Topic: MileHigh Cafe

[MilehighCB]

Fresh install

[MilehighCB]

Glossy....

[MilehighCB]

Just wet sanded

[wannabridin]

i like the idiot lights!  any information for how you did that?  everything else looks good!  lets get a video up so we can hear it!

[MilehighCB]

I fabbed the gauge panel out of aluminum stock. After several attempts to bring the gauges in closer and tighter together this is what I came up wiith. I ran into clearance issues with the brake lever due to shortining the bars an inch.

The leds were bought at Radio Shack and wired in for the idiot lights. I welded a tab for choke and ignition switch to reside where the preK8 ignition hides under the tank. Unseen to most and cleans up the gauges a bit.

Thanks for looking....

[MilehighCB]

Here are a few pictures of what's under the hump.
AGM Odyssey battery
Oregon Reg/rec
starter silonoid
Blade fuse box.

I cut and extended the wires and hide them as much as possible.  The few wires zip tied in front of the battery will eventually get tucked up better.  I want to get a LED compatible turn signal blinker relay, so I am waiting for that to mount it better.
Everything at this point is sitting on an aluminum plate that sits on the welded steel hoop and plate.  I am not sure if I want to powdercoat the aluminum or polish it.  hmmmm....

I spent so much time trying to have the clear triangle, but just didn't want to wait to ride the bike to figure out a custom oil tank.  I will get there, it will just be down the road.  The bike will change it's look so much once its done.

I posted a close up of my Carpy header.  Like I mentioned in an earlier post, I went with the "raw" pipe, because I didn't want to wait a week for the ceramic coating.  Boy am I kicking myself.  If you look in the pics I posted before, you can see the VHT paint had burned off the bend in the header.  Granted, I didn't spend enough time scuffing the header before I painted it, and it was already scratched from install before I fired up the bike.  But man, they looked like hell. 
I should have been patient, and spent the ol so cheap $75.00 that Carpy is asking for the ceramic coating option.  Searched around Denver Metro area for ceramic coaters, on 2 that do it.  Cost me $145!  Carpy must have a sweet deal for his exhausts at that price.  The place that did mine said there are several ceramic coaters in Southern CA, so it probably drives the price down.  Lesson learned.

The black on the exhaust is not as shiney as the VHT paint, some thing I wish were the case.  However, I think it looks the part.

To answer a pm I received, I bought the blinkers on Ebay, they were pretty cheap.  I keep blowing front running lights, the small tab that locates the bulb inside the housing broke and it allows the bulb to move and vibrate the filament loose.  I plan to switch to a LED bulb, as finding amber 1157 bulbs is difficult and costly when I go thru one a ride.

Thanks for looking....

[MilehighCB]

Pics!

[MilehighCB]

Pics

[traveler]

She really looks good.

I am impressed.  You either took your time, or threw alot of money at her, becasue everything looks professional.

One of the nicest cafe's on this site, IMHO.

The semi-gloss pipes against the gloss black downtubes of the frame....the contrast is spot on.

If you care what I think.

I guess I just like it.

~Joe

[MilehighCB]

Thanks for the kind words.
Yes, took my time, but also wanted to do it right. Replaced the weak points of an older bike with modern stuff. But also, lots of hard work that I did myself. I feel the reward was worth the work.
Now to get jetted correctly and have some fun with her!!
Thanks again......

[HedNut]

WOW... Dude! Magnificent piece of work here!! I just dropped in here and am SUPER impressed... makes me wanna drop the cash on one of those dunstall tanks!!  SEXY MOCHINE!!
GREAT JOB... I saved some of your pics for inspiration!!  Again... EXCELLENT!

[dl52163]

Cool Ride. All I can say is the helmet needs the same paint scheme on it.

[cb544]

The checkered flag isn't my style, but I love your work even still... great attention to detail from my seat.

[MilehighCB]

Update and suggestions please!!!

I replace the main jets with 140s. Full choke at start first push of the button starts up, nice smokey idle till warm.
I also turned the pilots counter clockwise 1/2 turn from the factory 1 1/2 out. Just to try it. Please let me know if this is not the way you want to adjust them.

