Carbs and Valves Road trip

[Seaking]

Hi folks.. Back home after a looooong road trip through the USA.. Departed Halifax Nova Scotia (that's in Canada, north-east of Maine...) and road the I95 down all the way to Key West Florida, them back up past Orlando and through Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana before stopping for a visit at Goose to learn how to do the venerable Carbs and Valves tasks on the bike.

 

Having read all the articles on how this is supposed to be done, I would never have attempted it on my own bike.. but having someone show you how its done is a different matter.. wow, so much to learn and so much to absorb in such a short period of time. We got the carbs cleaned out, floats reset, a few this and thats to it.. Then to adjusting the valve clearances.. wow.. What took us a day to do would have taken me a month of humming and hawwing over the winter months wondering if I had done it right or understood what the heck the articles were referring to.. But Goose is good at what he does and we sailed right through the work and got it all done.. Though I've torn down multi-million dollar aircraft in my days, doing the same to your own bike is a totally different story lol..

 

Such a long distance to go to learn how to do this work you say? Yep.. but visiting Goose was the cause-result-purpose for my spring road trip..

 

Was it all worth it?

 

HELL YES.. wow.. Though some of the valves were close and some were quite 'out', the difference in the engine feel is amazing. The engine doesn't buzz anymore, it purrs.. less vibes and less noise coming from the engine. Impressive. The carb work did wonders as well. The exhaust sounds a lot smoother.. huffing instead of in-articulated puffing (if that makes any sense..) Throttle response was better as well.. However, out on the highway I found I had to relearn where the power curve was as everything seems to have shifted up more.. I used to be able to auger up hills in 5th but now have to drop it into 4th gear but it's actually better as I found that my throttle isn't as wide open in 4th than it would have been in 5th to dump more fuel into the system to get me up that big hill. Quite different and quite good. I LIKE IT!!

 

Goose made mention that all this work could possible net me perhaps a 3 mpg improvement overall.. if it does, great... if it doesn't, no worries as the bike feels soooo smooth compared to before.. almost like new.

 

My ride buddy and I traveled many miles together these past two years and we know that I always burn more fuel than he does.. and we know by how much of a margin.. usually on a full fuel tank at fill up I'll take on about .5 to .7 of a gallon more than he does.. but on our return trip, it was so much better, typically .3 to .5 more of a gallon than he does.. Funny enough though, I thought this was kind of odd then it occurred to me that I always lead and he's always behind me.. So riding home late last night in 40'F weather, he took the lead and yes, how about that.. he's burning more than me lol.. Silly of me not to have thought of it earlier.. now we know why such a discrepancy in fuel burning.. lol

 

The short of the long is that after 61,000 miles on my bike, the work done with Goose on my bike was very much worth it, and much appreciated!

 

Our last morning in Maine, about a week after having the work done, I discovered my left rear cylinder was not firing at idle. I had a cold jug though the bike idled OK.. The day before, in the wet conditions, Every time I came off the throttle the bike would huff puff and then bike fire like a pistol shot, and I knew it was from the left side. I checked my vacuum plugs as I had changed them recently but all was good, and no exhaust leaks were found.. At highway speeds all felt good.. the bike made good power and fuel burn rate was normal.. but there I was that morning with a cold jug.. the exhaust port was stone cold. CRAP!

 

Luckily there was a Yamaha shop nearby and when I explained to him about the work I had done, the riding conditions the day before etc etc.. he simply drained the carb for that jug and presto.. all is good.. He suggested that perhaps I picked up some dirty fuel along the way that might have plugged up the pilot jet, not giving the engine any fuel at idle but giving it when the needle comes up.. The first time he drained it there wasn't much fuel coming out.. then ran the bike, and drained it a second time and a lot of fuel came out.. The bike has run impressively again after that... wow.

 

Long road trip.. from 40'F to 99'F and back within 2 weeks is hard on the body for us pale northern types.. lol.. time to rest now.. looking forward to my next road trip soon.. =)

 

Once again, thanks to Goose for his patience and skills. Good instructor!

 

Cheers