[Talisian]

This morning I helped a friend with his newly purchased 1992 Katana 600 (GSX600F I believe). The bike is stock and looks in good condition. He bought it from a friend who had left it sitting garaged for 2 and half years- it had not been winterized before being left. We did the usual maintance stuff like oil and filter, changing out the brake fluid and bleeding the brakes, new battery with full charge, the spark plugs looked good so I left those. We also took the carbs out and cleaned them with Berryman's B12 Chemtool which I've used before and really like- his carbs looks identical to mine except they had these black rubber plugs covering the pilot jets (which were totally laquered up from the old gas). One of my inner voices told me to put the plugs back as they were obviously designed to be there, but the other voice that says "fuck it" a lot convinced me to take them out since my carbs didn't have them. I can't find any earthly reason why they'd want to block off the pilot jets but since we can't get the bike to start now I need to find out about this before I start looking into other probable causes. Any insiight from you guys would be most appreciated- I need to go back over in the morning to work on it again. If it's not those rubber plugs I'll be looking at seeing if the spark plugs are getting spark.

[ 08-04-2001: Message edited by: Talisian ]

 

[Talisian]

Well, we got it running. I put those black rubber plugs back in over the idle jets- still can't figure out why they are there but when I took the old spark plugs out they were black so it appears to be running way to rich. We also put new spark plugs in after we made sure all 4 plugs were producing spark. I took it for a ride...what a boat...that thing is so much heavier then my gixxer. Still, it'll make a good starter bike for him. He's going to take a MSF course and get some good gear first. If any of you know why those plugs are there, let me know...I'm curious as hell.

[ 08-05-2001: Message edited by: Talisian ]

 

[**DONOTDELETE**]

Its a good bike to learn on, cuz even if he dumps it, nobody would know. Katunas are so ugly, nobody wants to look at them. Make sure you fit him with a Gixxer after he gets sufficient road experience or he might get a bad reputation.

Cheers,
Rob

 

[**DONOTDELETE**]

Hey while you have those carbs off take a flash light and take a look at the valves. I noticed that on my old 1100-G it had been ported polished and bored out with over sized pistons and jetted but it still did not seem to be as powerful as you would think. As I said I took carbs off and noticed there was carbon all over the valves so I shot them with carb cleaner. I started the beast and a puff of black smoke just dumped out of the pipe and then I noticed a huge increase in power. I can stand the bike up in any gear with just power. I mean a 5th gear power wheelie! Nothing rocks like a Gixxer!

 

[EarL]

Hey Talisan,

The "Black Rubber Plugs" you refer to are the vacuum take off's. When you balance the carbs, the pipes are connected to these to provide a reading. If they're uncovered, the bike will run like a pile of crap!

 

[Talisian]

Thanks for the replies guys. Earl, you misunderstood me, the black rubber plugs I am referring to are "inside" the carbs under the bowls..they are covering the pilot jets. I had to take the plugs out in order to unscrew the pilot jets and clean them. Hopefully someone will know what they are.

 

[somejeffguy]

i think i know what you're talking about.....for some reason, katana carbs have these rubber plugs below the pilot jet. i have no idea what purpose they serve.....if i remember correctly, they don't have any holes in them, right?

 

[Talisian]

Yup, no holes...it appears to me as if the bike is jetted to run without the pilot jets as when we removed them (the black plugs covering the pilot jets) it ran rich as hell.

[ 08-20-2001: Message edited by: Talisian ]