So I finally pulled the carbs on my bike... I was having problems with gas overflowing into the airbox, bucking, and it wouldn't idle after I sprayed carb cleaner into the fuel line. Plugs were black and sooty, but dry. Sounded weak as all hell too. There was also a failed helicoiled bolt on the cylinder head cover that was spurting oil...hopefully not related to my current issues...(?)
I recently got the chance to move my bike into my apartment, and it's been sitting there...quietly judging me ever since. So today I decided to just bite the bullet and tear off the &*...@#$*& carbs. This is my first foray into motorcycle repair, the most I have done before this is replace my inline fuel filter and uh, polish the chrome... They came off pretty much without indecent, a bit sticky, but I was eventually able to pull them free from the boots by using the rubber covered handle of a framing hammer wedged between the cooling fins and the carbs as a kind of fulcrum. No damage to the boots either, which I was kind of expecting. Hopefully they won't crack putting the carbs back on... Here they are: http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3321/3547312444_085629d553.jpg Much cleaner than I expected (note how filthy the filter is though), but I noticed when I was pulling them off that there was only one fuel line connected on the bottom to the automatic fuel cock. Odd. Anyone know why these lines would be disconnected? Should I leave it that way? Speaking of, how does this thing come apart? It has a rubber diaphragm connected to both sides like an accordion with a steel ring in the middle... Should I just yank them apart? Here are the floats: http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3610/3546511105_8e67541abd.jpg Pretty clean. Unfortunately, there is no way to adjust the floats on the Nighthawk so if they are off I need to buy new ones. Still waiting for my float measuring tool to arrive, so not too concerned about this now. The Main and needle jets were also pretty clear, but I gave them a good soak in carb cleaner and blew them out with compressed air just to make sure. I didn't make note of how many turns it took to take them out though...will this lead to problems when I reassemble? (I did mark the level of the pilot screws with gaffers tape though which I thought was pretty damn clever...seemed a bit more precise than counting turns...) Then I tried to blow out the air jets with carb cleaner, but couldn't really tell if they were clogged or not. Is there any way to make sure they are not partially plugged up? Pipe cleaners? When I sprayed into them some carb cleaner did dribble out on the bottom...Should I be looking for a Berryman's geyser here? Also, how do I tell if the slow jets are clear? Do I have to pull them out? How do I check to see if the needle valves are worn? They looked shiny and kind of new, with a sharp rubber tip... Next step is to soak the whole bank in simple green, but I am unsure if I should separate them before I do this. Will simple green weaken the rubber connectors between the carbs? So there we have it. Thrown into the fire. I have a ton of other questions, but I think this is enough for one post...and hopefully will get me closer to getting this running right. It was kind of nerve wracking taking out all those tiny, fragile parts, but much, much easier than I expected. I used my Clymer as the service manual on this site wasn't Nighthawk specific. Pretty easy to follow. I have all my parts separated in an egg carton (except for the jets...I pulled them all at once and dunked them in carb cleaner together.) so I'm hoping there won't be any issues on reassembly. --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Nighthawk Motorcycle Lovers!" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/nighthawk_lovers?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
