Pipes Wrapped
I recently spent a couple of days wrapping my pipes with a coworker who had just done the same with his bike. There were a couple of snafus but it came out looking really good. So I decided to bring her up to the cabin for the first time. It was a fun ride but I could not help but notice that she was sputtering and significantly lacking in power. I know that it is advised to re-jet the bike to lean out the air/fuel ratio (stoichiometric ratio), but had not gotten around to it. That being said she had was noticeably more hesitant than the last time I took her out for a round trip to Denver. I spoke to my friend in San Antonio and found two very good references (below) and decided to check/gap/clean the plugs, check the point gaps, and manually adjust the fuel/air mixture screws.
- http://www.motorcycleclassics.com/mc-how-to/honda-cb500-carburetor-rebuild.aspx
- http://forums.sohc4.net/index.php?topic=5410.0
Carbon fouled plug from running super rich
I removed the plugs and noticed that they were covered in carbon deposits, which should have been expected since I knew the altitude had me running extremely rich. I cleaned the contacts a bit with 80 grit sandpaper, and checked their gaps. All four were gaped to .8 mm or so which is within the acceptable range (.7mm – .8mm).
After removing the plugs I checked the breaker point gaps and found that the right breaker point was only gaped to .25mm or so when fully open. I cleaned the contacts on both points with my sandpaper, adjusted the right point, and moved on to the fuel/air ratio problem.
Each of the four screws were about 2.5 full turns (900 degrees) from being screwed all the way in. I backed each out 1/2 turn and reassembled the bike.
When I started her up she ran and idled much more smoothly than the day before. I have yet to take her out for a spin but I hope to take her to work sometime this week. Next up, installing clip-on bars, powder coating the rims, and re-jetting the carbs.