superhawk996

Does it become uselessly mushy from just sitting or only while riding? If only when riding it could be a warped rotor pushing the pads back, or maybe a caliper mounting issue. If it does it just sitting I would start by checking to make sure there's not a vacuum in the reservoir. Remove the fill cap and diaphragm, pump up the brake, close it up, then see.

Look at the hose, hoses if still linked, while pressing the pedal just to make sure it's not defective and bulging somewhere. Did it suddenly get mushy or slowly deteriorate? Is it uselessly mushy or just a little soft? Still linked? Did you do any adjusting to the pedal linkage when you did the hoses?

It's rare to have just a mushy pedal from a bad master. Maybe if the cylinder is pitted or otherwise damaged just in the first part of engagement and that cylinder damage hasn't damaged the seals...unlikely. You could have air in the master which can sometimes be hard to get out. Pressing the caliper pistons in will usually do it. Also, leave the cap loose 'till you pump the pistons back out so you don't make a vacuum in the reservoir. You might have an issue with the linked system but I haven't had one in so long I don't remember the plumbing.

I have that same system and same conundrum with noise, but I don't find it loud compared to other aftermarket systems. If not for the weight loss and performance gain I'd go right back to stock, but it's a tough battle for me. My certified and calibrated assometer registered a solid power gain above 5-6k and a bit of a loss below 4k. I don't have any hands on with your carb thoughts, but they sound solid and what I'd probably do if nothing better came about. Jet kits...I'm kinda tossed on them. They generally seem to be overly rich. I planned on installing a tuner on mine ('01) just haven't gotten 'round to it. "After some ride time I think midrange actually improved." This makes no sense as there's nothing about the bike that would adapt to the exhaust system so it's probably just your feel. I would expect it to have more power in the mid-upper range as mine did when I went to the RS3, but yours is a different bike. When I gutted the muffler on my Duc I expected a similar response, less bottom end and more top. I was shocked when it started quicker and idled better both hot and cold. It also seemed to have more power throughout the range.

My first thoughts are oil or an epoxy, but I don't know shit about this stuff.

Also consider checking the law if you wanna be compliant. In the US there are ordinances and/or zoning rules on height, flag size, location, etc. and you could be fined and/or forced to remove it if it's not compliant. In my area it requires a complaint to get looked at, but in some places the enforcement people drive around looking for stuff.

Nope, ain't gotta. Yea, I get what you were trying to say and many people use the stuff. Many people use antibiotics when they get the sniffles. And many people use pain meds the moment they have any discomfort. While Seafoam hasn't been proven harmful AFAIK, it's a product thats not proven to do what it's supposed to do. I fixed an oil burning motor with odorless mineral spirits. If I'd had seafoam sitting around I might have used it instead and it would have added to the credibility of the stuff. Based on my test I would say OMS is the problem solver. I used it because it seemed like the logical solution of the options I had on hand for what I suspected was causing the oil burn.

I know that 99% of us don't put that stuff in our bikes.

I'm not saying seafoam will hurt a Honda or any other motor, tho it might, just saying I don't think it's all that great. Having sample bottles of water infused gas with additives on the shelf with nails, while I do applaud your test, is no indication of what they'll do when burned in a motor. It's only a loose representation of what your gas tank and other steel fuel system parts will do. In America most of us have E10 and ethanol holds a fair bit of water in suspension and has it's own ups & downs. It also changes the 'needs' and usefulness of fuel additives. Most of the "proof" videos and photos I've seen of seafoam is the smoking tailpipes "proving" it's burning off residue in an engine....hogwash. The shit will make smoke when burned no matter what the condition of an engine is. Any product that resorts to lies as proof is junk 'till proven otherwise. My guess is that the shit is closely related to diesel fuel. It's also questionable when an additive claims to work wonders in gasoline, diesel fuel, and crankcase oil.

If the filter gets black on the underside it could be related. If it's getting black only on the top it's just whatever's in the air.

