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Back in the saddle

4K views 36 replies 8 participants last post by  Low'n'slow 
#1 ·
Hello, thanks for welcoming me to this forum! I've recently acquired a 2004 V star 650 custom Silverado from my father in law, marking a series of firsts for me in my riding career. First Yamaha, first twin, and first biker newer than the 80s! My how the tech has changed! Most of my seat time was split between my 1978 Kawasaki kz650 (first bike) and my 1983 Honda v65 magna and 1984 v65 Sabre. Haven't ridden regularly in 5 years and have always wanted a twin. Couldn't turn this one down when the price came in at $600. I love the look and feel of this bike. This forum presented a wealth of knowledge that allowed me to get it on the road. It's not 100% yet but I'm close. So thanks for all your guys have done! Look forward to many miles and more knowledge on these awesome bikes!
 
#3 ·
Welcome from Columbus, OH! Lots of good info on this site and many helpful souls that will help get you and keep you on the road safely and quickly! As Deek said stop by often and explore the other threads! Plenty to see and do. I especially like the scavenger hunt. Makes riding that much more fun! Stay safe out there!
 
#4 ·
#6 ·
Thanks for the warm welcome y'all! I'm really excited to get back on the road. Spent the last weekend with the bike in the garage for the new owner maintenance and updates. So far I stepped the carbs completely down and cleaned them more thoroughly than last time, hopefully that will get the front cylinder to pick up and run right, did valve adjustments, eliminated the ais as I have Cobra exhaust on it, upgraded to iridium plugs, and once the carbs are reinstalled I'll be moving on to oil change, trans check and rear end inspection. Bearings are all good and the head is spot on. Tires aren't the best but they still have life left to them. Biggest issue I have right now is that the front cylinder cuts out under load. I'm hoping the carb work will fix that. I verified spark is good on both cylinders so I'm a bit stumped on that.
 
#7 ·
Sounds like you have some gunk in one of your jets or a small gasket/ o ring leak. You could try some Seafoam in the gas tank. If it runs good when idling or just going through the gears but stumbles during a good twist of the throttle sounds like a fuel delivery problem but one of the carb experts will be able to provide additional checks/ solutions. Sounds like you are on it! Good Luck!
 
#8 · (Edited)
Thanks Redbird, I went through the carbs once already, just kind of a down and dirty job and found plenty of grime in the slide rods and Jets, got those cleaned and the carbs "eyeball synched" and it was enough to finally get her to start. But after about a 1/4 mile or so the front was starting to cutout and by the end of the ride getting it to my place was basically not running, the exhaust was hot to the touch, but not as hot as the rear. And she smoothed out after a couple seconds at each stop. Not finding anything else and every search on the subject sent to a treatise into carb work I figured I'd tank them and rebuild them properly. There is a tremendous amount of plastic and rubber in these bad boys! But everything seems to be blowing through properly now. On reassembly one of my enrichener circuit caps broke the center. So not having a source of replacement I'm in the process of devconing it at work and then I'll try again tonight. Hopefully I'll have gotten all the crud out. The biggest issue I'm facing is that the bike sat idle for approximately five years before my father in law got it with ethenol in the carbs, then he ran it for two years with minimal work done to it, and over the course of the last year it's been tinkered with by him (who I trust as a mechanic) and my brother and brother in law (who I don't trust at all especially with carb work). Basically I'm undoing their work while trying to find what else got missed. It's fun!
 
#9 ·
when you get to the rear end / shaft drive, make sure you have the right 60% moly paste to lube the 4 - 5 splines

they dont need to be lubed for 100,000 miles, but people wipe off the good moly paste and put axle grease on the splines, and then they eat themselves within a few thousand miles

there is a paste made by Loctite, they call it an antiseize, but its the correct 60% moly mixture
 
#10 ·
when you get to the rear end / shaft drive, make sure you have the right 60% moly paste to lube the 4 - 5 splines
...
there is a paste made by Loctite, they call it an antiseize, but its the correct 60% moly mixture
Kcw, thanks! The old Honda's I had ran gear oil in the diff, and basic grease so I totally would have botched that up without ever realizing it! I have access to several loctite products, this antiseize would be the gray/black variety not the copper high temp correct?

I only ask because I have some of the copper at home already and wouldn't need to get anymore. I realize the copper would be serious over kill, because the drive system should never see those temps.
 
#11 ·
no the copper one is for putting on threads

the correct 60% moly paste for the drive shaft splines is more of a dark gray / silver

Loctite LB 8012, part number 51048. Its about $30 for an 8oz bottle on amazon.
 
#12 ·
Lb 8012 perfect, thanks! You literally probably just saved my butt!
 
#20 ·
welcome to the forum. I recently brought an '07 650 and, like you, been going thru the maintenance schedule. I did the shaft spline lube about 6 wks ago using the lube KCW recommends. I religiously followed the attached guide, 650 CC & D, and had the low speed creaking mentioned. After 3 attempts, I found another recommended step to take weight off the rear wheel before torquing to spec. Problem solved and just love the bike. Happy trails....ride safe!
 
#13 ·
So, I finished going through all the maintenance checks on the bike, it would seem that she had been really well cared for by my father-in-law and the folks he got it from. Everything looks new! Any way I got the carbs put back together and installed, after two priming cycles and a little fiddling with the choke I got her to start. She sounded great! ? I was testing the air coming out the tailpipes when I noticed a prodigious about of fuel streaming from the bike. Killed it and started scouring for the bolt I invariably missed tightening. The carbs are completely dry. The fuel was coming out the vent tube. �� And now I have to tear back into the floatbowls to adjust the float levels. ? Ah well, such is the joy of maintaining our hobby. So what have ya'll used as a float gauge with success? The book says there is a tool but I figured a clear fuel rated tube would work, am I wrong in this assumption?
 
