You meet the nicest people ...

[Lemansman]

Hello

I've never owned a Honda before but fate has chosen me to continue the story of masonmart's Dresda Honda lightweight.

It is my first Honda but not my first rodeo and I have previously spent far too much time and money on Moto Guzzi, Laverda, Ducati, Triumph, Triton, Dresda and Cagiva mechanical artworks.

I live in North London and work in Wandsworth so am a not infrequent visitor to the Ace Cafe which is a convenient place to cool down and reattach things.

As a lurker on the forum I've been impressed by the depth and quality of the exchanges here and I hope to add my two penny worth before I or the bike splutter out.

Here's my Honda..

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Cheers.....tim

[Nurse Julie]

Welcome to the forum Tim.

[Johnny4428]

Hi Tim, welcome to the forum! I’m sure it will be a welcome break from the machines you have had in the past. Loads of knowledge and banter on here.

[Matt_Harrington]

Welcome Tim. I used to chill from computing by tinkering with my bikes....
Matt

[Laverda Dave]

Welcome to the forum Tim from a fellow gezzer in the smoke! I feel your pain re: Laverda, Triton and Triumphs The Honda's have never given any trouble.
I used to go the Ace a lot but now visit the Bike Shed in Shoreditch on a regular basis (they show Moto GP live on a big screen and some of the builds they have in there are amazing ).
Enjoy the forum, its a great place, very friendly and lots of help.

[Rozabikes Tim]

Welcome Tim from Tim.

[McCabe-Thiele (Ted)]

Welcome Tim to the sohc community - like all families there are some ocassional differences of opinion but we do kiss & make up eventually.

[Spitfire]

That's an impressive looking bke you have there.

Cheers

Dennis

[Lemansman]

Thanks all for your hospitality.

A bit tardy to reply as pulling the carbs off again to address the pesky sticking floats.

Thinking of lapping the needle valves in with some autosol and a cunning use of tweezers.

She's got 627B carbs and I'd like to get them sorted before the temptation to buy CR26's gets too much.

Hark at me! Barely got here and already fishing for advice.

The money may have gone but the bikes from my past remain, mostly on the road with only a Guzzi T3 in pieces while I fit a new clutch.  I'll list them on my profile once I've fixed this petrol foot shower.

I too go the the Bike Shed in Shoreditch when I'm feeling flush, the food and vibe there is great.

Cheers...tim

[Oddjob]

If that picture (avatar) is you then you remind me a lot of Jeff Daniels, Dumb and Dumber fame.

[McCabe-Thiele (Ted)]

I read so many posts about sticking floats causing fuel to overflow I do wonder if sometimes it's a rush to judgement about the cause.

Clearly in some cases yes it can be float valve issues - but I suspect sometimes it's just lack of use or caused by the fuel level falling to very low levels.
When I first had my 400 running after over a decade of standing before I stripped the engine I had to strip the carbs as they were stuck solid. When I eventually put fuel in a cleaned tank the carbs flooded soon after turning the tap on. After a couple of cycles of taking the carbs off and re-fitting the problem did not go away so I sort of ignored it - got the bike running  gave the bike some left to right swishes and it stopped flooding
 On a few occasions over the summer when petrol almost ran out  I switched to reserve the flooding would return but disappear when I rocked the bike from side to side. This has led me to believe that the floats stick when the fuel level is very low so the leverage at the valve fails to turn off the fuel. Before resorting to carb removal I would want to be sure it's not just caused by the float sticking due to having low or poor fuel in the bowls..

[Lemansman]

Ha! Thanks Oddjob

Movie star good looks.

Weren't you in films too?

[Lemansman]

And thank you Ted, carbs are off (not a big job on the 6th time)

I had cleaned them up in the ultrasonic and replaced the float valve seats but not the needles as the, not-from-Keihin rebuild needles were nasty so I re-used the existing.

Figured that they might not have matched too well so have lapped one in, in situ, and rigged up a bicycle track pump to pressurise the fuel line to that bank.

With the carbs sitting on the intakes (almost horizontal but enough for the floats to push on the springs ) I can clearly see that the lapped valve is now sealing and the other one is not.

I'm hoping that I've accidentally found a way to check the 22mm float height at the point the valve actually closes without soaking myself in petrol.

I'll take a picture for a laugh, could be dumb, or dumber...

[Lemansman]

Using a bike pump to test and set float valves

A bit Heath Robinson but seems to do the trick.

Sloshing side to side didn't stop the flow for me, nor tapping with a mallet, so fingers crossed...

...then I can move on to the jetting :-)

[McCabe-Thiele (Ted)]

I had cleaned them up in the ultrasonic and replaced the float valve seats but not the needles as the, not-from-Keihin rebuild needles were nasty so I re-used the existing.

Figured that they might not have matched too well so have lapped one in, in situ, and rigged up a bicycle track pump to pressurise the fuel line to that bank.

Ah did not realise you had new seats but used the old needles - I've read on this site about lapping them to suit - sounds promising.
Six cycles of removal wow I had enough with just 2 or 3 but I had the 400 airbox to struggle with.