With the 140 main jet in, Power Arc set to mid power curve, pods oiled and clean,4 into 1 exhaust (Carpys) with the baffle in, the bike performs excellent. Hard open throttle pull give me a nice smooth powerband. The bike runs perfect. Until.

Stop after 20 mins or so of riding and let the bike sit for 10 min and ride again. Bike starts and rides fine, but try to get on it again and it pops, sputters, and limps.

Things I am thinking about. Please help me look further as I am missing something.
Is it just running lean? Plugs still not tan/brown but better then they were, light brown over whit.
My timing? I set the timing to TDC on number one, spun the power arc til the TDC light came on. So is/ could it be too advanced?
I also changed the fuel lines to assure no issues, but notic when its running poorly after 20 min, there are air bubbles in the line. Could this mean my floats are not working correctly? I don't have any issues prior to the bike running hot.
Which brings me to it running hot, its very hot on the valve cover when running poorly.

Overall, my theory is this, I need bigger jet, as the bike runs at point of running lean, gets hot and then can't keep up in that lean state. I notice my idle goes from 1100 to 2000 when it gets hot, soagain thining I'm running lean.

Please point me in an educated direction, I have 150 main jets that I could put in. But if there is something else I should do/try rather than just jets please let me know.
Thanks in advance...

[Little_Horse]

are you really a mile high?

Usually when it runs worse after warm up it is too rich, but you may be too rich on the idle circuit and still too lean on the main jet more info is needed. What was the stock main jets for your bike?

[MilehighCB]

Yes, Denver Colorado, give or take 5280 feet above sea level riding. Main jets were stock 110s. I have tried 120, 130, and lastly 140 main jets. I am going to swap in the 150s and return the pilot screws to stock setting and see what it brings.

[mrbreeze]

I would think even 140's are too rich for your altitude. Where are your needles set at?

[Little_Horse]

given your altitude and modifications I would think stock mains or one size larger would be more then enough fuel. Plug color now days with unleaded gas is less informative then it used to be. You are too rich on the mains so what I see happening is you ride the bike for a few minutes the plugs are slowly fouling you stop and the motor cools enough the fouled plugs dont want to fire the mixture anymore.

[MilehighCB]

Put the 150 jets in and bike ran well, not bad at all. After 20 min of hard riding, stopped to mimic heat sink I went out again. It took longer to happen, but the issue listed above happened again. This time it only happened above 5k RPM. If I went easy on the throttle it ran better then it did once the issue happened. Meaning, it was actually rideable if I went easy.

I have no imput on todays gas vs plug color. Most people I speak to regarding tuning, still use the plug color as a carb tuning gauge. People recommend the chop method of plug tuning.

I tried the 120 mains first and the issue still happened. I never tried the stock 110s based on "standard" upjetting with these mods. Yes I assume that most people are at sea level, and being hi elevation may change that. Heck, I may just throw the 110s in to rule that theory out??
From what I am experiencing, the issue is not getting worse with upjetting, its better with the bigger jets. I didn't try brand new plugs with the 150s.
My other question about being too rich is this, why would my idle rise once the plugs were potentialy fowled? Wouldn't there be less energy conducted thru the plug, causing a boggy mixture?

My experience with RC cars is when you lean them out, they go like hell till they get hot, then shut off due to the fuel just evaporating in the carb.
With the 130 mains, the bike was bastard fast, but after it got hot, the issue came into effect.
Please don't think I am being disrespectful to ideas, theories or thoughts, I'm just trying to get others opinions as well as my own to fix what's happening.
Thanks.....

