1979 Tight Valves, Cam Damage, How Bad Is It?

[millsmobile]

Could absolutely prevent firing. The air travel pulling fuel up the pilot jet is very low. You need far more air to move fuel out of the main jet. Sounds like taking the carbs out was a smart move, nicely done!

So actually they were backwards on #3 also, but that one had at least a little fire based on the plugs. Also the gasket between the vacuum bowl and carb was upside down on two of these. Will put them back on the bike to try instead of eBay haha. We'll see : )

 

[brettp]

Glad to see you found an these problems. Would have made you insane of you tore down the engine just to see it behave the same after reassembly !

 

[millsmobile]

Glad to see you found an these problems. Would have made you insane of you tore down the engine just to see it behave the same after reassembly !

Yes I'm glad I found them too, but those carbs were not involved in the reassembly plan haha.

I got it running and there's good fire on all 4 cylinders. I can see why these run like poo with the pods, I ran it a bit without any filter at all to check the throttles weren't sticking (idle was higher than Snoop) and you can see the slides violently oscillating up and down at steady RPM. Based on everything else I've found so far I still suspect this motor might be a mess inside. Pretty good clank, and it's obviously leaked quite a bit of oil in it's lifetime. Also when I ran it on the center stand, it seemed like it took an awfully long time for the oil to return to the crankcase.

 

[brettp]

My 1981 has 45k miles on it and it makes a bit of upper end noise. I hear that is normal. If yours is above normal (subjective determination, I know) maybe an oil pump is in order.

 

[millsmobile]

Here's said clack, sounds like the #1 area

My 1981 has 45k miles on it and it makes a bit of upper end noise. I hear that is normal. If yours is above normal (subjective determination, I know) maybe an oil pump is in order.

Yah kind of hard to tell right now since I went from running on two cylinders to running on four haha. I might consider trying an airbox if I can find the right stuff to put it on, but really I'm kind of leaning towards full send.

 

[dirtdigger]

If you have an upper end noise it probably has broken chain guides.

 

[millsmobile]

Update: got the RS34 from Ken & Suzi at Cycle X, 10/10 would recommend. I described the exhaust system to them and the current condition of the bike, and they sent the carbs jetted and ready to go. Install was easy. Bike fired right up with a little bit of choke, and the only adjustment needed was a 1/2 turn of idle after the engine warmed up.

If you have an upper end noise it probably has broken chain guides.

This was a great reminder, thank you. I had noticed there was a missing bolt in the guide and already had it on order. I had to loosen the other three bolts pretty significantly to put it in before tightening them all down again.