saddlebum

I use lucas 20/50 for 4 stroke engines with wet clutches myself and am quite content with it. The master is the part on the handle bar to which the clutch lever is attached. the slave sits between the stater cover and the middle gear cover on the left side. You will find a squarish rubber piece in between the two. remove that rubber cover and you will see the slave and its bleeder screw. This is the bleeder screw you want to crack open to see if there is pressure remaining in the system when you release the clutch lever after first squeezing the clutch lever a couple times. If the clutch engages further when you crack the bleeder screw repeat the test but crack the bolt loose which connects the line to the master. if again the clutch further engages than the line should be OK and the master is likely the issue but if the second test makes no difference than ou may have a blockage in the line.

We do learn more that way. If you always think your right how will you ever know when your wrong.. Man that,s an old but effective trick we used to use years ago I have long since forgotten about. It was also a quick check for a faulty or stretched timing chain. Guess with cars going away from carbs you just don't much think about it any more. On the diesel trucks I mostly work on now good intake flow is indicated when your hat disappears into the turbo.

Nice

As long as the oil looks ok and is not contaminated it won't hurt to start it just to see how it runs. If I wanted to be cautious about anything I would pull the plugs and the ign module fuse so there is no spark and compression and crank it a few revolutions without the plugs so it will spin free on the starter to prime the oiling system a bit.

In my case I managed to get a burr on the outer brass seat that the needle seat goes into and it caused the needle to stick

Just checked my bike and suddenly remembered about that. Guess I got so used to setting them up on the bench I totally forgot that method. The tang that touches the needle is what you bend one way or the other until you get the right fuel level. Also the brass seat that the needle goes into should not be moving around.

The needle is the only thing that should move the brass seat the needle goes into should not

I may have to revisit that and take another look at it for my own curiosity.

If you check your earlier post on this you will see some suggestions have been made but I will re-post my answer here for you. Are you sure your hydraulic system is fully releasing the fluid pressure and is not allowing some pressure to remain in the lines when you release the clutch handle preventing the clutch from fully engaging. You can try cracking the bleeder screw after a couple clutch applications with the handle released to see if all the pressure has been released (you may have to re-bleed the lines after this test. Also make sure there are no major notches in the wing edges of the clutch basket or the center spline that are severe enough to cause the plates to hang up. Also make sure the engine oil your are using does not have friction modifiers in it which is commonly found in many car oils, these are not clutch friendly. I am not sure that it makes a difference which side is in or out at least I have never come across any instruction regarding this. What I tend to do is look at the edges of the fingers. One edge is sharp and the other edge is rounded over (same as when you look at the edges of a flat washer). I then insert the plates with the rounded edge towards the engine. Whether it actually matters or not I can't really say I just feel there is less chance of the edges biting into the wings of the clutch basket or center spline as the clutch engages. I would never scuff the plates unless reusing old plates and they require cleaning of debris. In that case I would wet the back side of quality wet sandpaper and lay it down on a piece of glass or granite and work the plates in a crisis cross or figure eight pattern on the sand paper. I also clean new plates with brake clean in case they have been treated with any kind of storage rust inhibitor.

Good to hear. 👍

This is correct the clear tubes I show in my PDF can be attached to the carbs and you can check running float levels this way but (A) I find access to these a real PITA with the carbs mounted and (B) if you do manage to place the tubes in place of the drain plugs and find the levels are off you have to remove the carbs anyway. In my case I find my mitts just can't get in there.

I am inclined to agree. If it fires up and runs reasonably well transmission and drive-line feel good don't hesitate. As a rule these engines can withstand a lot of abuse before they fail. As stated before worse case scenario you can always recoup your outlay by selling of parts. So for the most part you can't really loose. Having said that after sitting for ten years even a good engine may be difficult to start and if it does it may run rough or have hesitation issues, until it has had a good run. Seafoam or other additive can often help here. Pay attention to how the engine sounds when you crank it over. Even it does not start you should be able to get some idea if it has good or bad compression by how the engine sounds while cranking it over. A little gas dribbled in the carbs will sometimes help getting a sitting engine to fire up. If it has a slipping clutch I would not worry as this is a relatively easy and cheap repair no reason to turn your back on this type of a deal. with it on the center stand and back wheel off the ground clutch handle pulled in rotate the back wheel while in several gears and listen for any unusual sounds, also a extremely rare occurrence but no harm in checking.

