Been working on the last few bits and now she runs. The carbs were the worst for dried up hard crud I have ever seen. I had soaked the jets in 3 bond for over a week and still could not get a wire through them. Ended up carefully drilling them out by hand. Even the needles were stuck in the needle jets. Someone had the bright idea to make new gaskets for the fuel bowls (instead of fitting new O rings). New needles fitted. Set the float height to maximum as the needle tips will seat a little. The cleaned, sealed and lubricated carbs ready to fit.
With the carbs on, new hoses, filter and clips I put some fuel in a tin hanging from the roof and hit the starter. Was very reluctant to fire until I put a teaspoon of fuel down each carb but it ran and soon cleared. Put the vacuum gauges on and got all carbs the same, leaned out the idle mixture until the engine happy and reset the gauges again to get a nice smooth idle. Engine is quiet and got up to temp quickly, fan came on and cooled down, all gears select and clutch good. Fitted all the panels and tank and rolled out of shed. Needs a good clean to get all the finger marks off and will be ready for a test ride.
Looks showroom new. Some restorations look better than new, and you know it's been restored, yours looks genuine. Very nice!
Bike is now registered and on the road. Still needs some fine tuning of the carbs (surprise, surprise) but goes well and sits on road good. Even pretty comfortable for an old bloke too.
Great work on a beautiful machine. Good thing for my bank account that you're too far away from me. I'd be waving crazy, stupid money at you!
As I like to run the carbs dry when the bike is not going to be used for a while I was having trouble getting fuel back into the carbs when next wanting to ride. I bought a fuel pump same as the MC-19 uses and went about fitting it. I pressure tested the pump and it will hold a steady 2 psi. I made a bracket from 1.6mm mild steel shaped to fit between the frame and battery and used a piece of old conveyor belt rubber which I sanded into a shape to fit the pump and glued to the steel bracket. I took a 12v positive wire from the 'on' side of the ignition switch to a relay and 12v power from the battery to the relay to pump. This was so the pump would work when I switched the bike on but not have power to the pump all the time. I put both earth wires (pump and relay) to a frame bolt. Some 8mm hose and a new filter finished the plumbing. I Sikaflexed the relay to the flasher relay as it was rubber mounted and two large zip tie's holding the pump to the rubber on the bracket. I turned the key and pump 'ticka ticka ed' for about 20 seconds to fill the fuel bowls, one touch of starter and engine running. Found an excuse to go for a ride and all good with no leaks or flooding. The 'bogging' that was there before hadn't changed so after cooling down I put the bike back on the table and lifted the carb tops to drop the needles. Not going to happen as they are fixed height but badly worn. New needles and needle jets on the way. This should be the last time I need to look inside these carbs (famous last words?).
Hahaha, there is no such thing as 'the last time' with carbs - it's just a matter of time Still take carbs over fuel injection though, once an injector or fuel pump dies it's game over
I'm surprised you didn't try turning down the top hat on the needle's .5mm on your lathe to drop them. Replacing them would be better though especially if the needle jets are worn too.
I would have done just that but the wear in the shaft and jets is too much and would be a waste of time. Will wait for the new bits.
With the new jets/needles and a bit more running it has improved considerably. Have been for a few runs with VJMC club and took to local display day in town.
I'm assuming this work was done before I rode it on my last visit? It got up and went then, so any improvement on that would be unreal!
In my efforts to make space in my shed, it has come time for the CBR to move to a new caring owner. I will be taking it to the VJMC national rally in Toowoomba in May and will be putting the 'for sale' sign out. Looking for around $5,000.