I took it out for one more ride. The front brake doesn't seem to be seized anymore. But now it squeals. The pads are at least 6 years old and while the bike was apart, probably got some grease and debris on them. I'm going to pull them apart and at least sand down the pads. The rotor is many years old, it's been on there longer than I've had the bike. I have access to a rotor lathe thingy so if it's within spec I'll at least turn it down. I'm still planning on doing a dual disc conversion since I'm a heavier rider and the engine is much more powerful than stock and I'd like to take it down the track at least once in its lifetime. Plus that'll give me a reason to upgrade to prettier controls since I'm still running the stock stuff. All beat up, multiple repairs and the threads on the control body are starting to get iffy.
I had planned on a complete front end conversion from cognitomoto but with a baby (they're expensive!) that's out of the question now. I
could save up for that, but that amount of money would get me dual discs, new controls, cr26 carbs (more on that later), a welding setup, and probably more stuff to fix all the things that weren't done right. So until I start making more money (I manged to land a full time job making as much as I did at OfficeMax but I'll be going to school again soon), I have to table that.
Anyway, on to the core, pressing issue. I mentioned that I'm considering CR26s. I'm getting pretty tired of the tedious removal and installation process of the stock carbs. The float bowls screws and screw holes are getting to be more of a pain. Half of them are already drilled out for larger screws. I'd also like to be able to get all the performance out of my bike. I don't know if the stock carbs can do that but I'm tired of messing with them. Plus I think the stock carbs are kinda ugly too
So after my last ride, it was running
very rich. Rich enough that it didn't want to idle at all after getting hot. I needed to keep it up at 2000+ RPM at stop lights. Plus my air fuel ratio was dipping well below 11:1 at idle and cruise, and barely cracking 12:1 at speed. That may be because I swapped back up to 40 mains. But I think the real issue is that my float levels are out of spec. On my way home, it was running even more rich and noticeably "burbly." One street before I got home, I turned off my petcock so that I wouldn't have full float bowls for when I take them off again. Just seconds after that, the idle picked up, it sounded less burbly, and the throttle was much more responsive. That leads me to believe my floats are set too high (fuel level too high) so it's choking on its own fuel. I know that I set them exactly with a micrometer when I put everything back together the first time, but the last few times I've worked on the carbs, I've been leaving them on the bike and just dropping the float bowls. It makes sense that I've managed to bend the tang while working because I'm pushing them out of the way and even hitting them. Just a theory. I don't know if I'll have time to mess with them today.
Also I just decided to check the oil on the dipstick, and I can't tell for sure but it smells like fuel. Either that or burnt oil. If it's fuel, it might be likely that since it's running too rich, unburnt fuel is washing the cylinder walls of oil causing my oil issue. Or something. If I don't get to it today, I'm going to look into it next weekend. I'm also going to be removing the cam cover because I need to retorque my head studs.
