Topic: A little trick I just did

[Whaleman]

Every winter I go over my friends 1980 750. (I know DOHC but still applies). His 41 year old carb rubber connectors were leaking as the clamps had bottomed out. In 41 years the clamps made more of a groove in the rubber than designed. The clamps just tightened down till they touched without really exerting any clamping force. Since he is 71 he did not want to buy new ones. I took 18" of electrical tape and put down on a board. I then slit it in half lengthwise with a razor knife. I then wrapped one of these tight in the groove. Reinstalled the clamps and they tighten like crazy and when fully tight still have a 1/16" gap. Dan

[Don R]

 Sometimes it's a whatever it takes situation. I've seen narrow tape too, I think it was in colors though.

[Old Scrambler]

Vinyl tape tens to go brittle and crack...............cloth tape will last for many years

[Whaleman]

Some even required two 18" wrappings to get any tension on the clamp. 10 years ago my 750K2 became hard to start and it was the connectors and I replaced them and now perfect. I also replaced my clamps with some very high quality ones sold by Carpy. Dan

[cooldrum]

For a short term fix you could use a rim strip that is cut to length to wrap the gap. Tape it and clamp it and it's good.  It's a work around.

[Alan F.]

I wonder if pinstripe tape is available in the correct width and in a material that would last?

[pjlogue]

I did something similar when I restored my '76 CB750.  Instead of electrical tape I used cork gasket material, sliced it to the width of the clamps and glued it to the inside of the clamp.  I had replaced the intake rubbers during the restoration and found the clamps would bottom out.  Not sure if the clamps had stretched or the replacement rubbers were a tad thinner  but the cork provided a tight clamp and was leak free. 

-P.

[Whaleman]

I did something similar when I restored my '76 CB750.  Instead of electrical tape I used cork gasket material, sliced it to the width of the clamps and glued it to the inside of the clamp.  I had replaced the intake rubbers during the restoration and found the clamps would bottom out.  Not sure if the clamps had stretched or the replacement rubbers were a tad thinner  but the cork provided a tight clamp and was leak free.



-P.

This would be way better than what I did. He is 71 and is not riding very much anymore. He is no mechanic and brings his bike over every Fall and I change the oil and go through it over the winter. 15 years ago he ran the bike almost out of oil and threw a rod. Took an ebay engine to fix that. In this distinct case the electrical tape will last as long as it needs to for my friend. Your idea is way better though. Dan   PS: Valves are a pain in the ass to do on the DOHC compared to our bikes.

[bryanj]

Try a cbx valve adjustment! Only ever had to do one and it took all day!

[Whaleman]

Try a cbx valve adjustment! Only ever had to do one and it took all day!

They seem to stay good longer than ours. It has been 11 years since I adjusted his valves and only had to change 3 shims for maybe .001 each. Dan

[hawaiikid]

i have the same problem with the clamp screw tightened all the way down, i just got an old bicycle inner tube  and cut donut shaped pieces out of it and put them over the intakes .

[Whaleman]

UPDATE: It worked! Bike now starts right up. Probably need to check the carb sync now. Dan