On to a third installment. First of all I apologize but I had not seen the posts after Oct 18. I'm thinking Chuck hit the jackpot but on to that later.
I spent a lot of time away from home in cold Germany and then even colder Chicago. Obviously the bike had long rests but kept starting right up and running reasonably well when needed. I kept well away of still traffic to the point that I once parked and waited almost an hour for a traffic jam to subside before getting back on the road. Call me paranoid but I didn't want the thing to get hotter than necessary…
I still had in the back of my head the idea that I needed to remove carbs and replace the rubber mat to better isolate them. Even bought a much thicker piece of rubber and found a stencil on the web. I now doubt if this thicker rubber will fit under the carbs.
Anyways, after returning from my trip I popped the carbs and again, found the venting hose badly pinched under the filter box. I’ve been struggling with this hose ever since I pulled the pair system. It seems that no matter where I route it, it always get pinched or bent. Never gave it much thought but now that Chuck has shared with us his (vast) experience on how sensitive carbs are to venting issues and their potential to boil, I'm looking at the pinched hose much closer.
The fact is that my carb venting hose is badly worn, showing some temperature damage and evidence of pinching in various places. When I blow, air does pass through but there is definitely some restriction which I am guessing gets worse when it’s all buttoned up.
Now, Jim Van shared with us that his carbs are venting to the atmosphere. Would there be any problem or risk if I just remove this hose altogether and leave the nipple venting under the air filter box? I could ride like this for a couple of months and adventure into heavy traffic to see how it goes. If it does solve the boiling issue I would dig back in, remove the tank and place a new hose where the old one was but venting to the atmosphere instead. Is this crazy?
On another note, right before pulling the carbs and after the latest long rest, I did have some misfiring which would improve when removing the #3 plug lead leaving it close to the plug, just as described way back in the thread. There is definitely arching going on between the lead and the tip of the plug, which seems to increase voltage to the point that the cylinder fires. I checked the plugs and as expected, #3 (the misfiring cylinder) was badly fouled. The others were on the rich side but not nearly as bad. I replaced the fouled plug and it idled perfectly. Rode for a couple of weeks and removed the plug once more, only to find it again deeply fouled.
Consequently I have closed the pilot screws from 2 and 1/4 turns to 1 and 3/4. Number 3 carb was set at 1 and 1/2 turns which I understand is the minimum value for a lean setting at extreme altitudes (8500 ASL for me). I am planning on adjusting floats back to 8mm from the 6mm set some time back when I thought more fuel in the bowls meant less temp and less chance for boiling. These changes should provide a lean enough setting to keep the plugs from fouling.
Sorry for the long post. Any and all feedback will be very much appreciated.
