Honda-SOHC

It's probably not new but when I went for a short ride out today I noticed that my usually  bright neutral light (LED lit) would dim slightly when I pulled in the clutch lever. Is this normal or is it something that needs sorting?

I have fitted the AGM battery from my 500 to the 400 as it is not holding it's charge as I think it should.
I use the sidelamp switch position as a D.T.R.L. option as I have a Halo style front side lamp plus an LED bulb in the rear lamp. This circuit by means of a relay activates my bar mounted LED volt meter.

At an idle of 1100rpm  with sidelights on the voltmeter reads 12.2 - 12.3 volts.
As I increase the engine rpm to 3k the voltage rises to around 13.5-13.7 volts then at 4k rpm it peaks at 14.9 volts dropping down to 14.2 - 14.3 volts. In bright sunshine it's difficult to read the volt meter so only really started looking at it as I have fitted the AGM battery.

Does this voltage range sound about right?
I had noticed that the old lead acid battery did need topping up after only 300 miles in the last 18 months.

The battery on my 400 came dry charged with the bike and loads of NOS parts but no invoice for the battery- not sure how old it is - type is marked as YB 12A-A - it looks the same as the 500 unit.
I filled it with the battery acid that came with it in 2020. It appears to loose it's charge when standingelatively quickly - I charge it up the day before I go out for a ride.

I'm thinking of getting a Powerline AGM from Tanya Batteries - I've seen the Motobatt option (expensive)- it appears to have a horizontal rather than a vertical terminal mount in the photos do they come with some sort of terminal adapter?

I have a couple of stripped threads on two seperate carb bowls that I need to Helicoil.
After a lightbulb moment I realised I had an M4 repair kit that I bought a year or so ago & never used.

I've viewed a video on U tube so know about the tang that needs knocking out. It is also obvious that my Helicoil type inserts are too long. The Tap that came in the kit is a taper type so am conscious that it will soon contact the carb body as it is screwed in. The size is shown as M4*0.7.

Any tips from someone who has done this would be appreciated, can this be done with the carbs on the mounting bracket or do I need to remove them and hold the body in a vice taking measures to avoid the jaws marking the carbs?

Is it best to use a dremel blade to reduce the length of the Helicoil or are they available in the right length without buying a hundred?
I've tapped out threads before but never fitted my own Helicoils.

White over here with a heavy downpour of hail!

Folk of a certain age will recognise the French Lass on the Honda ?

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2455 by Macabe Thiele, on Flickr

When I rebuilt the carbs on my 400 it worked out fine, runs well, no hanging throttle issues - I used the full Keyster Kit that came with the bike when I bought it from the PO. I know some folks have had issues with Keyster Kit - mine were new boxed, purchased by the PO many years ago.

Fast forward almost three years  - my 500 seems to be giving me some unexpected problems - not helped by my superficial knowledge of understanding the carb design arrangement.

A bit of background is worth a mention as they were sent by the PO to Gerben so had quite nice shiney tops & bowls.
On dismantling the carbs I found one of the two bearings in the manifold mounting bracket  was half broken presumably when the locking pin had been removed. I replaced the bracket with one sourced from Ken plus a much better shaft from Florence as mine was quite pitted. The four needles were set one groove lower than the centre position so the needle was effectively raised a notch - set slightly richer. One of my needles was bent near the tip - I do not belive it was bent by me but cannot be 100% certain only 99% certain it was not me. I purchased a set of 500 needles & emulsion tubes from DS as the kit was not too expensive. I have fitted the needle clips into the centre position of the five grooves on all four sliders. Carbs only bench sync at the moment.

On first start up the bike ran reasonably well but by the next day I noticed that my petrol pipe that came with my temporary tank kit was sticky on the outside. When I started the 500 the next day  it was clearly not running properly on number one carb as the manifold was almost cold, plus the float valve was now leaking.  I've binned the crap petrol pipe, removed the carb bowl on number one carb only  & cleaned the screw in jet that had a small amount of muck in it. I opened the petrol tap with the bowl off and a bit of muck was washed out as well.

At the moment I am mentally resisting taking the carbs off - as Roo has said I need to take them off and do a proper check on the other three carbs. I'm now resigned to taking them off when I'm in the right head space. I hate having to do things twice.

I fired her up again yesterday and there was some heat on number one exhaust manifold but nothing  like the other three. At the moment I have all four carbs set with the side screw 1.5 turns out. After about 5 minutes of engine running with my Stand Fan blowing air over the front of the engine I removed the spark plugs to find 2,3 & 4 all sooty.

I understand the basic principale of the main jet/slider needle - it's very similar to the old SU car designs.
I am not sure when you adjust the Brass coloured side screw what that actually does - is it just essentially for the engine idle mixture?
The other jet that screws into the carb body inside the bowl - the Pilot Jet - is the Brass coloured side screw linked to this internally?

I know we understand what a sooty plug looks like but added the photo to show how mine looked.

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500 plugs by Macabe Thiele, on Flickr
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I had some new tools from Wendy for my recent birthday - undecided between Metric & Imperial so she went for the safe option.

Edible ones!

.Edible Tools by Macabe Thiele, on Flickr