 engine. This is the route I think I'm going to attempt.

 

[zman]

Sucks not being able to ride, maybe get those carbs working then you can gather the parts for the FI. The squirters need to work on all 4 or you will get a hesitation, the idle jets have the extra gas squirt factored into the design, there is also a little screen under the float needle seat that needs cleaned but gently because they can be fragile and need checked for breaks in the screens, these screens protect the accelerator pump jets from being clogged.
On to the pump jets they are tiny, I used an electric motors brush spring unraveled to poke debris from mine, it was the only think small and sturdy enough to clear the jet.
The cutoff valves there was a post just the other day that explains them ver well.
viewtopic.php?f=26&t=10354

 

[thesteve]

Eh, I'm in no rush here. I've got a 2014 FJR1300 as well. This was more of a project to keep my hands busy. I don't have enough garage space for a project car, so I thought I'd build another old bike instead.

I did check those screens. They all looked brand new. I wonder if I didn't get the accel pump jets fully clear. That would probably cause some issues.

 

[zman]

Seems to me the 2 working may shoot more fuel but there is a spring on the plunger that provides some regulation, I would have to think non working would cause some problems, maybe that is why so much frustration when people rebuild them and do not pay attention to the accelerator pump circuit but I have to admit I am new to these carbs and GL`s,
I knew after the first carburetor rebuild failure I had on mine, I wasn't going to repeat it.
Some more information, there is a straw that fits between the two plenum halves that acts as a restrictor to make all 4 spray the same amount, on my carbs the straw was placed in the oval hole instead of the round hole where it belongs, just never know what a rack of carbs have been through.

 

[thesteve]

zman » Today, 6:22 pm[/url]":2vtf49sd]
on my carbs the straw was placed in the oval hole instead of the round hole where it belongs

Hmm. I might need to check that. I may have done the same.

Either way, EFI parts are on the way. But at least if I can get these carbs working I can probably sell them.

 

[zman]

If you decide to tackle it I used that special wire and clipped it to hemostat short so the wire didn't bend easily and went through the vacuum cap area to reach them, after I used a rubber hose on a blow gun to flush backwards any debris, the hose was just big enough to cover the nozzle and seat on the carb body so the air had no place to go but backwards into the nozzle.
Might try the blowgun first but mine were pretty clogged, real tiny nozzle they have.