carb cables, need help.

[Justin07]

Hi guys, I took off the carbs to clean them on my 98 speedster with twin 787's. After re-installing the carbs and hooking up the cables the cable with the rod that hooks up the top butterflies doesn't reach the set screw. When I took it off the cable was sticking out past the the set screw about half an inch. I don't remember if the butterfly was straight or not. I'll attach a picture, maybe you guys know if that butterfly should be straight up or slightly closed so I can hook up the cable.
Thanks,

Justin

 

[LouDoo]

That's the choke cable. Are you sure you have the choke pushed all the way in?

Lou

 

[Dr Honda]

Yep... I'm with Lou. Make sure the choke at the helm is pushed in. Also... make sure the cable isn't pulled tight somewhere else.


The choke butterflies should be straight, up and down.

 

[Justin07]

Thanks for the replies, the choke cable is all the way in. I got it pulled enough to hook it up with the butterflies straight up and down, but it's a bit stiff when pulling the choke handle now, maybe it got kinked somehow.
Also now the starboard side engine that I cleaned the carbs on seems to be revving higher at just under 4000rpm out of the water. Engine runs good tho.
What should it rev at? The port engine revs around 3500rpm and I didn't touch that one.

 

[Dr Honda]

You are looking for a 1500 rpm idle, in the water. Out of the water, that's generally around 3000.

 

[Justin07]

So i just had the boat out on the water today. Idle was around 1800, the boat ran great really strong low end and nice top end
Rode around for a couple hours, then on the way back in, the engine I cleaned the carbs on wouldn't go over 5000rpm. I killed it and tried to re-start. It took forever to start which was the problem I was originally having after sitting on the water for a couple hours. Finally got it started and it started backfiring. So i just rode back on 1 engine. I also noticed that tuned pipe was leaking water from the bottom and the port side engine wasn't doing that. Pulled the plugs and the front one was dry and brownish and the rear one was soaked.
Any help would be great
Thanks

 

[dbracela]

Sounds eerily familiar. Check the compression. Mine did almost exactly the same thing. Fried a piston.

 

[Justin07]

uh oh, not what i wanted to hear. I'm going to do a compression test whenever the rain stops.

 

[dbracela]

Mine was leaking out of the regulator. Could be completely different, have my fingers crossed for you

 

[Justin07]

I did the compression test pto side with the fouled plug was 140 psi and mag side with the dry brownish plug was 135 psi. They should be over 150 right? Not sure what the low end of the spec is.

 

[Justin07]

I just did another compression test on a cold engine. Pto 142psi mag 141 psi so I don't think this is the problem.
I hooked up the hose to check for that water leak and it's coming right out of the bottom of the exhaust pipe(pic attached) is the pipe just bad or does this indicate a different problem? Also noticed a little moisture in the air box most likely because this pipe is leaking right next to it.

 

[Sportster-2001-951C-Stock]

Hi, that stream of water is coming from the "freeze" plug, these are there because of the manifold casting process. Following the casting, "freeze" plugs are installed and welded up, sometimes they corrode through and begin leaking.

Some have experienced success removing the manifold and having an aluminum welder repair it, others have just used JB-weld epoxy to attache a plug (such as a coin) to the outside. If you go the route of epoxying something on to seal the leak, first clean and remove paint and grease from the surface.

If you have been ingesting water there may be engine damage, such as cracked pistons, bent connecting rods, smashed bearings.

A malfunctioning fuel system causing a lean condition rapidly leads to burned pistons, cylinder scoring and bearing damage, so if the engine isn't running correctly make sure to repair it and don't keep running it hoping it might start running better on it's own, a recipe for engine damage.

 

[Justin07]

So I took the pipe off and welded it up. Took off the carbs and checked them over again and changed the plugs. Took it out on the water this weekend and it ran great.
Where is the adjustment for the throttle levers? The port side lever needs to be tightened up to match the starboard engine.

 

[racerxxx]

Good call on welding the pipe, JB is just a band-aid. You probably should have had all 4 done, the rest are probably not far behind.

This is done in the water.

Start engines, put one throttle at 3K RPM
Put the other lever in the same position, note the RPM of that engine.
Stop engines.
Adjust the cable end in the throttle/shifter bracket for the engine that is off.
Repeat the process until you get it right.

Make sure you remove the trim plate for the throttle shifter housing on land--you don't want to lose those screws in the water. Then remove the 4 flat head screws that hold the throttle/shifter to the boat. Be generous with the WD-40, those flat heads will strip just looking at them. Then you get to pull the entire mess out so you can get to the adjusters. But before you remove that assembly, layer up the painters tape so you don't scratch the heck out of your boat(or don't if you don't care about scratches). It's a beastly control system, do not yank on it and you will probably have just enough room to get it out an make the adjustments. Perhaps cutting the cable ties that hold the cables in their places back in the engine compartment will net you some more slack. It's a lot of leg work to get it done, mine are off just a little, but it's actually a comfortable position for my hand to rest on while cruising.

 

[Sportster-2001-951C-Stock]

Yeah, one of the things we used to do back in the day when we could still street race was set up our transmission kick-down cables properly, too funny tromping another car that should be faster but isn't b/c the tranny won't downshift!

Pull the cable just tight enough so the throttle plates are fully open but not so tight as to pull the bell crank off the throttle plate shaft?