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General Category >> Rubber Side Down! >> carb apart, Raptor on order, what next?
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Message started by savagesarah on 09/29/11 at 22:26:08

Title: carb apart, Raptor on order, what next?
Post by savagesarah on 09/29/11 at 22:26:08

Hi Y'all,
My poor ol' girl hasnt gone over a 100 miles in the past 8-9 years, the last time I started it, it ran like crap, the p.o. had told me when I bought it that it needed a carb overhaul. He tried to clear it up by dumping some gas additive into the tank, and boy did that fuel smell strange!
So I poured over all of the posts I could find about the carb and petcock problems, removed the carb and have it apart on the workbench (no, its not my first carb overhaul). It looks pretty clean actually, but I put it in for a soak in carb cleaner, and went about rinsing some of the foul smelling gasoline out of the tank (with the petcock still attached). No matter what position I had the petcock in, fuel would dribble out, and I decided to switch it to the manual raptor (since all of my previous bikes have always had manual ones, I'm used to switching it off after riding). As a side note, I had a little scooter moped for a couple of years, it would die going up a hill because it didnt generate enough vacuum to hold the petcock open. So I have had the other end of the vacuum petcock problem already.
The next thing I will do before reassembly is pull the plug over the idle mixture screw (idle air bleed? whatever). At this point I dont want to do any further mods, like re-jetting until I get it back together and try it. Eventually tho, I would like to ditch the muffler with something throaty and install a K and N air filter, so I can wake up the performance a bit. I realize that will require rejetting and fussing, but I will save that for the rainy season.
Anything else you guys can think of I should do while the carb is apart? The bike is an '86 with just over 6K on the clock (yes, thats right-garage potato) I suspect the lack of riding will have taken its toll on other things, but I think I need to get it running and rideable just to figure out what.
So, your thoughts?
thanks in advance

Title: Re: carb apart, Raptor on order, what next?
Post by verslagen1 on 09/29/11 at 22:49:06

sounds like you got things well in hand.
but you don't mention oil change, new sparky or filters so I will.

next is the shut down quirk of the 4 speeds. On shut off the engine will on occasion spin backwards. This is bad for the 4 speeds. The 5 speeds have a torque limiter in the starter gear train that eliminates the problem.

When you come to shut her off, leave it in gear and as she starts to spin down, snub the spin. grab the front brake tight and let out the clutch slowly.

Title: Re: carb apart, Raptor on order, what next?
Post by savagesarah on 09/29/11 at 23:01:04

Yeah, it will be getting those changed, and I will go over the bike, looking for loose nut/bolts (besides the one gripping the handlebars!) and lubing the chain and cables, etc. The bike hasnt been ridden much in the last few years, but I suspect the p.o. did absolutely NO maintenance to it either. He bought it for his gf, who really didnt want it nor want to learn how to ride so it sat in his garage. The only thing he did to it was drop something on top of the tank and put a dent in it!
But thanks for the reminders.

Title: Re: carb apart, Raptor on order, what next?
Post by drums1 on 09/30/11 at 04:48:31

I have an '87 that was resurrected much the same as yours. Have you gotten a new battery? That's the 1st thing I had to do. Also, check your tires for dry rot cracking. Mine were toast after 6 years in a garage. Other than that, with tank and seat off, I went along cleaning up electrical connections, checking for corrosion and such. After that, ya, oil change, spark plug , gas filter and enjoy the ride!!
P.S. This bike has a belt, not a chain, so don't lube it too much. (teehee)

Title: Re: carb apart, Raptor on order, what next?
Post by justin_o_guy2 on 09/30/11 at 05:34:41

I take mine in to the shop when its time to lube the chain,,

Title: Re: carb apart, Raptor on order, what next?
Post by savagesarah on 09/30/11 at 08:22:18

Oh yeah, now I remember one of the reasons I bought this thing! No chain to lube! I gonna miss having to hoist my bike from the rafters every few hundred miles. I have three other bikes, so I'm still gonna have that fun, but at least not on this one.
One of things I need to fix is strictly cosmetic, there is a little corrosion on the right side case. On one of my other bikes, I used 3M kit for taking the glaze off of auto headlights, its kind of a sanding/buffing kit. It worked pretty well on the aluminum cases, and they were worse than this one. Do you guys have any other ideas?
Also, what kind of spark plug should I get? Should I go with a stock replacement, or something like an iridium tip?
And what kind of oil do you guys think is best? Full synthetic, blend, or regular?

Title: Re: carb apart, Raptor on order, what next?
Post by youzguyz on 09/30/11 at 08:51:20

Anything sitting that much and that long will have rubber component issues. Front fork seals may not last much longer.

Oil.
Use Klotz and bill67 will be your friend forever.
A lot of us use Rotella T6 Synthetic Diesel Oil. It's fairly inexpensive (available at most Wally Worlds), and holds up well. I try to change every 5000 miles but have gone 7000+ without issues.

Spark Plug
I like the Iridium. Seems to work better for me.