First off, disengaged is the same as clutch lever pulled. Engaged is lever out. It may seem like nit-picking, but using the wrong words can cause issues when getting help. It's fairly common to have some 'marbles' with the clutch engaged (lever out) at idle, but if everything is perfect you wouldn't have any really obvious noise. I suggest draining the seafoam or running it out and see if it's still rough once you have just clean gas in the tank. Seafoam is more like diesel fuel than gasoline, don't judge the motor's running characteristics while it's running on seafoam or any other snake oil. 3 months shouldn't clog carbs. Edit: Don't run any cleaning additives that have no OEM approval. Technon and Yamaha RIngFree, which seem to be the same thing but with different concentrations, are the only cleaning additives I use. Both are OE approved by different engine manufacturers and I've seen the evidence to support their use. No engine manufacturer supports seafoam.

If you want them clean I'd suggest putting the shop vac on the exhaust pipe rather than trying to suck it up at at then head. If you have duals plug one and stick the vac to the other. Using the vac at the head you'll most likely have stuff flying around and some will fall into the head. With the vac on the exhaust poke a soft wire into those grungy ports to clear them.

Casting would probably be more work than just forming and welding. Could use steel, stainless, or aluminum, generally done with aluminum. You could also use fiberglass or carbon fiber. I suggested possibly reinforcing the stock airbox and reiterate that, I think it would be a cheap easy solution and you're using a design that's known to flow well. Incorporating a charge air cooler in place of the filter would be cool.

The wiring might be there for a factory CC, check on an XJ forum; I use cherokeeforum.com. If so it should be easier than installing an aftermarket. You could get new parts from a dealer or go to eBay, junkyard, CL, forums, etc. for the parts. Mine has an exact matching wheel, didn't know they came with compact spares. Mine's pretty well loaded, Laredo, so maybe it was an upgrade option. The lug pattern is 5 on 4 1/2", same as older fords and many others so there's lots of options, just need to be sure the offset is the same or at least really close. You can get an exact matching wheel at a junkyard, CL, etc., assuming it's got stock wheels, allowing for 5 tire rotations which has some benefits.

3 1/2" 12ga., that should stop any uninvited turkeys coming through a window. Cool gun and tempting, but kinda silly for a non-hunter so I'll force myself away. Guessing it's illegal here, hard to have anything really cool that isn't.

Ahhhh, I think you wanna search for vacuum diaphragms or maybe slide diaphragms, not air cut-offs. Maybe cut-off is what Honda calls them but I've always heard vacuum diaphragm. They don't really cut the air off, they lift the slide according to airflow which also raises the needle allowing more fuel flow to match the airflow. In older carbs your throttle hand lifted the slide/needle assembly directly. With these your hand opens the butterfly and the resulting vacuum change/airflow lifts the slide/needle assembly. It's known as a constant velocity (CV) carburetor and they're more efficient than the older mechanical slide style.

Yea, not much changed between '98 and '99, it's even like it's the dividing line that we all use when referring to early/late model. Just a few little changes like the entire fuel system, exhaust system, cooling system, braking system, front wheel and axle, side stand light, tail light, brake and clutch levers, battery and charging system, ignition switch, frame, etc. I can't see why the fuck the new guy would even ponder that the dash boards between the two model years with the most changes ever made to the bird might present a compatibility issue, he must just be dumb I guess. Derek: generally speaking whatever Auntie says think the opposite. In all fairness whenever he asks for advice and we give it to him he does the opposite. In this case he was actually correct despite his own words, they will interchange. I assume you side stand will illuminate the "FI" light.

You covered my curiosity on the side stand. What's the air cutoff valves and what do they do?

I seem to recall my 97 having one and it was in the place my FI light is on my '01. Or is my memory even shittier than I admit to?

This seems impossible, but if there's that much of a friction difference why on earth would you use that other oil in anything?

