Topic: 86 Nighthawk 700 S...Help***

[Maustarman]

Hello everyone,
I just got a 700S I'm planning to clean up and make look nice to give it to my father in-law...
Anyways the bike when you try to start it takes a long time to warm-up with a full choke and if you try to touch the throttle it dies immediately so, you have to wait about 4 or 5 minutes to hear the revs go up and than you can let go of the choke and pull the throttle... (It's this normal? If not what can I do to fix it?)
Perhaps another piece of info is that smells a lot like gas after riding the bike....
Any comments, ideas or advice will be greatly appreciated

Maurice

[TwoTired]

Sounds like the carbs need cleaning.

The gas smell could be bad gaskets or float valve issues.

It doesn't help if you have ethanol fuel.  Does it still have stock exhaust?  Air filter been replaced?

[grcamna2]

+1 on Two Tired. Fuel system issues.

[dave500]

weak spark.

[Maustarman]

Guys, thank you so much this is really helpful !
Last night I spent a bunch of hours and $425 ordering everything from spark plugs to tires and I never thought about the air filter.
Will start wrenching in today  and will check carburetor etc also I'll be posting pics
Please keep the ideas coming this is pretty cool!

[cb650]

There is a decent nitehawk site also.       Same format as here so its easy to navigate.


http://nighthawk-forums.com

[Maustarman]

Guys,
Big question here....
I had a small lick coming out of the head gasket I checked and two of the Bolts there were loose so I try to tied them up and I SCREWED UP big time (I broke one of the bolts)  now what do I do?
I know I was stupid and tried to over do it
What are my options here??.
Any advice will be greatly appreciated

[Danno]

well you need a real sharp bit at least 2/3 the size of the bolt and you need to drill right down the center of the bolt about half an inch and then you need a good tool called an easy out or bolt extractor and turn the bolt out they usually break up by the head of the bolt but if it broke in the middle somewhere you will need a long drill bit and a long extractor

this is assuming you actually broke the bolt and did not strip the threads instead in which case you would need a helicoil set

[cb650]

Use a left hand drill.  Sometimes youll get lucky and that will have it screw out.

[Maustarman]

Thank guys,
If I do that... do I run the chance of having the shavings from the drilling falling down in the cam?
If that happens...metal shavings going around the engine would not be good, right? How do I avoid that from happening?
Thanks again

[bikerbart]

shame,that is a great bike,one of my favorites ever.I miss mine.Fast as hell.

[Maustarman]

Yes,
I've always have had more cruiser style bikes but I'm really impressed about how smooth and fast this one can go.
The engine seems in pretty good shape but cosmetically is a nightmare so I have a lot of work to do here.

[grcamna2]

Did it spend time outside getting rusted ?

[Maustarman]

The guy I bought it from said that not really... Only sometimes was outside...but the bike was so dirty that was difficult to estimate what was rust and what was just road gunk and never washed.
Anyways, after starting taking things apart and digging in to it it's obvious that the bike has been outside for a looooong time.. rust is in places I never even imagine it could be.
I'm slowly but patiently taking every single little screw out cleaning it, re-coating or replacing it if it's to bad. I planning to redo the engine with a ceramic paint and see how it turns out.
It surely is more work that what I thought I was signing for but I'm having fun.
I cant wait to get to the final part... that will be the paint job because that's what I've been learning and practicing.

[grcamna2]

I like your plans on the restoration work...especially w/ the ceramic paint on the engine.

[Maustarman]

Hi Guys,

So, I've been working on this bike for quite a lot of hours in the last 2 weeks ( wife already offered to bring me a pillow and a blanket  to the garage
Here is my problem right now:
Im basically redoing everything and I've uninstalled the carbs and cleaned them out, got a new air filter cause the old one was bad, got new spark plugs, new oil filter, changed the oil and tried to start it.... Now the bike starts at once with the choke on and eventually I can take it off and it idles pretty well but when I try to pull the throttle it dies/stalls/shots off.
After that I can even start it with out the choke but when I try to accelerate it does the same thing.
What am I looking for here? Any ideas? Any help will be highly appreciate it.

(perhaps I should mention that before I did all this work the bike would only start with the chocke on and it would take up to five minutes to warm up and be ready to let go of the chocke and then I could accelerate with not problems because if I tried to asscelerate or let go of the throttle before the 4 or 5 minutes it would stall every time)

[grcamna2]

Sounds like the carbs need cleaning.

The gas smell could be bad gaskets or float valve issues.

It doesn't help if you have ethanol fuel.  Does it still have stock exhaust?  Air filter been replaced?

Make sure to have your carbs "completely" cleaned out including the pilot jets & passages and make sure your floats and float needles are in excellent condition along with fully flushing out your fuel tank & fuel petcock valve;set the float height and match it on all 4 carbs. Please post a picture of that nice bike !

[grcamna2]

Looking forward to some pics and I dream about finding an 86' Canadian spec Nighthawk S in the future....dreams do come true sometimes.

[Danno]

sounds like you could have a cracked accelerator pump diaphram

[Maustarman]

Hello everyone, thank you so much for the responses advice etc etc.
Here with my latest report...
I'm done!/Finished!/Ready to Roll !!!

I have taken the carburetor apart at least 4 times.. And as you guys know this bike isn't the friendliest out there to get the *F carb in & out.... ( I feel like and expert by now.. The first time took me about 3+ hours but now I can do it in 40mns !)
After taking the carbs apart so many times I still had the same problem ie: backfiring, not smoothing out, would go off when pulling the throttle, the right side of the exhaust "cylinders 3&4" would be totally cold like there was not activity in the side....
Anyways... The problem wasn't the carb ... What happen was that when I took envy thing apart I didn't label the sparkplug wires and when installing them back I guided myself by the engraving in the wires ie: #1, #2... or Eng 1, Eng 2..... Well..... Some body had been there before me and they and replaced those for some reason so it happen that there are Two #3 wires ;( yes when installing them I went #1 to plug 1, #2 to plug 2, #3 to plug 3 and I only had one more therefore it would go in plug #4 .... Long history here but the wires where mixed up therefore the engine was totally off in the timing.

Fixed that problem and the F*#^% purrs like a kitty !!!

Working in the paint job right now.... I'll post pictures tomorrow ..
It's pretty cool... It's a really odd airbrushed design but as I mentioned before this bike is for my father in-law.....the Gus is British and he has a scarf that is his favorite British thing and wanted that design in the bike (don't ask me.. Everyone has weird things and tastes . .. It has cost me every little bit of patience to figure it out and actually do it but it's done and it looks pretty cool.
Polishing the clear tomorrow and taking the pics
Stay tune

[dave500]

well done,yeah that was a bit of a red herring,and unfortunatley another case of carbs coming off and apart multiple times for an ignition issue.

[grcamna2]

Maustarman,
       Please do show some of the pictures of your paint work along with tips on your procedures and special prep work you have done to the parts.I want to get one of those nice Nighthawk S models some day...an 86' would be my prime pick when the opportunity and $ make a match.