[Little_Horse]

well overall you are going to be the best judge of things as we can't ride the thing listen to it or smell it or see the plugs... you get the idea. Honestly for me jetting has been vastly different on sometimes the same motorcycle. For instance I have a vtr1000 and so does my buddy, both setup with basically the same exhaust I am running a high flow filter though. His bike we ended up having to lean out over stock jetting which was a surprise for sure (because of the mods), on mine still stock mains just a little richer on the needle. I say this just to make a point that none of these bikes can be guaranteed to need the same jetting. You very well could be right still, I was just giving you my opinion on your environment. Also something to consider is the possibility of the problem not being fuel related. To me if you had the problem way back at 120's it should not take 150's (or even more since the problem is still there). Have you checked that the spark is still bright and solid when the bike has the problem? If it is having trouble firing the mixture it can be plugs not firing hot enough or carbs not sending the correct mixture. Seems like you have tried alot of different mixtures with varying degrees of the same problem. Still just throwing out ideas since the problem is still there.

[MilehighCB]

I truly appreciate your input, I really do. I hope you don't think I am being closed mined or rude. This forum is full if people who know more about these bikes than I do.

So, here are some other thoughts and data I have seen and thought of.
I said that I have changed the fuel line, its clear and I can and have looked at the line when the issue arrises. It seems to have a lot of air in the line when the problem occurs. There isn't a constant stream of fuel in the line when the problem happens. There is prior to this tho. I have popped the filler cap on the tank, thinking maybe the vent is not working. No help. I zip tied all the connections to assure the are tight.
Is there some way the carbs can create a vapor lock?? Maybe somehow the hot carbs are not letting the fuel into them once the bike is hot?
I ran the bike for 20/30 min today nicely, no full throttle wind outs wondering if it would run longer without the issue. Nope, same thing happened.
I think I will call Ken at Cycle X to see if he has any input, or if the power arc units are prone to heat issues. The unit is under the tank, and I wonder if heat is effecting the coil unit or the sensor wheel. It gets pretty hot under the side cover and maybe the optic is mis reading or not funtioning correctly.
I may try the least aggressive map by rewiring the power arc unit.

I also wonder if when I put number one cylinder to TDC, maybe it was slightly advanced. I would guess if the motor is on the top stroke in number one cylinder and then the power arc unit is adjusted to TDC there could be a variable on the actual timing??

Is it normal for air bubbles to trickle thru the fuel line after the bike is turned off? I know my carb vent is working correctly. When I tip the carbs over fuel comes out of it. Is it possible an air leak in a seal in the carb could cause this? I replaced all the gaskets,but just asking, ya never know. All the carb boots are sealed and the are soft, no cracks.
It really seams to be a heat issue. Every time I go for a ride, it runs perfect until the bike gets hot. Maybe a wire to the power arc unit has a break in it and once hot opens a bit? Hard to track down that idea....

Anyway, I'm sure I will find the problem, and please keep the thoughts and suggestions coming. I do really appreciate them!!

[seaweb11]

 78K owner.   Food for thought. 78K 4-2 exhaust, pods, Sea level 138 mains, runs like a champ.
Get a bit weak here and there on high mountain passes.

[MilehighCB]

Seaweb,
I keep your poston your set up in the back of my mind when I debate if upjetting is the way to go. I think my ignition system and free flow 4 into 1 may require a bit more fuel, dispite being high elevation.
I going to try to speak with cycle x today and go from there.
thanks for the input!

[Jerry Rxman Griffin aka MuthaF'er]

MileHigh,

Hondaman is in the neighborhood. Run it by his place.

Jerry

[MilehighCB]

I posted this before, but maybe it didn't take.

I spoke with Ken at Cycle X, very nice guy, no non-sense but took the time to listen.
He told me I was doing nothing by changing out the mains and that I am running lean from the idle jets.  Told me they trim the slides on many of their bikes.  He said I can drill out the idle jets and shim up.
I saw on Hondachopper the way to drill out the idle jets, and it seems pretty easy, just gotta go slow.

He told me the bike should come alive and run excellent once I do this. He also gave me a suggestion to tape off most of the pods to see (test) his theory.  I havent had a chance to try that out yet.

I will have to do a search for the K8 clip shim.  Maybe Ken was mistaking my carbs for the older carbs that can change clip position?  Has anyone done this, tips, tricks etc, also has anyone drilled the idle jets.. same tips tricks pitfalls??

I am kicking myself that I didn't think of this as the potential problem, but its great we have vendors like Ken at Cycle X to help us along.

keep ya all posted...