Damn you throttle cable!...& other annoying repairs

[The549]

I have always been a person who seemed to make even the most simple auto repair a nightmare. I couldn't even give a Saturn an oil change without being weary of the thing falling on my face, and changing a car battery has even confounded me at one point.

My bike overheating and idle problem I suspected was carburetor related, yet I had the sneaking suspicion that what I was going to do was dismantle them and put them back together and the same problem would persist. Also, I've seen so many confusing posts about how to clean your carburetors that I was overly worried about the task. Taking apart the carburetors was blindingly easy. What I have to get off my chest is just two things that should have been the easy tasks, that ended up being lengthy frustrated episodes. I could only compare it to....imagine the frustration of not being able to put on a shoe....FOR AN HOUR!

Satan's frustration demons resided in two places....THROTTLE CABLE!!! and AIRBOX!!! The removal of the throttle cable had to come before taking off the carbs:

Ok, the manual says...take off the throttle cable. Cool. Just like a bicycle brake cable, turn it down and slip it out. Wow, but how to I get at it? And the tension is way too high! But hermmm let me just finagle my hand in there....MPHGH. URGH... Cmon! D**n thing...HOW THE HELL IS IT SUPPOSED TO GO DOWN WHEN YOU CAN'T REACH IT AND IS TENSIONED SO HIGH??? .CMON!! My GOD! THIS THROTTLE WON'T COME OFF!!!!!!!!! AARGHGHGH get! get! GET! GET F#$!^G OFF!!! ok ok....ok ok ok, calm down.

ok, I'm calm. Just pull it down to the slot and remove the bulb at the end of the cable. Just pulll.....pulll.....ok, pull! PULL! PULL IT DOWN HALF A F$&*#*G INCH MY GOD, WHY WON'T IT GO DOWN?! WHY WON'T IT GO DOWN HALF AN INCH??
Ok Siddharta my man, help me out....how about I remove the throttle cable assembly on the handlebar? Good thinking....I remove it, and it explodes into the night - different corners of the garage. 10 minutes later the throttle cable - it's off. This took me a good 30 minutes, and was more involved than what I put have written here. MUCH more involved.

The carburetors - I took them apart, cleaned them, and put em back together. I didn't even have to ponder a bit over how they went together....I'm a regular mekanik! Of course, it's then that my friend comes down for a smoke, and picks up two little pieces in the driveway - "hey man, you left some parts out here". Uhhh...what are those??? Hmm. Well lesss put em ol bak in der....

Remount the carburetors. Easy. Finagle the throttle cabe (throttle cable.....) back on, hoses on, check and yup, they're right...ok, now just seat the airbox onto the carbs, put on the battery, gas tank, and turn it on! I just need to get those rubber hose things from the airbox over the metal openings on the carburetors. But...huh, kinda difficult. Pop one on, good, next one, ehhh, ok, good. Get the next one on, good, and the last one! ON, YES! But wait! Now the other side popped off! Ok, so push it back on.

Can you guess what happens? YES THAT'S RIGHT, THE OTHER SIDE POPS OFF AGAIN. So how do i describe 30 minutes of trying at every angle, from every possibility, of TRYING TO PUT FOUR #$(*&(#$*&(*# HOSES ON FOUR #@(*#&@(*CARBURETOR INTAKES??? After a solid 20 minutes, I almost wanted to pack the D*mn moorsicle up and take it to the motorcycle repair shop, and tell them "JUST TAKE THOSE 4 HOSES, SEE THOSE??? yeah, PUT THEM ONTO THOSE 4 MOUNTS THERE!!! yup...JUST DO IT AND THE DAMN THING WILL RUN!!!!!AND I'LL PAY YOU $10 JUST TO REMOVE THE END OF THE THROTTLE CABLE AND PUT IT BACK ON!!! BUAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!!!

Eventually, they go on. I didn't do anything different. They just went the F$#% on. Just don't ask me what God accomplished by having me spend 30 minutes to get 4 hoses onto 4 carburetor mounts.

