660 Carb rebuild parts question

[Fluffy_Dog_1018]

Hi, took carbs off of 2001 Traveller that was sitting for several years. Thanks to members on this board who suggested this as the bowl was filled with a nice mixture of jelly and black stuff.

I need a new float needle and seat as well as a float bowl gasket. Looking thru ebay and other sites it is a bit confusing what to order. Has anyone been thru this already and can you recommend a supplier?

Thanks in advance for your help and suggestions.

[basser23]

You can use xt600 kits I've been told,yammi dealer should be able to help on this...
See,there WAS jelly in there eh?
You also may soak the needle and seat in Seafoam for a day or two...
Chip

[Fluffy_Dog_1018]

Sorry a couple weeks too many between posts.

OK I got the carb kid for my 660 installed. Got the float needle sitting just nice, bench tested it and and no more overflow (yeah!).

So I put the carbs back on the bike and the thing fires right up. No fuel running anywhere it shouldn't which is a complete reversal from the disaster I had couple weeks back.

I had not put the air filter back yet and I am glad I didn't because with the engine running the air box fills up with oily gas in about 15 seconds. I know it is NOT coming from the carbs this time and think to myself there must be some serious gas in the engine case. So I pull the oil plug and out gushes 1.5 gallons (not a misprint) of oil and gas! Wow. I can only guess that the float went bad when the bike was in storage (5 years) and the tank emptied into the case thru the carbs.

So I put fresh oil in and fire the bike up again. Bike is running smoother but not great yet and it is backfiring a bit. It is so nice to hear it running I am put into a bit of a trance. Bike is running at maybe 3K rpm for what I guess is a minute. I look at the exhaust header and the first 2 inches of both pipes are glowing red, not good I think, and I shut the bike down.

I am guessing before I go any further it is time to check compression and valve clearances. Any other thoughts? I am assuming it is not normal for the exhaust header to glow red on these bikes? Appreciate your thoughts. Thanks.

[comanche91]

Yep, sounds like it's running very lean. Have you pulled your fuel tank and flushed it out thoroughly with fresh gas? You can't get all the crud out just draining it with the petcock. You might have re-boogered up the carbs with crud from the tank.

[Fluffy_Dog_1018]

Hi, yes I flushed the tank. I also put a nice little clear filter in the gas line between tank and carb so I can monitor things. Fuel flow to carb looks good. Confirmed this by opening bowl drain and I get a nice steady stream of gas until I close it up.

Looking for easy fixes before going on to the harder stuff. What do you think about the air/needle screw. PO set it to 4 turns out but spec is 2.5 so I put it at 3. I forget will 4 turns make the mix richer or leaner than 3 turns?

Was also gong to check the fuel level in the bowl with a small piece of clear tubing connected to an open drain. Spec is I think 5mm below where the bowl meets the body of the carb.

What do you think?

[basser23]

You didnt mention if you put the air cleaner back on...the pilot setting should be ok at 3-5 turns out as it is an air circuit..I think I'd check the float level
like you said,also check the valves.. did you happen to check the main sizes when it was apart? Should be 130 left carb,165 right side..
Chip

[Skorpion]

I wouldn't worry about the Skorpion exhaust headers glowing, they all do that, if you look at them in the shade the first 4ins do glow, I think due to the thin wall stainless tube they are made from.
Air screw out for richer mixture.

[Fluffy_Dog_1018]

Hey thanks for the feedback. Did not get chance to record jet sizes (I assume they are stock as the bike is all original... but you never know). Air filter was NOT in place when I noticed the headers glowing. I am guessing this may have an effect on making things a bit lean? Anyway it is back now. Yes the bike was in a friends garage that was not well lit which is probably what drew my attention to the manifold. Reassuring to know this is not out of the ordinary... if the fairings were on I likely would have not noticed it! Thanks also for the tip on the air screw. Since PO had it at 4 turns out I might as well go back to that and see how things work.

I moved the bike to a heated/lit garage today and am looking forward to some quality time over the Thanksgiving weekend.
I know the moment I get it running right it will begin to snow! and continue to snow for 3-4 years.

[Fluffy_Dog_1018]

OK, compression great, intake and exhaust valves were VERY tight so adjusted both (what a PITA to get at the exhaust valves).

Fresh oil/filter. Fresh coolant. Checked fuel level in bowl with clear tubing and it was a little low but not real confident of this method.

Bike would not start unassisted. Choke had no effect. Squirt of starter fluid and bike fired right up and after a minute would idle without throttle but at near stall conditions (RPM of 200). Excessive popping on deceleration and exhaust manifold got very red very fast. While running I turned the air needle out (CCW) 1 turn (4 total turns from seat) and bike immediately ran better. All signs pointing to an excessively lean mixture?

Now that the bike is in my heated garage I will tear the carbs out once again and this time be more careful of the float setting and give it a better cleaning.

For the record it did snow here on Thanksgiving day, but it has stopped!

Here is a picture for those of us who skip right thru the articles.

[basser23]

Idle should be about 1350! Not 200!!
Wow,didnt know they'd go that slow.....
Recheck idle speed and set,you should then be running ok...popping could be from an exhaust leak..

[basser23]

Didn't mention,but I think you should add some SeaFoam to the gas before you tear the carbs off again...the stuff is amazing
as far as cleaning is concerned

[Fluffy_Dog_1018]

Pulled the carbs off and yes the float was set 3-4mm high! I was measuring it with the needle valve compressed vs. when it just contacted the float assembly. Cleaned the carbs again (this time using a spray can of SeaFoam cleaner and lubricant). Really flushed the tank and put everything back together. Bike would not start! Oh, forgot to turn fuel back on. Fuel on... Bike fired right up and this time the choke worked perfectly. Off choke bike settled right in at 1300rpm and the exhaust header had a slight glow but nothing like before. Backed it out of the garage and went for a test spin (it's 36 degrees out but my smile kept me warm). WOW this bike is a ton of fun! Will put the fairing back on tonight and take it for an extended run tomorrow.

Thanks to all the board members who helped me get this bike back on the road!

[DAVID THOMPSON]

you better dress warm its snowing at my house about 300 miles west of your location
dave
glad its running correct now

[basser23]

Bingo!!!
Good to hear the bike is running well.....to keep it thatr way,I'd run it dry when getting ready to leave it for awhile,that is turn the fuel off and let it run
out of fuel from the float bowl, or drain the bowl with the drain screw....cheers!!:)
Yeah its cold ibn DC too...Dave you're supposed to get about a foot of snow eh?

[pwillikers]

The manual suggests the idle mixture screw to be 2.5 turns out. At that setting, mine will not idle. It's quite a pain to pull the carbs off every time you want to adjust this screw. Do you guys have a really small, stubby slot screw driver that'll work? How do you adjust this screw without removing the carbs?

UPDATE: I rummaged through the junk drawer and found this cheezy screwdriver. It works swimmingly.