Author Topic: Help me get my needles out!!  (Read 993 times)

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flynjb

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Help me get my needles out!!
« on: September 11, 2005, 11:44:32 AM »
I have a 74 CB550, and I think from reading all this good info that i need to raise my needles in my carbs to run ok, but try as i might I can't seems to get the little buggers out....anybody have pics that show how to get them out? I open the tops of my carbs and bend down the tabs holding the bolts but once i get them out, there's only the pivot point for the throttle control from the main bar that controls all the carbs.  How do I get past the arm and get to the needles?! It's kill'n me here, i wanna be riding but my bike's heating up and won't run over 4-5k RPM's, I've synced the carbs, got the float levels the same, and it seems to be getting all the gas it can handle, so any ideas from anybody? I'm kinda new with these hondas and i live in a really small town that has no sop to look at their manuel or ask them questions, so any help would be good help, I'm about to dump the newly rebuilt carbs i just got and buy another set just to see if i can make it run!  PLEASE HELP!!! 

Offline nopivnick

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Re: Help me get my needles out!!
« Reply #1 on: September 11, 2005, 01:10:09 PM »
remove the slides from the carb body, disconnect the 'lever arm' by popping out it's ball joint and you'll see two philips head screws that attach the hinge plate to the inner bottom of the slide. rotate the plate so it's 'tooth' lines up with the virtical slit in the slide and remove. the needle is kept loosely in place under the plate with a small c-clip but it slides right out.

Offline Bodi

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Re: Help me get my needles out!!
« Reply #2 on: September 11, 2005, 01:21:21 PM »
OK, you should see 2 bolt heads, one holding the lift arm to the shaft that rotates to lift the needles and one at the top of the lift pivot assembly. Undo the one on the shaft and the lever will lift the slide freely. Lift it as far as possible and pop the pivot ball out of the side of the lift pivot assembly. You should be able to lift the lever out of the way and pull the slide right out. There are 2 screws holding the lifter to the top of the slide, remove these and the lifter turns a bit to come off revealing the top of the needle and the clip that keeps it in and sets the height. Your needles may have multiple grooves or just one; if several, putting the clip higher (nearer the flat end) makes a leaner mixture, closer to the pointy end makes it richer. If there's just one groove you can put a small washer under the clip and make it richer a bit.
Don't drop the tiny clip, they're pretty hard to find - on the floor or as a replacement part.
Reassembly is pretty much the reverse, if you can't gently persuade the ball to go back in the arm then remove the cap bolt, directly underneath is a (graphite?) thingy that presses on the top of the ball. Probably just loosening the cap screw will let you get the ball in easily but you can take that thingy out and get it ine with no hassle. Don't remove any of the parts underneath the "thingy", there's a few of them and the correct order of reassembly may not be obvious.
Doing this to the carbs will change balance slightly, you should get the needle height you are happy with then do a carb balance after the stack is together for the last time.
Remember the needle just affects from about 1/4 to 3/4 throttle mixture. The main jet does it all from 3/4 or so to full, and the bleed screw and pilot jet dominate below 1/4 throttle. Best practice is to do the main jet first (full throttle plug chops) then the needle (1/2 throttle chops) then the pilot jet and airscrew.

flynjb

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Re: Help me get my needles out!!
« Reply #3 on: September 11, 2005, 01:28:13 PM »
ok, thanks guys, that helps alot! i'll work on raising my needles some but i looked through all the old posts and did searches for diagrams with good detail, anybody got some or know where some r? and my next question is which jets r my mains? r they the ones next to the slow jets in the bowl? or r they around the needles in the top of the carb? and i guess my next ? is how do i get to them to change them?

Offline Einyodeler

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Re: Help me get my needles out!!
« Reply #4 on: September 11, 2005, 05:29:49 PM »
Here are some pics to help with the great advice you`re getting.
The first one shows the jets.
#2 Remove the bolt that connects to the pivot bar
#3 With a pair of needle nose pliers lift up the slide
#4 After pulling the slide out you will see the 2 screws,very important to use the correct phillips head driver as they strip easily
#5 Remove the 2 screws and rotate the assembly 90 degrees and pull out
#6 Needle with clip
#7 & #8 Remember that after you get the main jet out you will need to gently tap the tube out to clean the tiny little holes
#9 & #10 When setting the float height make sure the float tab is just touching the spring without depressing it
#11 & #12 Reassemble in the reverse order
« Last Edit: December 26, 2006, 03:52:06 PM by Glenn Stauffer »
1972 CB500 - 1973 CB500 - 1974 CB550K - 1975 CB550F - 1975 CB750F - 1976 CJ360 - 1983 CR480 - 1970 BSA A65T Thunderbolt



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