Not possible with a stock bird no matter what gearing, but you could gear down and maybe see 200 on the dash and then boast about it to all the other squids. Many people don't understand how much wind resistance increases at those speeds, altho it seems to me that your 275HP would do more than 200. It'll depend on your size and position of course. The only time I took a bird to ludicrous speed I found that stretching my ass back rather than trying to ball up behind the windscreen worked better. I'm relatively long & slender so YMPHMV. The guy who owned the bike didn't hit quite as good of a speed as I did, from memory he was a little bit bigger. With his backpack on it was way worse. I hit an indicated 193 so maybe 175ish? Too lazy to do the math. I believe he did an indicated 175ish with backpack and 185ish without. On my run it seemed to be running out of steam around 185 and when I stretched out it started climbing again. I believe it woulda done a hair more but I was running out of road. This is all from old memory while on a speed high so the numbers might be a little off. I was riding a 1982 Seca Turbo (100ish MPH bike-I'm guessing since the speedo stopped at 85) when he tossed me the keys to his bird and said if I didn't hit at least 180 I was a pussy and he'd be pissed.

From memory about all you'll get here is me vs. hank with two distinctly different theories so you may wanna do some googling. I haven't boosted a bird but if I did I'd try to use something as closely resembling the stock airbox as possible. Me personally I'd look into reinforcing the stock box to handle pressure, possibly coating it with fiberglass or carbon fiber would do the trick. I would probably replace the stock air filter with something to act as a diffuser, a dry K&N might be a good option or just a large fine mesh screen. A stock filter would work but might pose some restriction. If you have pictures of your plenum I'll give you my thoughts for you to research against.

I'm sure there are other oils out there that'll fulfill the need for less $ or would be better choices, but if you're happy with Honda oil there's nothing wrong with using it.....other than you're stupid and should use my oil of choice. Flame on!

Air drag on most bikes is pretty high for their size, rider position makes a big difference on most bikes. The engine and gearing is generally set up for performance, most bike engines just aren't very fuel efficient. Engine design makes a huge impact on fuel economy regardless its HP potential, all engines are built with a bunch of compromises, some come together better than others. A car can roll down the highway at under 2kRPM, while the bike is at 4k+, more losses in the engine and trans. Around town the bike has the edge being light, cruising the highway aerodynamics matter and weight means nearly nothing. I'll bet Dave's hot rod Vette gets better highway mileage than many normal cars, high gears and low air drag. Then there's the driver variable. Even tho I drive more aggressively than anyone I know I generally get better mileage than they do in the same cars under most circumstances. Open highway cruising some might win since I drive faster, but my maintaining a constant speed helps compensate over most drivers. The best mileage my Explorer ever got was towing my jet boat to Az. An extra 2k+ pounds and 4 more tires on the ground, but I drove slower which makes a big difference with an unaerodynamic vehicle. The boat being low and narrow presented little drag, the engine sticking up in the back was probably the biggest air drag and that aint much. My stock little cherokee with a 160hp 6 cylinder gets less highway MPG than my friend's bigger and heavier lifted grand cherokee with 35" mud tires and a 300hp V-8. Why?!? The body on his is more aerodynamic and I'm sure his engine is more efficient, especially since mine needs about 1/2 throttle to propel the brick through the air at 80+mph. Mine might do better around town being that it's much lighter, but engine efficiency is still on his side. I think the worst I've ever had was '80 F-250 with a 351M, that engine had no power and got shit mileage. Ford packed the shittiest combination of things into that motor; compression ratio, bore/stoke ratio, rod/stroke ratio, cylinder head design, cam timing/profile... Lots of it was great stuff for high RPM use, but the cam profile & compression didn't let it do anything above 4kRPM so it was just a shitty motor. My bigger heavier lifted 300+HP F-350 with 37" mudders seems to use less gas; I haven't calculated it, the numbers might make me stop driving it.

That this post is by you. You have an odometer & fuel gauge on the dash and you already know your bike's range....so WTfuckingF?!?