superhawk996

#2, what I called the needle, has been replaced. The only thing that goes wrong with floats is that they can perforate/crack and fill with gas, but then you get a consistent over-fill. Not in the photo, and unavailable according to Carlos, is the seat and that's what we've been discussing polishing. I never got a good look at it and didn't suspect it because they "never" wear out, but apparently it's a thing with this carb. And I just realized that others probably never wear out because they're an easily replaced wear item that comes in most rebuild kits so they're rarely all that old. This one appears to be pressed in where others are threaded and have a hex or flats to grab with a wrench.

Very similar to what the YT guy told me, except he uses a pencil in a drill followed by a Q-tip in drill with polishing compound.

The carb issue is that the bowl overfills and spills from the overflow. It's inconsistent, but persistent. We've been in the carb 15-ish times, find nothing wrong, installed a new needle, no change. It's almost always fine when the carb is re-assembled, take a short ride, usually fine on the ride. A moment after you stop it starts flowing.

One of the YT professionals I reached out to said that he's encountered this a few times and the problem was the seat. The seats are often too hard to replace and he described his method of polishing it that has worked for him. IIRC the previous needle was all metal, no rubber coating, so I can imagine that it would be more prone mar the seat surface after lots of vibration and bouncing. Funny that the XR and R5 both had perplexing carb issues. The R5 still occasionally drips from the overflow, but it finally runs so I'm ignoring that for now. And I just received some pure castor oil to add to my home brewed gasoline to hopefully get all the right smells. Maybe lubricating the gas will cure the float issue 😁

10w-40 and 10mm/40

I went looking to see if I could find a reason for the 40 vs 42mm and instead ran into a video about how much the Mikuni sucks and why you should use the stocker. Then in the comments were several people agreeing, then a bunch asking those people if they'd sell them their used Mikuni. And several that love their Mikuni. So basically, about the same you were finding in your searches.

Scariest part is that it doesn't take much of an imperfection or damage to make it fail and it weakens as you stress it...AFAIK. Bugati has wheel replacement as part of the regular maintenance, and it's pretty damn frequent for $20,000 wheels.

I had a windshield crack overnight on my Jaguar S-Type R. It was parked in front of the house, nothing around that could hit it and no extreme weather. $900 and it was several years ago. Even shittier, I'd already negotiated a sale and the guy was coming from Maine to get it, otherwise I woulda shopped around for a junkyard window.

Price dropped to $30k, get this off my damn driveway!

The crack looks small enough to be repaired. If there are no signs of impact it might have been a bad installation and you might be able to get it replaced for free.

I emailed him asking how he knocked off 65lbs., enjoy. Hey Donzi, When I got it with 22k miles as a rescue, kept adding everything possible, hard bags, electrics etc. Then got dialed on handling and went other way. I had a photo of one of the first big demo jobs involving the subframe and whale tail piece chop mod and there was a pile taking up a 2'x 4' folding table. Ha! But chronologically, center stand removal (5lbs), shorai 1lb lithium bat (-5lbs), titanium bolts, tail remod, subframe shave (-17lbs), tail light removal (1lb), akrapovic titanium full exhaust (11lbs vs oem 36lbs -25lbs), linked brake system remove replace with standard (5lbs tubing and 2secondary master cylinders) more titanium bolts, plugs, covers, new fairing pieces and front fender cut down and heat pad removal. 1.5" Heli bars -1lb. Titan front axel cover plug and oil plug -1 lb. Next project was to be single rear axcel swap with VFR and new lighter mag wheels. more a Ducati wheel and swingarm style move then weight but would shave a few lbs. It plowed corners when first got it and now almost flickable for power weight ratio. Hope that helps? Perry

That's the vent for the vacuum valve so yea, problem.

