Started on valve cover gasket replacement process

[InfinitySurf]

2012 RSV. Got everything torn down today to get ready to finally replace my leaking valve cover gaskets! Also going to pull apart the carbs for a full clean and install Ivan's Performance jet & needle kit (FYI...they are running a 10% off Black Friday special right now that started on 11/29 and goes I think till either 10/2 or maybe it was 10/6?). Since I pull a trailer at times and have heard great reviews on Ivan's kit boosting the power some I figure it will be well worth it even tho I am sure the tradeoff is a little less fuel mileage. With carbs open I am gonna figure out how to check my float levels and correct them if needed since I have seen a few threads on here saying they were pretty far out of spec and getting them right can positively effect gas mileage. I have 4 of the K&L carb re-build kits on the way which include new needle valves/valve seats/orings as well as the other orings needed and the float cover orings. Never had any carb issues with this bike as I mostly run Non-ethenol and always use stabilizer but only makes sense to go thru them now since its so much work getting them pulled out. Definitely a good deal of attention to detail required to do this job but sick of seeing the leaking engine oil all over the back of my engine from those leaking gaskets. Have done MANY carb re-builds over the years but never anything as intimidating looking like this bundle of 4 carbs! Figure if I take my time and take plenty of pics I will be able to figure out how to get them all put back together into the bracket system.

One question.... I am at 800ft elevation but living in NC do trips to the NC & TN mountains which range between 3-4k elevation, can anyone who has installed the Ivan's kit confirm that the recommended jet sizes ended up working the best for them? I received his kit yesterday, looks like the recommendation is 117.5 on the left 2 carbs & 115 on the right side carbs. I havent pulled them apart yet but from parts diagram it appears that carb #1 & 2 both have 122.5, #3 carb had 117.5 & #4 carb has a 122.5 installed from factory. Can tell that these carbs have never been removed from the bike before.

Also replacing the 2 twinkle gaskets as preventative maintenance while everything is apart. Have fully drained coolant from radiator, cylinders, overflow bottle and the water pump in order to change that & also replacing the 4) rubber cylinder plugs. Doing engine/oil filter change to out some fresh Amsoil in there. Installing new NGK Iridium spark plugs, etc.

Will be going thru and checking all the valve clearances, not sure if I will find any valves out of spec or not since only 31k on the engine...if I do find issues I will do that at the same time of course. Hopefully everything goes smooth putting her back together once the valve cover gaskets are replaced and will do a carb sync last. Should be good to go for the next few years with no major maintenance work required since I just finished installing new rear tire (Shinko 777), installed new wheel bearings on the rear, re-packed the swingarm bearings and went thru the final drive thoroughly as well as obviously cleaning and re-greasing the drive pinions.

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! Heading to MN later this week to visit my Son & 2 grandsons! Oldest turns 7 while I am there and the 2nd was just born in Aug so stoked to spend some time quality time with them.

[N3FOL]

Nice!  Hope you can get all that done before the weather starts to warm up again.    Glad you are able to spend some quality time with your family.  Enjoy the holidays and thanks for sharing your pics.  And by the way, great choice on tires.  I really like the Shinko 777s.  

[luvmy40]

I'm sure you already know this but, make sure to bench sync the carbs before reinstalling them.

[Marcarl]

1 hour ago, luvmy40 said:

I'm sure you already know this but, make sure to bench sync the carbs before reinstalling them.

And make sure that when you snug them altogether that the pots are all perfectly flat with each other. You will need a perfectly flat surface to set them on to accomplish this. So first you make sure that they are tight together, and then you bench sync them.

[InfinitySurf]

Thank you for the pointers! I have not bench synced before since I have never done a quad setup, I have researched it some so I can do it correctly and then I have a Carbtune to finish re-syncing them once the bike is running again. I will probably use the "drill bit method" to bench sync unless someone can recommend a better way? I took apart the outer supports last night as well as stripped the float bowls & needle diaphragms along with all the internal parts. Came up with a method so I would not loose track of which parts go to which carbs, I numbered the carbs and also numbered areas for all the parts to go. Haven't finished disassembling the the quad setup yet as I haven't yet found good instructions on how to do it properly (no videos I could find showing the quads being separated) but I will figure that out one way or another this evening even if I gotta just wing it. Don't these carbs have ever been disassembled before, still had the caps over the mix screws and no scuff marks on them at all showing they had ever been popped off (all 4 were set to 3.5 turns out). I am 3rd owner, I know for sure the guy prior to me was not a DIY guy and from what he said he bought the bike from original owner with extremely low miles so doubt original owner had any reason to do anything either. Carb Internals are in surprisingly good shape for being 14yrs old, even the o-rings look pretty good tho I am obviously still going to replace everything. The float bowl o-rings show the worst build-up and there is a little bit of normal black build-up in the carb throats but no debris or sign of ethenol phase separation at all in the carbs & none of the jets had any build-up in them whatsoever, really helps make a case for running stabilized non-ethenol fuel like I have since getting the bike in 2021. Obviously when I take trips I use whatever fuel I can find but always switch back when on home turf since its readily available in my area since I am close to the largest lake in NC with a ton of boaters.

