If at first you don't succeed - a tale of SOB fettling

I have been getting the 'more in 1' ready for an outing at Cadwell.

The need to put both starter jet toggles up to persuade it in to life on
Monday should have been a clue.

So when I came to warm it properly for an oil change this morning it
wouldn't run without at least one 'choke' on. "Shit in the carbs" I hear
you cry.

It has been standing a while, but I always run it until dry before
putting it in to storage. Drop the float bowl on the rear cylinder. Not
too bad at all. Drop the one for the front carb - Ewww!
Snotty/crystalline green gunk. There must have been a drop of juice left
in that one (note to self - remove float bowls completely on next
'laying up'). Is modern lead free petrol more likely to do this I wonder
or could it be dampness getting in?

Anyway, the idle jets are cleaned out. Jolly usefully the thread on them
fits pretty well in to the end of Nordwest special tool 256 (bicycle
pump for persuading coolant back out of expansion tank). To be on the
safe side I pull out the needle/pulveriser jets. Hmmm the little holes
around the bottom are blocked with verdigris looking stuff. Reassemble
and turn on fuel.

Petrol gushes from the rear carb. Bollocks. Off with the float bowl and
the float needle seems to be working OK under very light pinky pressure.
Try again with the same result. Punctured float? No a quick immersion
test is OK and in any case these 28mm carbs have significantly different
floats so I wouldn't have a spare anyway. Got to be the float
needle/valve interface then. Fortunately on the 28s the valve unscrews
for close examination. No obvious sign of shit. Even more fortunately
the float needle itself is identical to those on the OEM 25mm Dellortos
so I snatch one from the old carb bits box and put it in.

Oh frabtious day, calloo callay - no more niagra of motor spirit!
What's more the motor bursts in to life on one choke and after a bit of
neighbour noise tolerance testing settles down to a reasonable tick-over
and an almost silky rise of revs on a blip of the throttle.

Probably a bit of shit anyway. No sign of any obvious rusting in the
tank, but I think I will get a couple of in-line fuel filters just in
case.
--

+-------------------------------------------------------------+
| Pete Fisher at Home: |
| Voxan Roadster Gilera Nordwest Yamaha WR250Z |
| Gilera GFR * 2 Moto Morini 2C/375 |
+-------------------------------------------------------------+

 

Look, I was enjoying reading your post but, it's lunchtime, and reading
that phrase whilst spooning down a yogurt has made me feel all queasy.

I think I'll go for a little sit in the garden before attacking the home
made bread and Camembert.

 

whatever happened to the shambling mound, anyway?

 

it shrunk and got a life

 

"No resemblance to any person ..."

It is turning in to one of those days. Next job on the agenda has been
fitting a new tow hitch on the trailer prior to reconfiguring to carry
two bikes to Cadwell and possibly Prescott. 27 years of wear had
resulted in the cup ratting even on a brand new ball (more feed lines).

I sourced an almost identical cast iron standard 50mm job from the
original manufacturers (Bradley). Getting the nut back on one mounting
bolt inside a tubular steel section required some ingenuity involving a
ring spanner and a bit of gaffer tape.

Job done I try the fit. Nice and snug. Well too fucking snug to be
exact. Even after a good greasing it wont de-couple without the
assistance of a bottle jack under it (the feed lines just keep coming).
Totally confidence inspiring as to security, but a right royal pain when
wanting to do a quick unhitch and spin round if manoeuvring in a tight
spot.

I suppose a bit of trailering may free it off. Otherwise I will have to
bolt on a jockey wheel to help prise it off, which is a bit OTT for a
single axle trailer.

--

+-------------------------------------------------------------+
| Pete Fisher at Home: |
| Voxan Roadster Gilera Nordwest Yamaha WR250Z |
| Gilera GFR * 2 Moto Morini 2C/375 |
+-------------------------------------------------------------+

 

bah. meatspace is overrated