Spring & Ball Choke Stop Solution

When I rebuilt the carbs a small spring and ball came out near the choke. I could not figure out where the came from, and I felt like a fool because of it. I started searching the web and found many people with the same experience, but no solutions. Then a friend at work remembered this page: http://www.xs650.com/forum/showthread.php?t=9285. Hot Damn. It works.

Carb Rebuild . . .

Rebuilding carbs is not difficult, but in the process of cleaning I also seem to mess up. In this case I broke one of the float posts, and ended up with a spring and steel ball per carb left over. The exploded view shows the ball and spring, but I have no idea where the end up or how they remain in place. Time to call my friend Tim for some direction. Even with this issue, I mounted the carbs to test the engine. It fired and ran, but no idle. So I know we have good compression, spark and all the valves are not stuck. Also, was able to run the bike through the gears. With this mile stone completed, it is time to move on. Next steps are to remove all fluids (engine and fork oil), replace filters and fluids. I also am looking at removing the valve adjustment covers and replacing those seals. Fun, Fun, Fun

Why I have a saws-all

I spent three days of soaking, heating, and pounding to remove the old mufflers. After surrendering, I broke out the saws-all. Success!

Tools and Such

The list of tools and shop ware is slowly increasing. I am reminded why Grandpa David had so many "special" tools. He modified wrenches for many different purposes. A bent wrench for removing each manufacutures distributor, or the stand foe model A engines. Specialized tools are expensive, but sometimes necessary. Like a postion ring grove cleaner.

I am also cogitating over solvents and cleaners. The "natural" citric acid based cleaners are winning. Trying to be friendly to the environment, not damaging parts, and actually cleaning parts.

Brakes Are Nice

I had to drop the rear wheel so the rear calliper can be removed. The disk screw and calliper were so frozen this was thw only way to remove the calliper. I might replace some of the phillips and flat head screws with hex heads. Especially in hard to reach places.

The front master cylinder appears to have a c-clip with no or broken tabs for ring plyers to connect.

Look Ma' No Brakes

We tried to push the bike, and the front caliper was frozen shut. The leavers were mushy, and bleeding produced nothing. Again, years of storage caused problems. The brake fluid was a nice goo. Here is a the front caliper. It took an hour of soaking to remove the piston.

Identification

Well the side badge said DT 400. The title said RD400. And the after market manual was for an XS400.