I had watched auctions, Craigslist and yard sales for a decent bolt bin, and they were all in poor shape and expensive.  One day I say this card catalog listed on Craigslist for $ 200.....and it seemed perfect so I bought it.  I had to take all the rods out, and buy a bunch of cardboad boxes to hold things in as the bottom of the drawers is somewhat open.  I also keep the heavy stuff on the side bottom drawers and lighter stuff in the middle and top.

I used the metal brake when making my battery box, brake line brackets, etc.  And when I need to bend something heavier I do use a vice that I have installed aluminum inserts to keep from marking up the metal.  I don't yet have a bench to mount the vice.....so my vice is just sitting on the floor and it is not very handy.

I have the O2 sensor installed and I have been trying to chase down a slightly lean condition.  It runs great everywhere and feels fine - but the O2 sensor is showing a slightly lean condition when you open up the throttle - then it stabilizes back to a good mixture within a few seconds.  This situation does not happen when you slowly open the throttle - only when you roll on the throttle a bit faster than normal.  The original CV carb did not do this.  It took me a little bit of thinking, but then I realized this condition is normal on the Roundsdlide VM carb.  On the original CV carb when you open the throttle the butterfly will open and the vacuum oprated slide will drop to keep the vacuum high and it will raise as the engine starts to pull more air.....on the VM carb when you open the throttle it is connected directly to the slide and the air velocity and vacuum through the carb will temporarily drop as you open the slide quickly.  As the engine catches up with the new throttle position the vacuum will return and pull more fuel out of the jets.  This condition is why some carbs have accelerator pumps built into them so that additional fuel is pumped into the air stream to compensate for the tempory lean condition.  Now that I know this......I think I am happy with the current jetting and will no longer worry about this little issue - it runs smooth and seems to be jetted well.

LANCER wrote on 05/15/13 at 09:00:04:


The carb as you sent it ran very wel right from the box once the idle speed and mixture was adjusted.  I believe it came with a 185 main and that is perfect as the O2 sensor shows a good fuel/air ratio at sustained full throttle gong up a hill to 75 mph - which is where I decided I was going fast enough.  At steady cruising speeds from 20 mph to 60 mph I was a tad lean so I dropped the clip on the needle one notch to the 3rd from the top.  The idle air screw was happiest at only about 1/2 turn out with the original #15 pilot jet in.  I put the #17.5 pilot jet in and the iidle air screw did not move out much farther, and I then installed the #20 and the screw is now at 1-1/4 turns out.  The Mikuni tuning manual stated you should try and get a jet that allows 1-1/2 turns - so I may try the next larger pilot and see.....however it is running just fine.  The VM carb has an air screw and not a fuel screw - so turning the screw out allows more air to mix in the pilot jet and leans out the idle mixture and also the operation of the pilot jet.  This is the kind of carb the air bleed pilot jets are made for....the fuel enters the bottom hole in the pilot jet and the air that is controlled by the air screw enters the bleed holes.  I don't have my scratch pad with me here at work - so I may have to revise the pilot jet sizes I listed here when I get home and look at what I wrote down.....I do know that I have increased the pilot jet 2 sizes over what was installed originally.  I have a really big air filter now and I may need this extra big pilot jet to compensate for the low restriction from the air filter.

Thanks for the great carb Lancer!



 

Nice Vice!!!!  

Do you notice much of a power gain with the new carb?

Oooh, I hated to do this....the bike was running fine and rode great.  But I took it back apart yesterday.



I wanted to get the side panels mounted, and it required welding.  I chose to use visible screws with rubber grommets.  I think it works with the 70's tank in keeping a somewhat vintage look.  For the top rear I made 6mm posts and held them in place with a tab I bolted to the shock mount.  Wet towels keep the sparks from burning things up.



For the front I was able to dril the frame and tap the hole, then thread on the longer nuts and weld them in place.



The right bottom mount was welded to the frame, the left rear mount to the belt guard.  This is what it looks line mounted:


Today I need to reposition the ignition switch, add some figerglass to the front bottom of the seat to keep it from flexing so much and rubbing on the side panels, and I believe I will put grey primer on the tank so it matches the side panels and seat frame.

87 savage wrote on 05/19/13 at 10:20:55:


Too Late....the deed is done.  I just wanted to do something fast, as the bike needs to be together and running so I can get a few more miles on it before I go on the Dragon Trip.  The paint on the tank was not very good, and the left decal is brownish while the right side is gold.  I guess the tank sat somewhere that the sun hit the right side of the tank for years.

I got the ignition switch relocated....not sure if this is the forever position but it will do until next winter when the bike comes apart for the final bodywork and paint:


I got the tank painted in primer and mounted:


I need to mount the shocks and put the fiberglass reinforcing in the seat before it is ready to run again.

I did mount my new license plate!

shovelbum87 wrote on 05/19/13 at 14:49:09:


Jeez sorry to hear that!! But it sounds like you are happy and doing well now.