Thanks again for helping a noob out!

[InfinitySurf]

13 hours ago, N3FOL said:

Nice!  Hope you can get all that done before the weather starts to warm up again.    Glad you are able to spend some quality time with your family.  Enjoy the holidays and thanks for sharing your pics.  And by the way, great choice on tires.  I really like the Shinko 777s.  

I really like them too, they stick really well and do very well in the couple times I have been caught in some rain. Crazy story - I bought front/rear Shinko 777 tires in May of 2022 from Revzilla and when I got them I noticed the rear tire was dated 2121 and the front was 4821 (always check that just in case) - anyway 5-6 weeks ago I noticed a noise starting at the rear and isolated it too a wheel bearing starting to go bad so I removed the wheel to get the entire rear serviced and noticed right away that the rear tire had cracks inside all the tread siping but otherwise still looked really good. Had about 3500 miles on them. Not expecting a whole lot I contacted Revzilla and sent them detailed pictures and submitted some other data thinking I may as well see if they would warranty them since perhaps they had a tire run during that time period that was a bad lot since the front tire shows none of those cracks at all and looks perfectly normal. When not riding the bike is in garage 100% of the time. Too my surprise they agreed to replace the tire, told me to buy a new one and they sent me an RMA to return the old one to them and within a few days of the old tire getting there they fully refunded the purchase price of the new tire! So I was pretty stoked that they stood behind their product even after that much time/miles, if anything it further sold me on those tires since these days especially its rare for a business to step up and do the right thing.

[N3FOL]

Wow that was something to go through on your rear tire, but glad to hear that Revzilla agreed to replace your tire due to inconsistencies on the thread and perhaps a defect on manufacturing.  You just had to remove the tire have a shop unmount and defective tire and remount the new tire over again.  At the end of the day, glad you have the peace of mind knowing that you are confident on your tires.  Blessing in disguise, you also have regreased/serviced the rear end of your bike.  All the best on your carb service project.  FWIW, I frequent Dennis Kirk for most of my bike needs.  

[Vickersguy]

I wouldn't second guess your judgement on the option of resetting the floats but doing so without a careful examination of your plugs is ill-advised.  I had ignition problems on my bike I erroneously attributed to a carb problem.  I reset the floats and after having no improvement,  found other reasons for my poor engine performance.  Now I'm super lean and have to do it all over again.  Only modify your float levels after reading the plugs. 

[InfinitySurf]

22 hours ago, Vickersguy said:

I wouldn't second guess your judgement on the option of resetting the floats but doing so without a careful examination of your plugs is ill-advised.  I had ignition problems on my bike I erroneously attributed to a carb problem.  I reset the floats and after having no improvement,  found other reasons for my poor engine performance.  Now I'm super lean and have to do it all over again.  Only modify your float levels after reading the plugs. 

The adjustment to the floats is simply to follow the factory service manual. Bike has been running great, only going thru the carbs since I have to remove them anyway to get access to the valve cover gaskets. Internals were in great shape, I have cleaned them really well & installed new needle valves & seats as well as Ivans Performance needles. I did speak to him again on Monday and he said the reason for reducing the main jet sizes to 115 on the 2 left carbs and 117.5 on the 2 left carbs is because his needles is thinner so it benefits from the smaller main jets, so I have done that as well and the only thing left to do before re-installing the float bowl gaskets is to do the float adjustments. Service manual is not great in this area cause it tells you to turn the carb upsidedown to measure them but then has a NOTE saying that the float should be resting on the valve seat without depressing the spring in the needle valve. Upsidedown the measurement is 12mm... resting on the valve without depressing that spring the measurement is 6mm (service manual calls for 8-9mm to be within spec). Trouble is that when upsidedown the floats are pretty much level with the carb body so I can measure the height from the center of the bowl (like is shown not only in the service manual but also in every video I have found tho I cannot find a single video showing this adjustment for an RSV)... when floats are resting they are angled way down and there is nothing at the center to measure, I have to measure at the far back of the carb which is where that 6mm measurement is coming from.

Frustrating... has anyone done the float level adjustment and can advise me so I get this right?

[InfinitySurf]

Ok... right side is the float adjusted to the 9.0mm that the service manual calls for measureing from the center of the boat to the highest point of the float. Left side shows how it was originally which was only 6mm measured at the side of the carb bowl since the center did not stick up at all.

Going with this seems to make sense since the reason you adjust the float levels is so the fuel level is correct in relation to where the holes are in the emolsion tube under the main jet. I pulled off the main jet housing to check that and the holes in that tube extend up exactly 9.0mm. Does this new 9.0mm height seem like the correct adjustment to the more experienced members?