Hey everyone, just figured I would share my recent findings regarding an air leak so hopefully it will help someone else resolve the problem faster.
My bike is an 83 NH650. It's been losing power at higher speeds, especially when it's windy/gusty out. It pretty much forces me to draft a truck or suv to go faster than 60mph so that the engine runs smoother. At first I thought it was an exhaust gasket problem, because I hadn't gotten new gaskets when putting on a new exhaust (bought the bike with a busted up 4 into 1 and was able to find a 550 exhaust for a good deal locally that worked out with some minor modification of mounting points). I finally got new gaskets and was still having problems. So then I looked at the carb boots where they connect to the airbox. I had applied Permatex "The Right Stuff" gasket maker around the connection, because they weren't fitting well from being old and I noticed that some of the gasket was coming off at one point. I removed the old gasket maker and cleaned/re-applied. Still I was losing power, so I finally sprayed some carb cleaner at different points, and the engine changed rpm when I sprayed by the air filter housing cover, so I was like "aha". I put gasket sealer around the groove for the air filter housing cover, but still losing power in the wind. Then I sprayed it on the seam of the air filter housing (The filter housing is made from two pieces of plastic put together), and sure enough, the rpm's changed. So last night, I put some gasket make on the seam, at least the parts i could reach just by removing the side covers. This morning's commute was sweet ! There's still a little leak in the wind/high speed, but it was like 70% better. I wasn't able to reach the seam all the way around, so this weekend I'm going to seal the rest of the seam, and I believe my air leak problems will be fixed. I'll report back on the results. Keith . . . -- 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.
