Post by deadmoneydenny on May 5, 2011 23:21:35 GMT -6
You probably know I recently bought an '81 Honda cb900c. It was in decent shape for a 30 year old bike with 33,500 miles on it. On my first inspection I noticed it was very cold blooded and needed the choke on for several minutes before riding it. Even after a five minute test drive, it would pop or spit sometimes when you tried to rev it. It also had some top end noise, which I figured to be a loose cam chain.
After I got off work tonight, I went in the garage and pulled the fuel tank and carbs off the bike. While the carbs were off I adjusted both cam chains. There is an adjustable tensioner in front of the motor for the chain that runs from the crank up to the exhaust cam, and a tensioner on the back of the motor for the chain that wraps around both cams. Its almost impossible to get to that one with the carbs on. I doubt either had ever been adjusted before.
I dissasembled the carbs and gave them a good cleaning and installed a Dyno-Jet stage 1 jet kit. Now before you start razzing me for souping up my cruiser bike, let me say this, The Dyno-jet kit has all needles and jets needed for either a stage 1, or the much hotter stage 3 set up. The stage 3 kit needs individual filters on the carbs instead of the stock airbox, and yeilds much more power, but sacrifices fuel mileage and driveability. I have a set of filters and could have went with the stage 3, but I opted for the stage 1 and stock airbox with a new filter. Should run better and even get better mileage than stock.
After I got it all back together, I started it and let it warm up. The first thing I noticed was there wasnt any top end noise at all. The cam chain adjustments worked wonders. After it warmed up I got my vacume gauges and sycronized the carbs.
Its like a new bike now, idles smooth and quiet, and revs very quickly when you blip the throttle.
I dont work fridays, so tomorrow I'll go get an inspection and tags, then its supossed to rain on saturday! wtf!
After I got off work tonight, I went in the garage and pulled the fuel tank and carbs off the bike. While the carbs were off I adjusted both cam chains. There is an adjustable tensioner in front of the motor for the chain that runs from the crank up to the exhaust cam, and a tensioner on the back of the motor for the chain that wraps around both cams. Its almost impossible to get to that one with the carbs on. I doubt either had ever been adjusted before.
I dissasembled the carbs and gave them a good cleaning and installed a Dyno-Jet stage 1 jet kit. Now before you start razzing me for souping up my cruiser bike, let me say this, The Dyno-jet kit has all needles and jets needed for either a stage 1, or the much hotter stage 3 set up. The stage 3 kit needs individual filters on the carbs instead of the stock airbox, and yeilds much more power, but sacrifices fuel mileage and driveability. I have a set of filters and could have went with the stage 3, but I opted for the stage 1 and stock airbox with a new filter. Should run better and even get better mileage than stock.
After I got it all back together, I started it and let it warm up. The first thing I noticed was there wasnt any top end noise at all. The cam chain adjustments worked wonders. After it warmed up I got my vacume gauges and sycronized the carbs.
Its like a new bike now, idles smooth and quiet, and revs very quickly when you blip the throttle.
I dont work fridays, so tomorrow I'll go get an inspection and tags, then its supossed to rain on saturday! wtf!
Thursday (my last day cause I'm off fridays, 4-10's) on my way home the bike ran out of gas. I switched it to reserve and it still wouldnt run! 
I opened the tank and it was dry. I called my nephew that works with me since he was only a couple miles down the rode, and he got some gas and brought it back. After pouring it in, it still wouldnt run. He locked it in 4 low and backed into a big ditch and we rolled my bike into the back of his truck. That night in my garage I discovered two problems, (1)- I need a new fuel filter, and (2)- I need a new Pet Cock....no wait, I mean petcock!!!! The petcock SHOULD have a small 1 or 2 inch tall tube inside that draws fuel when in the ON position, so when it runs out, you still have a couple inchs of gas to use in the RESERVE position. The one on my bike had been broken off, so even when it was in the on position it was drawing fuel off the bottom of the tank and when it ran out, it was OUT! There was some crud in the tank also, so when I ran it dry, it sucked all that crud into the filter and clogged it so it still wouldnt run even after pouring in more gas.
