It is finally about time...

[azcycle]

There definitely is a ridge in the rubber point from contacting the seat. I'm also not sure how old the floats are. I did not try to lift the floats manually while letting fuel flow. But because there is such an obvious ridge on the needle, I might as well replace them.

I tried to get by with a quick cleaning and new gaskets but looks like that won't fly. So I'll wait for delivery from Bing (this coming Saturday, supposedly) and rebuild the carbs with fresh o-rings, gaskets, floats, and float needles.

Lesson in patience.

[Adrian]

Essentially it's a fuel additive with cleaning power. Supposedly.
            
Thanks Matt - checking the link now....      


      
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[azcycle]

Carb kits did NOT come on Saturday, but rather on Monday so I haven't had the time (or the daylight) to get them installed. I will try to over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend. Probably have to sneak away from the visiting family for a "breather" anyway.

 

[azcycle]

[size=20]It's alive!
[/size]

I tore into the carbs again yesterday while my wife and mother went Christmas shopping and my father was involved in a good book. I saw that I didn't clean them as well as I should have the first time, so they got another cleaning, and with all new o-rings, floats, pins, etc. I was hoping for a quick start.

Hooked 'em up, turned on the gas and proceeded to watch fuel pour down the left carb and onto the garage floor. I did some inspecting and noticed that the tiny piece of original braided fuel line below the "T" that feeds the left carb was soaking wet.  Sure enough, it had been kinked over the years and had split. I just couldn't see it under the braiding. I replaced it with some new line, adjusted the settings, and she fired up and ran strong right away.  Took her around the block once or twice to tweak settings.

So happy!  She shifts great, and pulls STRONG. Those carbs were obviously in great need of rebuilding.

Just in time... going to ride to work tomorrow!

[tvrla]

Excellent news! I'm excited for you!

[Lucky_Lou]

Nice to have some good news in these days of gloom and doom ... enjoy your ride.
Lou

[azcycle]

Rode to work yesterday and was mostly satisfied. Had to stop a couple times and adjust the carbs, because the more it warmed up, the higher it started to rev while idling. Balanced it as best I could by ear (must have looked funny to passing traffic as I had my head down close to the exhaust pipes, trying to hear which one was more dominant). I was 30 minutes late for work and smelling of exhaust, but I got it dialed in close enough that it's running strong. I think I'm going to build one of my own carb-balancers and really do it right.

A couple minor issues.

1)  Still an annoying leak from the left valve-cover. I'll just put up with it until I check/adjust the valve clearances sometime in the future.  

2) Also notice that the neutral light isn't working. The wiring loom is brand new, and while the neutral switch in the "new" transmission looked okay, I have no idea if it is faulty. It was working (I think) when I pulled the old transmission. Also could be a burnt-bulb or just bad wiring from my FIL's (badly) splicing in the light/dashboard from a r80 G/S. The high-beam light flickers, and I usually have to tap the "dashboard" to get the charge and oil light to come on.  Which is just more motivation to get to the Vapor.

So now I'm daydreaming about the Trailtech Vapor installation and how I'm going to build my own little bracket that incorporates the ignition key switch.

[Dave 2]

Nice job [smiley=bmw_smiley.gif] I'm happy you brought her back to life. I hope the people at your work were duly impressed that you were performing roadside tuning. Enjoy your riding. Dave2

[azcycle]

A little update now that it's been a couple months.

- Valve covers both dripping oil... probably a half-teaspoon each per night. Annoying but I'll wait a bit until I need to adjust the valves and make sure they're flat and install better gaskets.

- Carbs in pretty good shape. Need to build a home-made balancer. I think they're running a bit rich and idle is set too low. Need to wait until I get the Trailtech tach set up to fiddle.

- Went for my longest ride last night (20+ miles) and found the transmission getting harder and harder to shift. Couldn't get it into neutral and found myself creeping forward while stopped with the clutch pulled all the way in.  I never really fully adjusted the clutch so this wasn't a surprise. Fiddled with the handlebar nut just enough to disengage the clutch when stopped. I know not a permanent solution but it got me home. Will do a "real" clutch adjustment tonight.

- Neutral light not working. Not sure if the switch on the "new/used" transmission is bad, or bad wiring/bulb/combination. The small wiring loom to the neutral is brand new.

- Low Beam burned out, along with the horn not working. Not sure if the left control is going bad or just a series of old things breaking. I want to go back to an original BMW bucket/light since the one on it now is an aftermarket dim POS. Would like to see if I can incorporate the ignition key into the bucket somehow since it will be left out with the trailtech installation.

[Matt Chapter]

As far as the leaky valve covers go, what I did was this: adjusted valves as normal, applied new gaskets.. leaked even worse!

So then I doubled up gaskets and it stopped the leak quite nicely.  My recommendation if you're a real skin flint (who, me?  ) is to reuse the old gaskets if you double them instead of buying 4 new ones.

[montmil]

- Neutral light not working. Not sure if the switch on the "new/used" transmission is bad, or bad wiring/bulb/combination. The small wiring loom to the neutral is brand new.

You should be able to easily rig up a battery-powered test bulb and connect it to the two neutral switch blade terminals. Light on? Good. Next, toggle from neutral to 1st or 2nd gear and see if the lamp does out. Yes? Switch is working.

Next steps would be to check the dashboard bulb for function. If the bulb is good, run a continuity check on the wiring.

If yo uneed a new neutral switch, try Motobins as I did. The repop Italian-made part is less expensive, all metal and won't leak as so often does the BMW OEM part. Get a new BMW-spec crush washer, too. The washer's thickness is kinda sorta critical.

[benlawlor85]

would be very interested to see the completed dash as its something i have always considered fitting