First off, hello all. I recently bought an 80 xs400 for my g/f as a learner bike. The machine was not running and was knocked over a week prior when parked on the street.
Earlier this weekend I took out the carbs to clean them up and see if I could find why the bike would not start(the engine would run briefly on carb cleaner and there was fuel in both float bowls). During the cleanout, i noticed in one of the carbs, a copper float was higher than it's twin. So, i bent one to align with the other and thought nothing of it. I was able to get the bike running but very rough. I wanted to work more on it but I had to head out for the day. When I came back 6 hours later, the bike was literally dripping fuel onto the floor. Turns out that float change meant the float needle would never seat and now that carb had puked gas all over the garage out of one of the intake boots. opps....
Fast forward to this morning, I took the carbs off again, read through all the threads, pdfs, and manuals and properly setup the float to the desired 26mm. Then I moved to the idle screws. I tightened them up and then went to read the manual and noticed a comment on tightening until slightly seated...I looked into the carb and to my dismay I saw 2-3mm of the needle sticking out on both carbs. I removed the needles to find out I had lodged part of the needle into carb and now had to hope I could remove it. On one carb, success. The other is hosed. So I am down to one carb and if I guy on TCU still sells his really nice xs400 single carb manifold, I will be going with a one-carb setup.
Since i could not find a great thread on this. I will be using this thread to document it for other users. I know I may not get the desired CFM from the stock carb but I am going to try it before I switch to a 34mm KEIHIN.
Keep tuned to this thread and I will update it as the parts arrive and progress is made.
Any suggestions on the new carb settings(jet sizes, clips, idle screw, etc...) to adapt to the need for increased fuel/air would be very helpful.
Earlier this weekend I took out the carbs to clean them up and see if I could find why the bike would not start(the engine would run briefly on carb cleaner and there was fuel in both float bowls). During the cleanout, i noticed in one of the carbs, a copper float was higher than it's twin. So, i bent one to align with the other and thought nothing of it. I was able to get the bike running but very rough. I wanted to work more on it but I had to head out for the day. When I came back 6 hours later, the bike was literally dripping fuel onto the floor. Turns out that float change meant the float needle would never seat and now that carb had puked gas all over the garage out of one of the intake boots. opps....
Fast forward to this morning, I took the carbs off again, read through all the threads, pdfs, and manuals and properly setup the float to the desired 26mm. Then I moved to the idle screws. I tightened them up and then went to read the manual and noticed a comment on tightening until slightly seated...I looked into the carb and to my dismay I saw 2-3mm of the needle sticking out on both carbs. I removed the needles to find out I had lodged part of the needle into carb and now had to hope I could remove it. On one carb, success. The other is hosed. So I am down to one carb and if I guy on TCU still sells his really nice xs400 single carb manifold, I will be going with a one-carb setup.
Since i could not find a great thread on this. I will be using this thread to document it for other users. I know I may not get the desired CFM from the stock carb but I am going to try it before I switch to a 34mm KEIHIN.
Keep tuned to this thread and I will update it as the parts arrive and progress is made.
Any suggestions on the new carb settings(jet sizes, clips, idle screw, etc...) to adapt to the need for increased fuel/air would be very helpful.
