Hi everyone

Need a little help if possible I'm pulling my hair out. Bike has been in for some work and a fairly large bill and still not right.

A little background , dad brought bike brand new had some minor mods fitted and dyno tuned and ran perfect for 20 years.
I believe the mods were
High compression Pistons
Mikuni hsr45 all jetted on a dyno
Screaming eagle high lift cams
Vance and Hines 2 into one exhaust.

Bike sat for 4 years and dad told me he's is passing it down and I should come take it on so I did.

I rode it for a month or so but discovered the valve stem oil seals had gone hard and cracked up. As well as this bike needed manual compression releases fitted as it was hard to start hot and kept making a horrid starter motor noise.

Bike went into workshop for compression releases, valve seals, headstock bearings etc etc and a general look over and tune up.

So got bike back and it cut out on me after a mile, didn't think too much of it but as I was riding home in traffic it got worse and worse to the point every time clutch was pulled it died. Mechanic came collected it again, stripped it down and said carb airways were blocked. Cleaned it up, fitted new seals and apparently set it up and told me it was ok.

Well it isn't right he's gonna come get it again in two weeks and see what's going on. But over the phone he was a little off and said he didn't understand what was happening as he rode tested it blah blah.

I took it for a ride myself and noticed at light throttle under steady load it would hesitate and splutter. Not a lot but you could feel it wasn't crisp and smooth. And he cylinders sounded a little uneven

Went to see my old fella who obviously has owned this bike forever and he tried adjusting it, but couldn't make it run right.

Well I believe the bike is running way too rich, the plugs are black and sooty, under hard load the exhaust spits black smoke I'm also sure he said to me on the phone it has to run rich??

I have myself again tried to adjust the air screw with no luck. With brand new plugs It seems to run fine with the choke pulled out as soon as chokes pushed back in it won't run properly it dies. And again plugs are black and sooty.

Also when I got it back from the mechanic the long idle adjuster was screwed almost all the way in. Dad said in its prime the bike use to run with that idle adjuster screwed in around 4 turns.

I have no clue what's going on with it and it driving me mad.

Oh and on top of this there's a leak coming from around the primary area. He's supposedly checked it twice and said he couldn't find one from either the drain bung or primary seal. But guess what there's oil on my floor and around the bung and oil on the frame from the wind blowing the leak.

 

Well first off it sounds like you need a new mechanic.
Air ways clogged??? Really????

Black sooty plugs is a sure sign of running too rich.
Sounds more like you need to go down on your idle jet.

 

To be honest I feel like I wanna punch the guy square on his nose. It's funny because this guy in my area is raved about. Suppose to be the best around and all that jazz. But my first time dealing with him is not great.

He told me that he has downsized the jets both pilot and main. The thing is the bigger ones were in there for 15/20 years and it always ran perfect.

I have a feeling maybe a dyno setup is the way to go?

Something I don't know the answer to is would fuel
Make a difference? Regular fuel here is 96-97 octane. I use the expensive fuel which is 99 octane.

 

Agree. First step would be to have somebody who knows what they are doing clean the carb correctly. Then rejet if you still need to.

 

It does on mine.
I have to run the super or the bike diesels when I shut it off.

 

Is the the 96 WideGlide? Would help to either fill out your profile, or indicate the year/model when posting a question.

I think your mechanic is whacked. The bike appears, from your description, to be running rich. I've only got experience with the CV carb, so you'll have to wait for one of the Mikuni guys to share their wisdom. The bike dying like that could be manifold seals. They dry out and it doesn't take much to suck air and kill the bike. Would it stay running if you revved the engine above 2000 rpm? If so, it's likely you've got a leak somewhere.

If the higher compression pistons have bumped you up above 10:1, then you should be running 91-93 octane fuel. I don't think you Brits have to deal with the crappy ethanol blends we have shoved down our throats over here. For what it's worth, I run 91-93 in my stock compression EVO, even though The MoCo says I can run 87 octane E10 (10% Ethanol blend).

But I don't think fuel octane rating is your issue. If you're not doing the work yourself, find a NEW shop, with a dyno and a wrench that knows how to use it to tune a carburetor.

Do you know if it's primary oil or transmission oil?

 

Ethanol in your fuel? It'll play havoc with your jets. Trust me.

Air cleaner element clean (and dry?)

 

An air leak will lean out the motor not richen it up so I would not be looking there at the start.
I wonder if he cocked up the valve seals and oil is getting past them into the cylinders. That would make the plugs blacken up as well as puff smoke out the pipes.

I would not be taking the bike back to him UNLESS he commits to doing the right thing and NOT charging you to fix his mistakes.

 

More Octane? No. Higher Octane Rating? Probably due to introducing more Ethanol.

Sounds like a Typical Big Carb set-up on an EVO with Drag-Pipes to me...If Mufflers???? IDK