Are you sure your hydraulic system is fully releasing the fluid pressure and is not allowing some pressure to remain in the lines when you release the clutch handle preventing the clutch from fully engaging. You can try cracking the bleeder screw after a couple clutch applications with the handle released to see if all the pressure has been released (you may have to re-bleed the lines after this test. Also make sure there are no major notches in the wing edges of the clutch basket or the center spline that are severe enough to cause the plates to hang up. Also make sure the engine oil your are using does not have friction modifiers in it which is commonly found in many car oils, these are not clutch friendly. I am not sure that it makes a difference which side is in or out at least I have never come across any instruction regarding this. What I tend to do is look at the edges of the fingers. One edge is sharp and the other edge is rounded over (same as when you look at the edges of a flat washer). I then insert the plates with the rounded edge towards the engine. Whether it actually matters or not I can't really say I just feel there is less chance of the edges biting into the wings of the clutch basket or center spline as the clutch engages. I would never scuff the plates unless reusing old plates and they require cleaning of debris. In that case I would wet the back side of quality wet sandpaper and lay it down on a piece of glass or granite and work the plates in a crisis cross or figure eight pattern on the sand paper. I also clean new plates with brake clean in case they have been treated with any kind of storage rust inhibitor.

The nice thing about my float setting set up is while using it I discovered one of the needle seats had stuck open and flooding so I was able to correct it before putting the carbs back on the bike which saved me the hassle of discovering it after putting the carbs back on and having to take the carbs back off again. Had I used the dry setup technique I would not have caught this issue until after.

The sync tool measures vacuum to get its reading. Therefore a vacuum leak can definitely effect the reading of your sync tool. Also it is possible for the rods in the sync tool to become sticky but you can check this just by swapping the hoses from a high reading carb with a low reading one. If you get the same reading your tool is ok but if your readings also swap then your tool is sticking. Assuming you are connecting to the proper tubes which are the ones with caps on them except for one on the left side which will have a hose connected to it there should be no gas coming out of those tubes if there is you have a problem.

Thee factory way is to set the float height while on the bike which is a real PITA. Some use a dry set bench method which you should be able to find in the tech section. I devised a rather different approach. I attached a PDF as to how I do it. Home made set up for wet setting floats on the bench.pdf

When you rejoined the four carbs did you set them on a tue flat surface. I like to use a piece of granite countertop for this, most granite places have scraps they will just give you.

Did you replace the needle and seats, and set the float levels

What all did you do to the carb when you had it off?

where ever they can save a penny even though they charge more.

Never did use it. I find the site works just fine as is.

I tend to be a fan of Prestone but any aluminum friendly silicate free antifreeze is fine. If you use concentrate I highly recommend buying distilled or de-ionized water to mix with it. tap water will just start to introduce scale and mineral build up. If distilled or de-ionized water is not next to the antifreeze in the store try the drug or grocery stores. Some may suggest potable water but don't use it. All potable means is that it is safe for human consumption. Even potable water can have high levels of sulfur and minerals which can build up in your cooling system. It is if you have a scale build up but choose carefully. Some can be very aggressive and require a thorough rinsing. Some come in two parts. Part one is the flush part two is a neutralizer again flush thoroughly. In either case choose carefully and make sure it is compatible with the parts in your cooling system such as aluminum and plastic. Some flushes are not aluminum safe and can actually eat away at the aluminum.

Keep in mind how much compression leaks off is related to how much the valve leaks. Too little to zero clearance can keep a valve from seating properly or allow for a longer open time of the valve allowing some compression to escape during the compression test. I have seen this occur on many engines with mechanical valve adjusters, were less experienced techs that work under me were ready to condemn an engine, only to discover that compression was fine once I had them reset the valves to proper clearances.

All too often too much rake is added into the bike with conversion kits. May look cool and is great for straight highway driving but can be brutal on turns. One friend of mine had so much rake that not only did he have to strongarm the handlebars to make the turn but every turn was so wide it was as though he was taking an 18 wheeler around those corners and he often scarred me with worry that a he might get clipped by a car coming the opposite way.

Plus learning to wrench on your own bike puts you in a better position to know what to do, should you have an issue on the road.