1998 Steamer Restoration

[Joshorilla]

Didn't start, nothing, no pops, no firing or anything, just turned over.

I'm going to pull them out again tomorrow and make sure everything is adjusted correctly.

[threepot]

Do some basic checks first. Fuel getting to carbs? Try opening drain screws.Even if carbs were out of sinc etc, I would think you'd expect it to try fire up?? Nothing at all sounds to me either no fuel or spark?

[Joshorilla]

Yeah, I drained the bowls for carbs 1 & 3 and they had fuel.

I am a little concerned their is no spark, so i'll test for that tomorrow.

I believe they're just not getting enough fuel.

[Sin_Tiger]

Make sure you have a decent size car battery jumped on to the bike. The last thing you want is to knacker the sprag clutch while you're trying to get it going.

[Joshorilla]

Hi Guys

First off, sorry I havn't posted for a while, it's been a pretty crappy month, car needed fixing so that sucked my time and effort and then my uncle was knocked off his goldwing and killed by a negligent driver that pulled out infront of him, so I havn't been much in the mood or had much spare time to start on the Triumph.

But, I took today and tomorrow off work, fitted everything back together, primed the carbs, hooked up the MX5 (Miata) battery, generous squirt of quick start and she started on the button, although idling so high it was seriously concerning me.

Tomorrow I decided i'm going to pop the stock jets back in, set it up factory and see if that'll give me any joy then move onto the bigger jets and shim the needles.

Not this weekend but the next I am going to get the spray booth set up and i'm going to spray it with rustoleum. Why rustoleum? Because living on a small island you need crazy difficult to get permits to ship dangerous liquids in and nowhere sells automotive paint or anything like it, so rustoleum is literally all I can get.

Cheers
Ride safe!

[Sin_Tiger]

Sorry to hear that it's been a tough time for you.

I well know your problem sipping DG's, always thought it strange that petrol get shipped without so much trouble 

[Joshorilla]

Yep! Side note... They have a nice little gig going on with petrol and other fuels here, we have less tax on fuels than the UK or a lot of other jurisdictions, even less for marine fuel. We ship it from the UK to here, where everyone with Luxury yachts comes here from the UK, Russia, S.O. France etc and fills their tanks to the brim because it's a nice little loophole.

[Joshorilla]

Help!

I managed to get the steamer to start and run "OK" I tried several times with the larger 105 I believe jets and turning the pilot screws on the underside out to 1 and 3/4 turns and it starts great without the choke.

What I need to know is:

* Idle thumb screw, I see it adjusts the minimum throttle position, what should this be set to by default, closed or a bit open?
* When I give it some throttle it revs high and takes a good few seconds to go down, what causes this?
* Idles between 2 and 1.5krpm with the idle screw turned a little, but then it goes down and dies
* Just had an earthquake as I was writing this! 4.6 mag!
* Should I try putting the idle to 2 turns?
* I'll pop to B&Q tomorrow for some washers to shim the needles, 1mm is alright?

Any suggestions would be great!

[Mustang]

every bike is different when it comes to jetting ........

for example I have 2  1998 Tigers with Keihin Carbs

tigger 2 likes , I mean absolutely loves 105 main jets and #38 pilots with the mixture screws set at 2 turns  needles shimmed approx 1mm and stock air filter and cans

tigger 3 with this setup hates it ..........runs ok but blows soot out the pipes when giving her some . WTF these 2 bikes are Identical , so much so that if you close your eyes you don't know which is which .

tigger 3 wants 102.5 main jets #38 pilots and mixture screws set at 1 1/4 turns with no shims under the needles and this is with a K&N filter . stock exhaust cans
so as you see there is no magic recipe for any one bike , it's trial and error until you get it right .

[Joshorilla]

I feared it would be trial and error :(

Oh well, it's just a pain to take them out every time, but i'm getting really good at getting the throttle and choke cable nubbins in and out!

My main issue is with it revving high and not coming down, and sometimes idling too low, i'll pop to the shop tomorrow and get some washers and see if I can make it more responsive and stable.

I also need to build a manometer.

I'll post an update tomorrow! I am not insured for any bike up to 900cc so hopefully that's incentive enough to get her running.

Cheers for the help!

[Mustang]

Help!

I managed to get the steamer to start and run "OK" I tried several times with the larger 105 I believe jets and turning the pilot screws on the underside out to 1 and 3/4 turns and it starts great without the choke.

What I need to know is:

* Idle thumb screw, I see it adjusts the minimum throttle position, what should this be set to by default, closed or a bit open?
* When I give it some throttle it revs high and takes a good few seconds to go down, what causes this?
* Idles between 2 and 1.5krpm with the idle screw turned a little, but then it goes down and dies
* Just had an earthquake as I was writing this! 4.6 mag!
* Should I try putting the idle to 2 turns?
* I'll pop to B&Q tomorrow for some washers to shim the needles, 1mm is alright?

Any suggestions would be great!

too lean will make a throttle "hang" and return slow to idle
a "cv" carb (tiger) will do this anyway although not  as severe as yours sounds
have you synched the carbs ?
how about valve adjustments
tight intakes can do this also
shimming the needles should have ZERO results on IDLING , needle settings are for mid range and mains are for wide open throttle . although main sizes will play into the midrange settings also
the only thing that controls idle is Pilot jets and mixture screws, are you sure you got the pilot circuit clean in the carbs ?
homemade manometers are useless unless you seriously restrict the vacuum lines itwon't work, trust me been there done that ....................

[nickjtc]

every bike is different when it comes to jetting ........

tigger 2 likes , I mean absolutely loves 105 main jets and #38 pilots with the mixture screws set at 2 turns  needles shimmed approx 1mm and stock air filter and cans

WTF these 2 bikes are Identical

tigger 3 wants 102.5 main jets #38 pilots and mixture screws set at 1 1/4 turns with no shims under the needles and this is with a K&N filter . stock exhaust cans

As an aside, yes, no two bikes are the same.

But surely in your case the fact that one has a K&N filter is the diff? Interesting that a filter which supposedly flows more air requires a leaner setting for the jets...

Sorry to take the thread off on a tangent.

[Joshorilla]

Ok, I am going to take a serious look at it over the weekend.

I believe the airbox is leaky, that could account for it running lean. The rubber bits between the snorkels seem to be really loose, and the airbox is missing half its screws and the jubilee clips are doing very little.

I don't want to touch the valves till I get the carbs half way decent, and as for balancing the carbs, without a manometer I am at a loss as to how, any suggestions?

Cheers for all the kind help!

[Mustang]

@nick, the K&N has nothing to do with it ........................
was the same on OEM filter

you need a Morgan Carb Tune
fix the airbox
check /adjust valves
then synch the carbs

do the carbs last or your just chasing your tail

[Joshorilla]

I'll get my hands on a morgan carbtube!

From the sounds of it, it's running too lean so i'll turn the screws out to 2 turns and work out from there. Fixing the airbox, fine, i need to find more screws as it was missing a load.

Valves i'll need to do more reading, but sure i'll do them, i'll try that after having a little play with the carbs first as I fancy turning the idle out to 2 turns like recommended and seeing what happens, i'll also shim the needles for good measure.