#15 ·
You have my interest kcw, if the float is to low wouldn't it shut fuel off early and prevent the bowl from getting enough fuel so not enough to reach the vent? So how does it work that the fuel over flows in this situation? Where is my error?
 
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#17 · (Edited)
^ I had to think about whatDeek was saying -

yes if the float has a hole in it and fills up with gas, it wont float anymore - the inlet valve is open when the float is low

or if the float assembly is just crooked or the hinge is not moving freely it doesnt take much resistance for the float to...well not float in the bowl, so the valve never closes

if its adjusted way off it will do that too

Sometimes when a bike has sat for a while a float will stick open (low) and tapping on the float bowl with the handle of a screwdriver will knock it free.

but since this happened after you cleaned and assembled it, its not just stuck
 
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#18 ·
Ok so, given that they were just hand cleaned and inspected, and also that I verified movement, I'm left with either I missed some small bit that's preventing the needle to close, or I'm adjusted to high so that the float is resting against the top of the bowl and not closing the needle.

The book shows a tool that plugs into the bowl drains and is to be attached to the side of the fuel bowl for measuring what depth the fuel is inside. This setting is supposed to be about 7.5-8.5 mm deep, or about where the line is in the outside of the bowl cap. Has anyone made one, and if so what did you use?

I want to see where I'm at in each carb so I can see if it's one carb that's problematic or both, also so I can balance the fuel load between them for a more precise tune.
 
#19 · (Edited)
Holley and others sell small rulers for this. I have used just a small regular ruler marked in MM before. It needs to be close but as spec is 7.5mm to 8.5mm if your ruler has 8mm on it you are good.



I use one similar to below, any hardwood store will have one.

 
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#22 ·
Thanks les and dmil, I have a Holley rebuild kit in the shop I should be able to rob that ruler from, I typically swap my Holley fuel bowls for center hung bowls anyway which negates the need for a ruler. ?

Dmil I've never had the low speed creaking, but as I'm doing the maintenance on a motorcycle jack I should have prevented that issue from cropping up. Thanks for the heads up on that issue so I can prevent it in the future.

And because I can I took a few pics of the bike last night and figured you guys would like a peak at the Lil lady.
 

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#24 ·
Dmil I've never had the low speed creaking, but as I'm doing the maintenance on a motorcycle jack I should have prevented that issue from cropping up. Thanks for the heads up on that issue so I can prevent it in the future.
my first comment wasn't very clear. The final recommended step was to eliminate the suspended weight of the rear wheel by letting it lightly rest on the ground before final torquing of all bolts. That's what eliminated the "creaking" noise for me. Good luck. hope you are riding soon.
 
#23 ·
I'm sure you will get it going. Patience and ask more questions if needed. I'm pretty good at carbs and can normally assist in getting them right. Noticed MIG welder and cut-off saw in background. That tell me you are mechanically inclined so I'm sure you'll be on the road in no time.
 
#25 ·
Thanks for the encouragement y'all! Lesblank, I have had a decent career in autobody and custom Fab, as well as a mechanic, I love working carbs, but normally tend towards Holley style and so find the cross over parts that make things like float bowl adjustment much easier!

So around 12am last night I finally got her ridable! Took her on a test drive of about 5 miles, and lemme tell you, it was chilly! But I now have both cylinders during, and no fuel spillage! I still have some fine tuning to do, but the next step is putting a couple thanks through her with seafoam and waking the old girl up!
 
#26 ·
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#28 ·
I love Holley carbs they are intuitive and you can dial in a gnats ass if you have the patience for it! Very versatile design. I have a Barry Grant demon 650 going into my 68 Torino 302 when I get the time to work on it. Glad to see I'm not the only Holley nut!
 
#27 ·
Well I took her to work today, then for a bit of a scenic route home. She started decent this morning, but at work was a little sluggish to kick off.

So here's where I'm sitting. In order to get her to run decent, I had to go to 4 turns out on the pms, which is too much, so why am I still getting a lean run condition, when with the same setup neither my father-in-law or the gal he bought the bike from had this issue? I had to remove the pms plugs, so no one has messed with them before me.

She's got stock carbs and Jets. What I believe are Cobra pipes, aftermarket duals anyways. And a k&n direct replacement filter. In an effort to kill the back fire I did the ais delete as well.
 
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#29 ·
You are correct, PMS screws should not be that far out. The PMS screws richen up the mixture at low throttle opening. Since you are a Holley guy, think Holley idle air bleed screws are PSM screws. The pilot jets works at under 1/2 throttle opening, think accelerator pump on Holley. In picture below throttle valve cutaway = Pilot Jets. Are you sure all the holes in pilot jets were clean? It's easy to miss the holes is side of jets. Did you take off the top and slides off Carb? If you did it's easy to lose the small oring that goes in that will cause a lean condition. If it was me, pull carbs, check pilot jets, check oring under Carb top. Go 2.5 - 2.75 turns out on PMS.





 
#31 ·
Thanks for the heads up, I didn't take the needles apart, but I did put them out. Come to think of it, I really should have gone ahead and checked those out as I'm not the first to rebuild these carbs since it last ran. Thanks for the heads up, I'll let you know there progress
 
#32 ·
Sweet build there les! I'm hoping for a 331 or 347 stroker when it's time to rebuild my lower end.
 
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