This is a follow-up to a post I made earlier about the bike running rich and having a sooty exhaust. Lots of good advice from everyone and a special thanks to Sluggo for getting me the spark plug socket MM. Mine is indeed 18MM not 17MM as my manual said. Note: this is not the factory manual but a Cylmers. Okay, with the plug pulled, I found it to be "dry fouled" with lots of black carbon. Next, I pulled the Carburetor and pulled the top end to check the Diaphragm assembly. Yes, some may have guessed already, that the white spacer was missing. On Monday, I hope to pick up another one and replace it. Because, I'm in California and we have strict pollution guidelines, I feel I need to make this as factory spec. as possible. I'm debating whether to pull the float assemble apart while the Carb. is out or just leave it alone. I guess, I could at least check the Jetting sizes if I did. Again thanks to all who posted their opinions. 8)

Okay, the project is over and here are the results 8) 8). I used three #4 brass washers, I purchased from a local hardware store. I needed to increase the I.D. and grind down the O.D. so they would fit the throat and needle. I adjusted the idle mixture 1-1/2 turns out. It required a small adjustment to the idle to bring it back down. I rode it today on the freeway reaching 80+ MPH for a short period. The sooty exhaust at idle seems to be gone and of course the backfiring that probably caused the original owner to remove the spacer is back. It isn't unbearable to me so I will live with it.

Thanks again for the help!

Thanks for the tip . I hadn't thought of that :'(.

I can use any little washer, no matter the material it's made from? I also found the main jet to be a 150 not the 125 called for in the specs. for a California bike. I think perhaps the previous owner may have had an after market muffler he removed before trading it in and had changed the jet. If I understand the jetting sizes the larger the number the richer the mixture. I will look in my washers drawer and see if I can find the requisite number.

Okay, Thanks Slavy. Now, I won't change the main jet but leave it at 150 and just get the spacers. I'm off to the hardware store, to see if I can find some plastic washers to fit, per your suggestion. I'll post again, after I get everything back together, on how it performs. It looks like this should solve the rich idling smell and the sooty exhaust.

Try using #4 size washers and spin them down using a drill. I used stainless but try to get them in brass, easier to spin down. When you cut them down you only need to take off about 1/8 inch from the outside diameter. Two washers were close to half the thickness of the white spacer, didn't have a mike handy so couldn't measure anything. luck with it

marty62253 wrote on 12/31/69 at 16:00:02:



I tried #4 washers from RS and their diameter was to big for my carb's slider. I wound up filing the washer down rather than grinding the washers. They were cheapos and several in the package were not fully punched. (hanging Chads?)
I suspect they are stamped out and the O.D. is not checked.