How to remove and refit CCT's on the Firestorm

[sirch345]

Hey there Chris,
compliments of the season to you ,I hope the new year has started well.
I have a request , I lent my Firestorm to my brother in law who was over from Australia over the Christmas break to go touring for a few days & while she seams to run ok the idle is all over the place, very unusual as she has ticked like a swiss watch all the time I have owned her. I am thinking it must be fuel, maybe he got some bad gas somewhere ? but before I start tearing things apart I would be interested to hear what you think & maybe point me in the right direction before I charge in & pull the carbs to bits. I did spray some carb cleaner around thinking I may have developed an air leak but there was no discernable change in engine speed so cross that off, possible sticky choke plunger perhaps ? any advice you have will be appreciated
cheers
Steve

Hi Steve, And the very same back to you thanks.

It sounds like it could be a fuelling problem as you suggest.

Chokes definitely worth checking out

(1) It might be worth checking the carbs for balance if not done recently.

(2) Depending how old your spark plugs are they may need replacing.

(3) Check all the hoses under the fuel tank for possible splits and cracks etc, including the vacuum pipes.

(4) I did wonder about your aftermarket airfilter at the time of fitting, but seeing as the bike had been running fine with it I think you can rule that out.

(5) Has your bike still got the standard OEM HT coils fitted? Or has someone fitted coil-on-cap type spark plug caps, if so checking the wiring on them could be worthwhile.

That should be enough for you to get on with before stripping the carbs.

Others may post up with some ideas of their own

Good luck with it,

Chris.

[Coasty]

Hey Chris
thanks for all the info,
she was completely stock & unmodified when I got her except for the Remus cans so has the factory coil set up,
it came with a big 40l Ventura bag & pack rack so I think the po used her for touring,
The mods I have done are VFR bars, 25mm foot peg brackets & a front fender extender so the muck from the gravel road doesn't get just everywhere.
I guess she is the Honda Firestorm "adventure" edition she is both the dirtiest & most washed storm in the country.
I checked the plugs visually, made sure they were tight & the caps were seated correctly, I will replace them if only just to rule them out,
ran through all the fuel & vacuum lines which all look good,
pulled the chokes out of the carbs they didn't appear to be stuck in any way, the choke cables are quite tight to operate so maybe they aren't allowing the plungers to seat perfectly ?
seeing as I was that far in I pulled the carbs, drained them & didn't find any water or dirt, checked all the jets etc nothing blocked or obviously wrong, whose idea was it to put those bloody springs in with the diaphragm's ? that's an art in itself to get those little buggers back together !
the air fuel mixture screws were set at 2 1/4 on the front & 1 3/4 on the rear
anyway, fired her up & she sat & idled pretty good, so went for a 100k loop with a bit of freeway, back country roads etc, fresh tank of fuel, she did quit on me a couple of times before the fresh fuel but could also have been a bit cold
I am going to run for a couple of weeks not using the choke at all, then a couple of weeks using the choke on cold starts & see what transpires,
I don't have the gear to do the carb balance or the tool to set the air mixture screws but I have one on order & I will get on with sorting the carb balancing gear which has been on the to do list for far too long,
meanwhile she is running ok at the moment but will continue to work thru it.
thanks again for the help & sharing your knowledge, it is much appreciated
cheers
Steve

[sirch345]

Hey Steve,

That all sounds good, may be you dislodged a bit of dirt in one of the carbs when you stripped them down.
At the very least you've given it a good check over.

Yes, those springs are, shall I say a bit of a challenge to get back in

Here's a link on How to Balance your Carb's: https://www.vtr1000.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?t=18430

Chris.

PS. I just noticed this:

Hey Chris
thanks for all the info,

the air fuel mixture screws were set at 2 1/4 on the front & 1 3/4 on the rear

cheers
Steve

The rear fuel screw should be out further than the front, say 1/4 of a turn more, your figures show the opposite way round

Here's a link of Carb Set Up: https://www.vtr1000.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?t=28922