Triumphrat

daytonacharlie · 01-25-2007

I've got my bike torn down at the moment for a complete fuel system overhaul.
My gas mileage has been steadily going down lately and there's gas weapage at #1 carb when on the sidestand.
I've removed the carbs and am in the process of cleaning and rebuilding them (new floats, needle/seat, gaskets, and o-rings).
And since I've got everything torn apart I'm servicing the air filter which you have to remove the carbs (bad design) to get to anyway.

I'll also be replacing the clamps holding the carb boots to engine (they've all stretched too much to hold snug anymore), the gas filter and one of the rubber carb boots needs replacing too.

I discovered when removing the float bowls that the rust in my tank had become a lot more serious than I'd previously thought. The in-line gas filter only catches the large particles of rust coming out of the fuel tank but the tiny micron sized particulate pieces (like dust particles) had accumulated around the rubber tips of the float needles causing them not to seal properly. This along with the rubber tips being just plain worn out would explain my lousy fuel mileage. The whole insides of the float bowls and the floats themselves are covered in rust.
I'll be removing the rust from inside the gas tank then applying sealer as well. Ahh winter projects... it's all good!

Carb Rebuild

I'll be adding more photos as I complete the job
dc

daytonacharlie · 01-26-2007

progress is being made...

more to come...

carb rebuild

[ This message was edited by: daytonacharlie on 2007-02-05 13:06 ]

bigern2300 · 01-27-2007

Most important! The seats for the needles are held in and sealed by o-rings. theses tend to shrink causing fuel to flood the carb. Be sure to replace these! Bigern

tealetm · 01-27-2007

I think you've inspired me to rebuild my carbs as well...

daytonacharlie · 01-28-2007

Quote:

On 2007-01-27 12:30, bigern2300 wrote:
Most important! The seats for the needles are held in and sealed by o-rings. theses tend to shrink causing fuel to flood the carb. Be sure to replace these! Bigern

Thanks Bigern,
You are correct, I'm replacing the entire float assembly with new ones which of course will include new o-rings. I'm sure as old as my carb's internal parts were all the o-rings and needle seats were bleeding past.
I've got the carbs put back together now, just have to clean the tank and coat the inside with sealer. Hopefully get things back together over the next week.

tealetm,
There's no better time than mid-winter to tear down that Speed Triple, you're not riding it much anyway... or maybe you are but better now than when it's warm and not running good (like mine this past summer). Go for it!

dc

[ This message was edited by: daytonacharlie on 2007-03-15 19:45 ]

daytonacharlie · 02-05-2007

Rebuild done, bike runs like new!
While performing the rebuild I discovered that my carb boots were all cracked and had to be replaced too. I had 3 new Trident 900 boots I'd found on ebay and decided to use them but after removing my Daytona's boots to compare them found that the Trident ones were a 1/4" shorter (I made a post about this elsewhere). I ordered 1 more carb boot from my dealer, installed the boots and the rebuilt carbs.
The shorter boots have not made any performance difference that I can detect, I have as much if not more top end power than before.
The biggest advantage is that I have a lot more clearance when removing and installing the carbs. They went back in with almost no interference unlike before where I had to struggle to squeeze them in between the carb boots and the airbox.
The airbox slides forward on it's frame rails to the carbs and is still held firmly into place as before. The 1/4" gap is now taken up at the junction between the back of the air box and the auxiliary chambers (side air boxes). All in all I'd say this was a very successful mod and I'd recommend it to all Daytona 1200 owners.

Carb Rebuild

dc

[ This message was edited by: daytonacharlie on 2007-02-06 09:33 ]

tealetm · 02-05-2007

So how much were the new carb parts from triumph?

And honestly did you notice a difference? I had mine apart when I first got the bike, but haven't touched them in 12k miles

daytonacharlie · 02-05-2007

Quote:

On 2007-02-05 17:41, tealetm wrote:
So how much were the new carb parts from triumph?

And honestly did you notice a difference? I had mine apart when I first got the bike, but haven't touched them in 12k miles

tealetm,
Around $200 for the carb parts (after my RAT discount) and another $25 for the rubber carb boots but that's for a 4 cylinder engine. Your triple would be cheaper. I went ahead and replaced all four sets of floats and the float needles. Some would say why replace the floats when only the needles were need. But other sources I trust would say floats don't always "float" the way they used to when you have as many years and miles as I had on my bike. Not to mention the floats being covered with thick rust.

Age, wear, cracked carb boots, and rust from the tank in the carbs had all conspired to cause my bike's performance to slowly deteriorate over time. Because of all these issues the result of the rebuild was, in my case, a significant improvement. After installing all the new gaskets, o-rings, and float assemblies along with new carb boots the bike now runs like new!

I'd say if your bike has 50,000 miles or is more than 10 years old you should at least check the float needles and carb boots for wear and cracks. I know my bike runs a LOT better now. For example, because the float needle seats were not sealing, causing too rich a fuel mixture thus causing the plugs to foul. I was only getting 29-33 mpg at best. The bike would also bog down at around 7500 rpm so I knew I had problems, I just didn't know how bad till I took everything apart. But now after the rebuild, cruising along at 70 I can pull back slightly on the throttle and roar past 100 in the time it takes to read this. So yes, In my case it made a huge difference!

dc

[ This message was edited by: daytonacharlie on 2007-02-16 16:55 ]

daytonacharlie · 02-16-2007

I've now gone through three tankfulls of gas since the rebuild and am still amazed at how much better the bike runs since the carb rebuild. The biggest surprise is not how much better it runs at low and midrange but how much more top end it now has. I'm hoping I'll get better gas mileage eventually but this thing is such a kick I can't seem to keep my wrist out of the throttle long enough to find out, come on spring!!!

tealetm · 02-22-2007

Well yesterday I pulled the carbs out, ripped them apart (nicely ripped that is) and cleaned them. They weren't too bad at all- didn't need to be taken apart. However, I did notice that my vaccum line to the petcock was kinked so that may have been causing the poor performance. We'll see this weekend!

It wasn't that bad, I had the whole thing apart and back and running in 2 hours.