How to fix a rough running carburetor- the easy way!

This is my very simple guide to repairing rough running carburetors on old Gold Wings. This four carb pack can seem like a nightmare but it can be fixed to run like a champ in 2 simple steps.

Step 1. Make sure that you don't have an electrical problem.

As you know I had just that as evidenced by my first long trip on the naked wing. The bike ran really rough and would not stay running because the charging system wasn't working. To fix this issue I turned to the world leader in Old Gold Wings, Randakk's Cycle Shakk. www.randakks.com

On his blog there is a complete guide for testing the charging system. It has tests for the stator, rectifier, regulator and battery. I spent about 30 minutes testing continuity on the different components and found that they should all work.

I also found that one of the yellow wires from the stator to the rectifier had arced out and melted the wire. From what I've read arching happens when there is a poor connection. To avoid another 'bad' connection, I broke the harness apart (it was already melted) and reconnected each of the wires separately.

* before destroying the harness, mark your wires.

I cleaned up all the original connectors, except for the burnt one which I replaced, with electrical cleaner and a small wire brush. before connecting them I gave them a good coating of dielectric grease. I pre cut some small sections of heat shrink tubing and slid it over the wires.

Here is an up close look at the connections. The tubing should keep the connections sealed and together. If I ever need to switch the rectifier out it won't be too hard to cut the tubing off. Easier than splicing short wires.

The bike started right up. I took it straight to Auto Zone and had the guy there put his load tester on it. results: 13.4V at 1,250 rpms. I believe that it should make 14.1V somewhere between 3000 and 4000 rpms but I didn't rev it up to test it.

While at the Auto Zone I asked the guy if he knew anyone who was good at adjusting carbs. I still had a little lope on the low end between idle and about 2500 rpms. He recommended a guy named Geoff at Red Rock ATV. www.facebook.com/RedRockATV 

I made a call and then jumped on the bike to take it out to him. It ran like a champ.

Before I got off the bike he met me outside with a set of vacuum gauges (and a truck load of complements on how good the bike looks). Made one tiny adjustment to the left side. Tested the right. Rolled the throttle and... YOU'VE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!!!

No lope, hesitation, hiccup, nothing. Screaming Fast throttle response. If he wasn't a dude I would have kissed him. I asked him how much it would be and he wouldn't take payment. He said that he didn't do anything. (My aching back) I told him to at least take it for a ride up the highway. Reluctantly he did and the first words out of his mouth were, "That's stupid fast!". Yes it is.

Lest you think I've forgotten.

Step 2. Take it to Geoff at Red Rock

Not only is he good at what he does, but he has a genuine interest in the bikes he works on. He recognizes the work that goes into bikes like mine. He has bought and repaired several older bikes and shares the vision that us builder/riders only know. He can also order most anything for these older bikes. No more bone yard salvaging.

I told you it was an easy fix to your worst carburetor issues. 

Wind Chill Chart

Image from:

www.megamotormadness.com

How cold is too cold to ride? I don't mean polar bear riding either. I mean at what temperature can a guy reasonably dressed get the bike out and enjoy a ride? I looked to NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) to find out. 
With a name like that you shouldn't be surprised when you see this whiz-bang formula for figuring out how to calculate wind chill:
New Wind Chill T(wc) = 35.74 + 0.6215T - 35.75(V^0.16) + 0.4275T(V^0.16) where T(wc) is the Wind Chill in degrees F, V is the Wind Speed in MPH, and T is the temperature in degrees F.

Well... I'm a dumb motorcycle rider so my suggestion is to just follow this link back to NOAA and plug it in their calculator.

http://www.crh.noaa.gov/ddc/?n=windchill

Or you can look below.

Riding Speed (MPH)	Air Temperature (degrees F)
	45	50	55	60	65	70	75	80	85	90	95	100
50	33	40	47	54	61	68	75	83	90	97	104	111
55	32	40	47	54	61	68	75	83	90	97	104	111
60	32	39	46	54	61	68	75	82	90	97	104	111
65	32	39	46	53	61	68	75	82	90	97	104	112
70	31	38	46	53	60	68	75	82	90	97	104	112
75	31	38	46	53	60	68	75	82	90	97	104	112

I took the liberty of extending out the scale on NOAA's site to riding speeds and warmer temperatures. If you would like a copy of this in either PDF or Excell just leave a comment with an email address and I'll send it to you. Blogger is very limited on what I can post. Or at least I'm not smart enough to do it.

You'll notice that at 75 degrees the scale levels off and above that it actually climbs. If it ever gets warm I'll have to remember to stay hydrated while I ride.

What Crash Bars Are Suppose To Look Like

 Here is the long awaited follow up from the last post. My beautiful wife found a set of Hondaline crash bars and gave them to me for Christmas. They are quite difficult to find as I mentioned before. After seeing all the other ugly crash bars it is easy to see why these are hard to find.

 Because we finally had warm weather I got the naked wing out today and finally put them on. You'll notice that I decided to remove the air dams from either side of the radiator. I wanted to open the front end up a little more. I like the look without them.

You can tell from the pictures that the bike is running. It didn't take too much to get her started as I keep the bike on a float charger all winter and added Stabil to the fuel. It idled rough for about 10 minutes and then finally warmed up and burned out the skunky fuel.

I had to stretch her legs a little so I went for the first ride of the season. It ended up being a very short ride. There is a long stretch of two lane out by our airport that was repaved last year and rarely has any traffic. Just because I can, I opened up the throttle on the stretch.

This is what I found out:

4th Gear + 7000 RPM's = 100 MPH

I just touched 100 and then shifted out as she was showing no signs of stopping. Red line is 8000-9000 but I didn't want to touch it. No need to really.

When I bought these bikes the previous owner told me that "the '78 always ran hotter than the '79.". Well, he wasn't just a kidd'n. That naked wing is sporty.

So the short part of the ride came after racing down the strip a second time and as I slowed to stop and check the bike over.....it died! I rested it for a few minutes wondering if it was just hot, but it appears that the charging gremlins are not going away. Weird I know!

To Be Continued: Busted Rectifier