Yea, I dig it. Technically it's a pile of shit compared to any modern bike (brakes, suspension, tires, etc.) but it's fun. I feel bad for those behind me, but also enjoy making smoke clouds when I whack the throttle. And the only reason I have it is because California wouldn't let me street register my XR650R because it doesn't meet street bike emissions requirements. But the old two smoker is fine because it's a street bike.

Hadn't thunk of that, great idea. If it does loosen it maybe a plastic scraper will get the chunky stuff off. I tried it dry and the plastic just wasn't quite hard enough to make it happen.

I considered that, and have been somewhat longing to play with my PC system again. There are also paints that people say do a good job of faking chrome.

I tried aluminum foil and water, it seemed to work much faster than the steel wool but scratched the fuck out of the chrome. I wish I'd used it on a hidden area. I think it's the rust particles doing the scratching, not the material being used to scrub. Neverdull seems to do nothing for the crusty rust, just removes the lighter stuff, but doesn't scratch at all. It also seems to do nothing for removing the scratches made with the wool and foil.

I have two cans, both are dried out. I get to wade through the yard to get to the mineral spirits.

My guess is that the crusty stuff will shred it, and that it's too mild to remove heavy rust, but I should try it just in case. I should also see if it'll remove the swirls.

Any tips tricks appreciated. It seems worse to the eye than in the photo. I've started with oiled steel wool and it does ok, then I use a fingernail to pluck away the larger chunks, then steel wool again. I use the fingernail on the heavy spots to avoid excess scrubbing for fear of damaging the chrome. I considered Evaporust, but the label says "safe on most chrome" without further detail so I'm leery. The rear wheel is probably going to be the biggest challenge, it's super crusty and the spokes will make it harder to scrub than other parts. Any other methods I should try? Some spots I've started on. The wool works, hoping to find something faster/easier that's safe. The cleaned spots show lots of swirly scratches, I don't know if those were hiding under the grime or created by the wool. I plan to clean a spot gently to see.

"65lbs. shaved". That seems impossible.

Even if the diaphragm is working, the hoses stay full of gas so they could leak whatever's in them.

I'd never thought about that, I don't do bodywork. Silicone spray lube is very clean looking, use that instead of petroleum oil 😇

I think what's advanced the most is how much power/speed you can get from cheap Chinese air tools. It used to be difficult to find a budget air gun that had enough power to be useful, now it seems hard to find one that isn't. It's likely that you can get a new Ingersol or other top brand tool that's more powerful than the old ones, but I've never felt that my old ones needed to be upgraded. If your old high end tool crapped out today you could probably replace it with a HF tool that would be as powerful or more. I have had some good old tools that lost power, and one that seized, while in storage. A shot of oil in the inlet usually cures them, and don't forget to grease them if they have a nipple. The one that had seized required a tear-down to get it back to full power. I now try to remember to hit them with oil right before putting them away since I know they'll sit a long time, 3-4 drops and one quick hit of the trigger. Smart me would run them all a bit once in a while, but I don't.

Nope. My ancient air ratchets will crush battery versions....and your hand if you're not careful. Battery impacts have improved greatly and appear to be about on par with air. I think air can go higher power/speed than battery, but they've gone beyond the normal needs so it's moot. Then the other things. Probably the biggest reason to stay with air; the tools are cheaper and they all take the same hose, unless you move up to huge tools and have a small hose. Air tools are smaller, but the hose is a pain, and can be an absolute hindrance in tight spaces. All metal air tools are about the same weight or less than battery tools, depending on the tools compared. Pretty sure the plastic air tools are always lighter. Air is usually noisier, but I find the faster high pitch hammering of battery impacts to be more annoying. The sound of an air ratchet is almost like a 2 stroke, very distinct and brings out a certain feeling. And they sound similar to an air starter motor, a sound I really miss. All that said, I was the first to adopt battery power at the International dealership. They were more expensive, way lower powered, and the air was free. Everyone thought I was a moron, eventually I started hearing them from other bays.

That's pretty much how I look at all the vehicles I sell, and most are going to total strangers far away.