Don't get the carb cleaner on the rubber parts,it pulls the oils from the rubber and makes them brittle, example: the diaphragms you didn't remove.. My experience was that the idle circuit passages are usually what gets clogged, if you look at the engine side of the carburator barrels you will see some small holes (open the butterflies) these are the ones. Though if you have the carbs off the bike anyway you should probably take the time to remove the float bowls and clean the main and slow jets too. The best way to clean these passages is to remove the pilot jet screws (turn in to LIGHTLY SEATED first recording the # turns), and the choke plungers, then alternate shooting carb cleaner with compressed air, until you are satisfied that air/fluid shoots out of all of them equally well. Make sure you wear eye protection as the liquid can get you in the face real easy. If you can't get fluid to squirt out of these holes then you will need to soak the carbs which will require a full tear down, and that is a bit of work. also if you remove them from the bar you will have to completely re-sync them. I have read that cooking them in a crock pot full of pinesol or lemon juice on low, does wonders and won't destroy the rubber/plastic parts, but I have never tried it.
Oh yea, empty the tank of the old crud gas, clean the petcock (look for rust particles as you may have to clean/seal you're tank), replace any inline filters, get a can of seafoam and run that through you're first tank of fresh fuel, and put in some seafoam/stabil if you are not going to run the bike for more than two weeks. Thats my recommendations anyway, Welcome to the group, and post some pictures! On Thu, Jan 6, 2011 at 5:51 PM, Dustin Mcclure <[email protected]>wrote: > I just purchased a 1984 Nighthawk 700S from my brother in-law. I > was aware when I started looking at the bike that it was not running > so I had a friend of my parents, who just happens to be a Honda > motorcycle mechanic, come and look at the bike. He told me it just > sounded like the carbs need to be cleaned. So, last night I removed > and disassembled the carbs(except for the diaphragms) and I just > picked up some carb cleaner today along with a bottle of sea foam. > > I am not really too much of a mechanic but I understand the > general function of the carburetors. I was just wondering if anyone > would be able to tell me of any specific passageways that get clogged > easier than others on these carbs. Is there anything I should pay > close attention to? The reason I am asking is because the carburetors > are really not all that dirty. > > A little more information on the bike. When my brother in-law > bought it the bike ran perfectly(that was within the last year and a > half). It seems like it just slowly went down hill until it wouldn't > start. I have already disassembled the petcock on the bike and cleaned > it too. The bike turns over fine it just won't fire up. Any > information would be very helpful. > > Thanks. > > Dustin. > > -- > 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]<nighthawk_lovers%[email protected]> > . > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/nighthawk_lovers?hl=en. > > -- 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.
