TM34-B65 installation pics

[zippy49]

Hi All,

Thanks to Anders for his post and pics, but I thought that some pics with more detail of the actual bracket mod would be nice.

I am lucky to have a friend who is the best welder I've ever met - and I used to supervise a shop with several. This is a good start.

First, I gave up on that TK nightmare; could not get rid of a 4k rpm stumble. Spent way too much on parts for it, and finally injured myself doing yet another fuel tank R&R. So I ordered the flatslides from Vintage Spoke.

First, I had to trim the end of the alloy angle that connects the carbs together, to make room for the lowered bracket. Then I cut the cable bracket apart, and trimmed it to fit right against the end of said alloy angle. Then I took to my friend's shop for welding.

First pic shows the cable mount as delivered (click to enlarge):

Second pic shows new cable routing:

And now for the closeup - took my friend less than a minute, using TIG. He put a nice inside radius at the weld, I did not have to grind or sand it at all.

Last, I made a spacer for the RH side to adapt to the larger intake boot. I have an old lathe, took an hour to make out of solid bar. This site limits attachments to three, but you can easily imagine what it looks like. I made it a snug fit, used JB Weld for a sealant, and heat plus a mallet to install it.

Another tip concerns the airbox mod. There is not much room to do the cutting, and removing the airbox looked like a real pain. So I bought a cheap right angle drill and a 2" sanding drum with mandrel. I already had a 2" hole saw. I made a guide by simply cutting a 2" hole in a 2x4 and leaving the inner piece inside (and sticking out); it fits the small hole in the airbox perfectly. A few seconds with the drill made a perfectly round hole. I opened it up another couple of mm with the sanding drum, and trimmed the flash off the edges with a small knife.

That's it for today, will update when I get more done. - Tom in SoCal

[zippy49]

Part two....you know there had to be a sequel...

I fired the bike up with my hanging temp fuel tank, it started right up and I set the idle. Ran it until the fans came on. And then I found out that the fuel tank would not clear the cable holder. The extension (sump?) for the petcock was in the way. So my nice straight cable routing was not going to work. TIme to slam the mount to the right.

Another trip to the welder produced the following. I moved the vertical bit of the bracket to the right, and tilted the top of it over a bit extra. I twisted the top of the vertical to improve the closing cable alignment. This time the tank fit just fine, no interference. But I had to chop the top of the choke knob off, no problem as it does not rotate.

Here's the new top view:

And the new side view:

I found during my first test that the throttle response is, as reported, Quite Different. Might not be a good beginner's bike any more!

to be continued...

[zippy49]

Part three - the test ride. Breezy, 80-ish (27 C), very low humidity due to desert winds. I'm at about 1000 feet elevation. I'm using the stock airbox and filter for now, preferring one mod at a time, and I like quiet bikes for the street.

Starting and idle were still fine. On-off response was very abrupt, worse than I expected. And I soon found that the bike would not accept any more than half throttle. Closing the throttle after each attempt resulted in a loud pop from the exhaust - too rich. I had the bags on, so I stopped and removed the snorkel and air filter. This made things much better, even improved the off-idle response, but it still bogged above 3/4 throttle. So back on the bench it goes.

The mains are # 110s, already pretty tiny. I'd like to keep the stock airbox setup for its engine breather volume. I have an old filter to gut and do a glue-in, but am thinking of using a block of filter foam instead. So, does anyone have a setup like this that works? What mains did you end up with?

Other comments:
The left hand carb-to-head boot was expanded enough that I needed a longer clamp screw. Wonder why the two clamps use different fastener diameters?
I did not bother with clamps on the carb-to-airbox boots, they are quite tight.
The choke is virtually useless, as you can only pull it our about 3/16 inch before it hits the back of the petcock "sump." It does open up a bit, but cold weather may be a problem.

Not quite "plug and play" yet...

[zippy49]

Further ramblings....
I am ready to give up on the airbox. In the last 35 years I've owned an XT500 (1976, bought new!), a TT600, two SR 500s and an SRX 6; and every one ended up with better carb(s), K&N(s), and no airbox. Why should this bike be any different?
So next installment, expect pics of how I got that sucker out of there. In one piece, hopefully. Not today, maybe next week. K&N RU 1780s are on the way.

[Rhino-1]

Further ramblings....
I am ready to give up on the airbox. In the last 35 years I've owned an XT500 (1976, bought new!), a TT600, two SR 500s and an SRX 6; and every one ended up with better carb(s), K&N(s), and no airbox. Why should this bike be any different?
So next installment, expect pics of how I got that sucker out of there. In one piece, hopefully. Not today, maybe next week. K&N RU 1780s are on the way.

Zippy, any updates?? This is probably the route I'm going to take (after finding out what a set of Keihin FCR sells for...). What did Vintage Spoke get for the set-up?

Thx!!

[tomzuma]

HI all, sorry for the long delay. The Skorp went on the back burner while I cleared a few bikes out of the garage.

Yes I had to lift the subframe to remove the airbox. It wasn't as bad as I thought; didn't have to disconnect the wiring or oil lines. Just take out the lower bolts. loosen the top ones and pivot the thing up.

At this point I have the carbs mounted, jetting is as supplied except I'm up to 130 mains. Idle screws 1.75 turns out. Bike starts and runs great, but there is still one big problem. The slides stick closed like crazy when you use compression braking, such as entering a corner. You can 'blip' the clutch to free it, but it's not what I would call safe for most riders. The throttle is completely free when the engine is stopped, so I am at a loss for a solution.

Any advice would be appreciated.