SMLE
Member
This is going to take a while, either get a cup of coffee, or put on your jammies and get ready to fall asleep in your chair.
So a couple of moths ago, Irma, my '76 GL1000, started having some "issues". She would lug and hesitate, and chug and then backfire and take off like a shot. I started trying to track them down, and after going through the ignition system, I was left with carburation. I started chasing carb gremlins with limited success. I cleaned idle circuits, I replaced the fuel pump, fuel filter and fuel lines. Some of it seemed to help, but the problem persisted and started getting worse. So I made up my mind that I would do a full carburetor tear down and clean. I started getting all my ducks in a row to do it really right. Every payday, I would order a couple of more parts. I went to Randakk's page and read tech tips until I was cross eyed. Finally, last week, I had all my parts and supplies in place. I got four #60 air jets and modified them per Randakk's tech tip to fix the "off idle glitch". I also got four #4 stainless flat washers to fix the '77 carb's "mid range flat spot". And of course, I got four Honda OEM float valves and an OEM fuel filter too.
Tuesday night, I took the carbs off and started the tear down process. Wednesday night, I began the serious cleaning process. I was working on the carb top domes when I got my first real kick in the head. The first 3 went fine and I got the carb tops and constant velocity slides working like glass. Then I started the top for #4 carb. As I applied compressed air to blow off the brake cleaner, the plastic center at the top of the dome popped out in pieces. As I stood there cussing, I realized that I had found my carb gremlin. The top had been cracked and creating a vacuum leak in a critical part of the carburation system. I had solved one issue, but now had another. Where the heck am I gonna find a new carb top?
A real carb gremlin caught on camera.
I went to work the next morning hoping we had one laying around in one of the sheds, but no luck. Then one of our regular customers came in and knowing that he had a large parts stash, I asked him. He said he would look, and sure enough he had a couple. I went to his house and picked one up. Thursday night, I finished the cleaning and did almost all of the reassembly. The only parts I didn't put on were the carb tops and intake runners. I had plans for them...
Carb top before buffing...
Intake runners before buffing...
I had spoken to a gentleman the previous weekend and made arrangements to use his buffing wheel set up. Friday afternoon, I went over to his place and spent a couple of hours bent over the buffing machinery. I started with black rouge, then red, then white and finished with green. Irma's parts looked like chrome
I went home that afternoon and began the reinstall. That started out ok, but then I discovered that one of the screws that holds the air cut-off valve in place had gone missing. Following a trip to Home Depot to get a replacement, I got back to it. By that time the sun was down, so i rigged as work light and pressed on. I swore that Irma would run before I went to bed if I had of stay awake all weekend. Getting the throttle cables re-attached caused me to use a lot of "Anglo-Saxon" words you can't print in the newspaper. But finally, around 21:00 I hit the started and Irma rumbled to life and sat there idling smoothly. I let her warm up, then attached the carburetor synchronizing gear. My boss let me borrow the fancy digital carb sync unit from work. I started her up and the left side carbs, #2 & #4 were dead on with each other. #1 & #3 were only slightly off and the left and right sides were off a little. With some patient tweaking, I got all 4 carbs synced in a perfect line of lights across the front of the sync machine. Feeling quite happy and suddenly refreshed by my success, I grabbed up my tools and tossed them on the work bench. I figured I'd put them away the next day. Now, I was going for a ride!
I grabbed my gear and hit the road. I got on I25 South bound at Caesar Chavez and let her roll. Just past the Broadway off ramp, the freeway curves to the right, then there is the on ramp. A couple of cars were getting on the freeway, so I moved to the left lane and rolled on some throttle to get clear of them. I suddenly had the speedometer needle pointing horizontally to the right side of the meter. 130mph indicated! Irma was running smooth as glass well "over the ton". I rolled off and took the Isleta exit back North to the house. I slept VERY well that night.
So a couple of moths ago, Irma, my '76 GL1000, started having some "issues". She would lug and hesitate, and chug and then backfire and take off like a shot. I started trying to track them down, and after going through the ignition system, I was left with carburation. I started chasing carb gremlins with limited success. I cleaned idle circuits, I replaced the fuel pump, fuel filter and fuel lines. Some of it seemed to help, but the problem persisted and started getting worse. So I made up my mind that I would do a full carburetor tear down and clean. I started getting all my ducks in a row to do it really right. Every payday, I would order a couple of more parts. I went to Randakk's page and read tech tips until I was cross eyed. Finally, last week, I had all my parts and supplies in place. I got four #60 air jets and modified them per Randakk's tech tip to fix the "off idle glitch". I also got four #4 stainless flat washers to fix the '77 carb's "mid range flat spot". And of course, I got four Honda OEM float valves and an OEM fuel filter too.
Tuesday night, I took the carbs off and started the tear down process. Wednesday night, I began the serious cleaning process. I was working on the carb top domes when I got my first real kick in the head. The first 3 went fine and I got the carb tops and constant velocity slides working like glass. Then I started the top for #4 carb. As I applied compressed air to blow off the brake cleaner, the plastic center at the top of the dome popped out in pieces. As I stood there cussing, I realized that I had found my carb gremlin. The top had been cracked and creating a vacuum leak in a critical part of the carburation system. I had solved one issue, but now had another. Where the heck am I gonna find a new carb top?
A real carb gremlin caught on camera.
I went to work the next morning hoping we had one laying around in one of the sheds, but no luck. Then one of our regular customers came in and knowing that he had a large parts stash, I asked him. He said he would look, and sure enough he had a couple. I went to his house and picked one up. Thursday night, I finished the cleaning and did almost all of the reassembly. The only parts I didn't put on were the carb tops and intake runners. I had plans for them...
Carb top before buffing...
Intake runners before buffing...
I had spoken to a gentleman the previous weekend and made arrangements to use his buffing wheel set up. Friday afternoon, I went over to his place and spent a couple of hours bent over the buffing machinery. I started with black rouge, then red, then white and finished with green. Irma's parts looked like chrome
I went home that afternoon and began the reinstall. That started out ok, but then I discovered that one of the screws that holds the air cut-off valve in place had gone missing. Following a trip to Home Depot to get a replacement, I got back to it. By that time the sun was down, so i rigged as work light and pressed on. I swore that Irma would run before I went to bed if I had of stay awake all weekend. Getting the throttle cables re-attached caused me to use a lot of "Anglo-Saxon" words you can't print in the newspaper. But finally, around 21:00 I hit the started and Irma rumbled to life and sat there idling smoothly. I let her warm up, then attached the carburetor synchronizing gear. My boss let me borrow the fancy digital carb sync unit from work. I started her up and the left side carbs, #2 & #4 were dead on with each other. #1 & #3 were only slightly off and the left and right sides were off a little. With some patient tweaking, I got all 4 carbs synced in a perfect line of lights across the front of the sync machine. Feeling quite happy and suddenly refreshed by my success, I grabbed up my tools and tossed them on the work bench. I figured I'd put them away the next day. Now, I was going for a ride!
I grabbed my gear and hit the road. I got on I25 South bound at Caesar Chavez and let her roll. Just past the Broadway off ramp, the freeway curves to the right, then there is the on ramp. A couple of cars were getting on the freeway, so I moved to the left lane and rolled on some throttle to get clear of them. I suddenly had the speedometer needle pointing horizontally to the right side of the meter. 130mph indicated! Irma was running smooth as glass well "over the ton". I rolled off and took the Isleta exit back North to the house. I slept VERY well that night.