Removal of everything (save 2 things): 20 minutes.
Removal of the throttle cable: 30 minutes.
Cleaning ofthe carburetors - 20 minutes for the first, just a few minutes for each of the rest.
Putting the throttle cable back ON: 1 minute
PUTTING THE D**N airbox back onto the carburetors: 30 F@&$(#G minutes!

GAH!

So now I need to remove the carburetors to check my cam chain tensioner. No, not worried about anything...EXCEPT THAT I HAVE TO SEPERATE THE CARBS AND THE AIRBOX!!!! God help me.

ps, cleaning the carbs fixed the problem. so I suppose we end on a major chord - at least until the clunking is fixed.

pps: For those of you who read the whole thing, I'm sorry, but I had to do it. It had to come out.

[Logitech105]

For those of you who read the whole thing, I'm sorry, but I had to do it. It had to come out.

Let it ALL out next time I love reading your posts.
you mustve got really screwed when you bought that bike...

[Sev]

Now you know why the shop charges about $100 an hour.

[The549]

For those of you who read the whole thing, I'm sorry, but I had to do it. It had to come out.

Let it ALL out next time I love reading your posts.
you mustve got really screwed when you bought that bike...

Not for $800, I don't think. I think it's in between paying a fair price and getting a good deal. I don't think there's a word for that, however.

Here is what I've done so far:

-new battery
-check clutch
-multiple oil changes
-adjust chain
-waterproof and lube everything
-fix headlight (tape )
-straighten forks
-clean carburetors completely
-fix fuel petcock and install car fuel filter in line
-spray paint things that should be black black
-adjust clutch cable
-fix tear in seat (tape )

To do list:
-will tighten throttle cable in 10 minutes
-will fix cam chain adjuster in an hour/acquire a new one.
-next week check/adjust valves
-week after that new spark plugs and carburetor synch
-week after that new sprockets for long distance cruising
-week after that....see how far I can go in one weekend!

[Sev]

For what it's worth, what you're doing I consider to be the sign of a true motorcyclist (biker) as opposed to just someone that rides.

[Shorts]

The nice thing is going to be you'll know your bike really well. And that's a real good way to be.

I remember what a fight the throttle cables put up when I replaced mine. But, like you, I got it done - fun huh?

I went to the garage and gave my throttle a twist, it's stuck. Not cool, I'll have a good time with that again. The previous owner wasn't real careful where he used the glue so its on the sides of the switch housing too.

[flynrider]

One question : Does your throttle cable have a doo-dad in the middle that looks like a long nut with a hollow bolt going into it? Some do, some don't. If it does, you can take the tension out of the cable by turning the hollow bolt into the nut until no threads are showing. Reverse the process when reinstalling the cable.

[The549]

The nice thing is going to be you'll know your bike really well. And that's a real good way to be.

I remember what a fight the throttle cables put up when I replaced mine. But, like you, I got it done - fun huh?

I went to the garage and gave my throttle a twist, it's stuck. Not cool, I'll have a good time with that again. The previous owner wasn't real careful where he used the glue so its on the sides of the switch housing too.

Yeah, FUN.

One question : Does your throttle cable have a doo-dad in the middle that looks like a long nut with a hollow bolt going into it? Some do, some don't. If it does, you can take the tension out of the cable by turning the hollow bolt into the nut until no threads are showing. Reverse the process when reinstalling the cable.

Actually, here is the most mentally challenged part, but also a wonderful part and conclusion to this thread: I have since found out a much simpler way (faster yet more complicated) to remove the cable and take out the carburetors, and I can now remove the carburetors and assemlbe the entire bike in a matter of minutes. And yes, this has happened a few times since! Remove everything...change one screw....assemble...

[Kal]

This is normal 549, in fact if it were me then I'd be looking to repair whatever I had broken during the course of the original repair.

[Sev]

This is normal 549, in fact if it were me then I'd be looking to repair whatever I had broken during the course of the original repair.

Don't forget to fix the stuff that broke on the attempt to fix what got bodged up last time. Jeeze it's amazing how much havoc one tiny mistake can make.