First start in 10 years

[fabiostar]

Thanks

Btw., is this the throttle responsiveness setting!? (See pic)

If so, how does it work? I didn’t even look at this while I was cleaning the carbs, but have just read that it plays a part in tuning up, alongside TPS (which I did do) and the pilot screws..

That screw is the adjuster for synchronising the carbs when you balance them,

Chris.

iv just looked at that again with my specks on lol..... and yes that is indeed what its for really must get to specks are us lol

[Donut 77]

Oh I see. I have found these on eBay for £15

Is this a straight forward job or a real faff?

It’s going in to HONDA for MOT anyway.

How frequently would they need balancing? I don’t want to keep buying tools that I won’t use again.

Cheers.

[MacV2]

Technically you should balance the carbs anytime you remove them or do any adjustments.

[AMCQ46]

Look in the knowledge base section and you will find a write up on how to balance the carbs

[fabiostar]

Oh I see. I have found these on eBay for £15

Is this a straight forward job or a real faff?

It’s going in to HONDA for MOT anyway.

How frequently would they need balancing? I don’t want to keep buying tools that I won’t use again.

Cheers.

thats the same set i have, they do the job, and i do mine every springtime after its winter slumber

[Donut 77]

Look in the knowledge base section and you will find a write up on how to balance the carbs

Right you are. I’m just reading your rather good write up now In your learned opinion, would a careful novice find the ball in a tube comparator easier than twitching gauges?

[MacV2]

Look in the knowledge base section and you will find a write up on how to balance the carbs

Right you are. I’m just reading your rather good write up now In your learned opinion, would a careful novice find the ball in a tube comparator easier than twitching gauges?

Depends on your eyesight...

[tony.mon]

The gauges don't twitch if you use a restrictor.

[Donut 77]

So today I had a play to try and solve the grumble at low revs - with the bike warm I had a go at tweaking the pilot screws (very awkward and very hot hand) also very hard to accurately do, but I’m learning a good process. I think they are happy somewhere near 2turns front, 2.5rear but it hasn’t totally solved the issue. Basically, from idle if I blip the throttle it stumbles briefly then catches up, as though the timing is momentarily off or something is slow to respond, or a lack of fuel - sometimes with a bit of a clanking sound, as though it’s missed a cycle? The revs also don’t return immediately- although it’s not really slow. If I throttle slowly then it’s fine. It had a couple of very mild pops/backfires at about 6-7k revs too.

Hopefully someone reading this might recognise the symptoms and point me in the right direction. There is a fuel smell too so I’m wondering if it’s too rich? Also, when I blip it the fuel light flickers on. Could it be residual dirt in the tank? I only put a gallon in and it’s the first fuel it’s had?

Appreciate and help.

[RodneyT]

Hi All
I'm having a bit of trouble getting a '97 Storm running that hasn't been run since at least 2017.
It came with a set of later carbs that were nice and clean inside and out. I put new jets, o-rings and gaskets in making sure I had the right ones in the right carbs and set the pilot jets to what was recommended earlier in this thread by fabiostar:
Front: 1 3/4 turns out
Rear: 2 turns out
and also put in new plugs. There is a good spark at both plugs.
The bike starts but only runs on the front cylinder. I tried adjusting the balance but the front cylinder sucked way more than the rear and the adjuster didn't seem to make any difference from fully out to fully in. Then tried adjusting the pilot jet butu that made no difference from fully out to fully in.
After about 5 minutes of faffing about, I pulled the plug and it wasn't wet - I would have expected it to be quite wet after that amount of not running.
Am now pulling the carbs apart again to make sure no passages are blocked - so far so good.
There is what looks like a jet or fuel passage in the float chamber but appears to be blocked off (arrowed) as I cannot blow air through either the front or rear one:

Should it be like that?

I didn't check the air valves and don't really want to separate the carbs if I can avoid it, but not sure what they do or how they work. Do i need to separate the carbs and check these?
Thanks in advance for any advice

[tony.mon]

Do you have fuel in both float bowls, and is it approximately the same level? i.e is there some, but it's not full up?

If so, I'd be checking compression.
If not, the vacuum operated fuel tap may not be flowing fuel correctly.

You did put the vacuum line on the 9 o'clock position on the fuel tap, didn't you? It's easy to make a rookie error and connect it to the drain spigot which points vertically down.

[RodneyT]

Thanks Tony
Yes, there was fuel in both float bowls and I have a little fuel tank rigged up so no vacuum needed.
I forgot to mention that I had previously checked the compressions and they were the same on both cylinders - about 160psi (after I'd squirted a bit of oil down the bore so it wouldn't be running the rings dry in the bores).
Ive got the rear carb apart and squirted carb cleaner down all the holes I could find and nothing seems to be blocked so far.

At this stage I just wanted to see if the motor would run and didn't make any horrible noises. From that perspective, theh motor's good so I can now carry on refurbishing the many things that need attending to.

[RodneyT]

Problem solved...now running on 2
After taking the carbs off and pulling them apart again it turned out to be a blocked fuel filter in one of the lines in the external fuel tank I had set up.
Yesterday when I tried to get it running it was the rear cylinder that wouldn't fire; today it was the front. There was fuel in the bowl, but obviously not enough. Further investigation highlighted the filter as the culprit.
anyway, it was a simple fix in the end and problem sorted so I can now move on to the million other things that need doing. I'll leave final tuning until I get some decent cans and airbox on.

[sirch345]

Problem solved...now running on 2
After taking the carbs off and pulling them apart again it turned out to be a blocked fuel filter in one of the lines in the external fuel tank I had set up.
Yesterday when I tried to get it running it was the rear cylinder that wouldn't fire; today it was the front. There was fuel in the bowl, but obviously not enough. Further investigation highlighted the filter as the culprit.
anyway, it was a simple fix in the end and problem sorted so I can now move on to the million other things that need doing. I'll leave final tuning until I get some decent cans and airbox on.

It's quite often the simpler things that catch us out

Glad you found the problem

Chris.