running weak

[MR.E]

now then

so i've rebuilt the carbs and gasketed the engine BUT it seems the bikes running weak.
The plugs are coming out white, as far as i know the colour should be dark brownish............

Is there any way i can rectify this with the carbs??
When i put in the new needle i put it on the 3rd slot from the bottom on the needle, if i lift the needle will it change things??

Also how hot is the engine supposed to get? seems to get HOT, so much so i need to use a towel to take out the dipstick!

thanks

Elliott

[Bob_Roller]

White plugs sound like it's running on the lean side .

What are your carb numbers ?

They are stamped into the vertical flange at the front of the carb .

I can tell you what they set at from the factory .

[Barry]

The plugs are coming out white, as far as i know the colour should be dark brownish............

Yes light tan perhaps but with unleaded fuel it takes a lot of miles like several hundred at least for the plugs to colour up.

Is there any way i can rectify this with the carbs??
When i put in the new needle i put it on the 3rd slot from the bottom on the needle, if i lift the needle will it change things??

Sounds weak to me. Needle positions are numbered starting 1 at the top to 4 at the bottom so you are on position 2.  Position 3 is typical with 2.66 needle jets although US spec carbs with 2.64 needle jets can be position 4. Our needles are slightly different as they don't have grooves but the picture below clarifies the effect of position changes. Moving the needle up one position will make a big difference to the mid range mixture.

Also how hot is the engine supposed to get? seems to get HOT, so much so i need to use a towel to take out the dipstick!

The engine will get as hot as the oil gets which should be at the very least 80 Deg C and usually more so it should be too hot to touch.

[MR.E]

cheers for the info, fellas
I'll look at the carbs later today.

Cheers

[MR.E]

ey up

carb numbers are 64/32/308 & 64/32/307

I've moved the needle to the second slot from the bottom, can't seem to tell the difference but i've not ridden it yet.
Also i'm having trouble starting it, it doesn't seem to want to keep running once i've let the button go, the chokes now seem to have no use on start up, is it possible to put them back on the carb wrong??

thanks

[Bob_Roller]

The choke assemblies are side specific .

[Barry]

Some diagrams to help check the enrichers in our FAQ/procedures section

http://www.bmwr65.org/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1291933920

[Ed Miller]

I check the oil when the bike is cold.

[MR.E]

I check the oil when the bike is cold.

i thought you had to do it whilst it had just warmed up??

[Barry]

I think Ed means he doesn't risk burning his hand by removing the dipstick when it's hot. In any case you wouldn't get an accurate level reading just after the engine has stopped. The oil needs a while to drain back into the sump.

Measuring the oil level hot will also produce a small error due to the volume of oil will having increased approx. 5% in a hot engine.