99 intruder 1400

[Sammittrue]

Howdy. New member here. Just happened upon a 99 intruder 1400 with 6k miles and in excellent shape with the exception of the carb settings. Apparently the guy
had passed away and they just wanted to get rid of it.

The bike has Vance and hines exhaust with the airboxes removed and no name pod filters. Cleaned the tank and carbs and recorded the settings and the bike fired right up after sitting since 2016. Bike was popping and cutting out. Ran slightly better with choke on. I downloaded a manuel and the float hight was way off on both (27mm front and 30mm back.

front carb was missing the spring on the needle and instead had about 6 washers stacked with the clip in the first position. Air screw was 3.5 turns. Air jet 20. 180 main and 60 pilot. Needle was not legible

Rear carb had what looked like a spring from a ball point pen on and clip was in the 3rd. 2.5 on the air screw. Air jet 40. Main 160 and pilot 55. Needle was not legible

Obviously they are way out of shape compared to the manuel. I know they should be richer because it's breathing more Air but.... I'm lookin for a ball park starting point.

I set the float hight per manual. Front carb (#2) 9.1mm
And rear (#1) at 27.7mm and still sputtering from cylinder 1 and front fire and backfire at idle from cylinder 2.

I ordered new springs for the needles and a Sigma stage 3 kit. Any pointers would be greatly appreciated. I plan on a carb sinc as soon as I get a clean idle

[Herb]

The stock setup is #125 front and #140 rear. The reason for the larger one on the rear is it has a tendency to run hotter and will run lean without the extra fuel.

I would swap the main jets, set both idle needles at about 2.5, and do a sync on the carbs. If one is pulling more than the other it will do the kind of thing you are talking about. You can not get a clean idle if the idle sync is off.

There is a trick on the idle needles where you pull the plug wire on one cylinder and set the idle needle for the best idle, then do the same on the other cylinder. You have to turn the idle speed screw up to keep it running while doing this.

I found that having the needles set the same to start helps.

Keep in mind that the sync is VERY touchy on these bikes and will need to be redone every time you change something.

One other thing, when you cleaned the carbs did you check the diaphragms on the slides for holes? If there are holes in them it can screw up the sync because on slide won't move as it should.

[Sammittrue]

Yessir the diaphragm looked brand new. One cylinder at a time, I like that. Thanks, I'll swap the jets and try that

[Herb]

BTW, I tried a stage 2 jetting on my 87 with K&N pod filters and V&H Classic II's. I gained a little power on the top end but lost low and mid-range power and my gas mileage went to shit. Because I was using it as my daily driver the loss of gas mileage really was a major concern with over a 100-mile daily commute.

Pulled it all off, put the stock setup back on, except the V&H's and I didn't replace the slides that I had drilled out. Regained the lost midrange and most of the gas mileage the loss of top-end power was barely noticeable in daily driving. When I bought my 99 I swapped the V&H's to it but the dual exhaust, without the balance tube is a real PITA to get the sync correct, went back to the stock exhaust and it makes a much easier to maintain daily driver.

[Sammittrue]

Hmm well I'll nothing to compare it to. Unfortunately it didn't come with any of the stock parts taken off. Hopefully it will be a fun commuter though. It's got to be better then 4 wheels.

[Herb]

Hmm well I'll nothing to compare it to. Unfortunately it didn't come with any of the stock parts taken off. Hopefully it will be a fun commuter though. It's got to be better then 4 wheels.

I understand what you are saying and agree with the "better than 4 wheels". I am not saying it is impossible to get it working well, just that it will take some work and a lot of trial and error.

Others have done a lot of the things you are dealing with and made them work. When so much has been done and you are basically starting from a bad place it will be a lot of trial and error to get it right. The things I mentioned for starting points and the process I talked about is tedious and will be exasperating at times. don't give up and keep plugging at it and you will get there.

You have a few things going for you, it starts and runs so you know that the basics of the bike are good. That is a great start on getting it going.

I once bought a bike that had sat for a few years, It had a kick and electric start and it turned over with the kick starter. I spent a lot of time getting it running and when I did I discovered that it had a rod knocking, it wasn't worth the money to fix it so I parted it out. You are one up on that situation.

[Sammittrue]

Oof that's tuff. My first bike was a yamaha Seca ii and I had basically the same story. Bottom end knock Plus the added suprise of a rebuilt title. The title I got with the bike was clean but upon trying to register I learned it had been totalled. I put knobbys on it and turned it into a dirt bike until it exploded.

[Herb]

Oof that's tuff. My first bike was a yamaha Seca ii and I had basically the same story. Bottom end knock Plus the added suprise of a rebuilt title. The title I got with the bike was clean but upon trying to register I learned it had been totalled. I put knobbys on it and turned it into a dirt bike until it exploded.

When we buy a used bike, especially one that hasn't run in a long time, it is a crapshoot. I have managed to get quite a few that turned out to be good bikes and some that were total duds.

[Sammittrue]

I agree completely. Over all I've been very lucky I think plus it gives me something to do in my spare time.

[Herb]

I agree completely. Over all I've been very lucky I think plus it gives me something to do in my spare time.

helluva lot better than arguing with the wife...

[Sammittrue]

helluva lot better than arguing with the wife...
[/quote]

Amen to that brother!!

[Sammittrue]

Well.... finally got my parts in the mail. Re-jetted, cleaned carbs and she fired right up. Popping slightly with choke on. Once warned up I synced the carbs and got a nice clean idle. Decided to take it around the neighborhood hood and for the first 5 minutes it was running great then suddenly cut out on one cylinder ( not sure wich one) and then sputtered to a stop. Couldn't get it to fire after that. Finally got it home. Back to the drawing board I guess.

[navigator]

I suspect a pinched fuel line or the on and reserve hoses are swapped.

[Sammittrue]

Ha ha wow! Today at work it hit me. I never turned the valve at the tank on when hiking things up. I was using an auxiliary tank to synce the carbs. So today I checked and sure enough it was set to off. So the good news is it fired right up and managed to ride around the block and make it back home. The bad news is for some reason a cylinder is cutting out. At least I'm making progress

[Herb]

Ha ha wow! Today at work it hit me. I never turned the valve at the tank on when hiking things up. I was using an auxiliary tank to synce the carbs. So today I checked and sure enough it was set to off. So the good news is it fired right up and managed to ride around the block and make it back home. The bad news is for some reason a cylinder is cutting out. At least I'm making progress

don't give up. There has to be a reason for the cylinder cutting out. When you find it you will be ticked because it is probably simple.

[Sammittrue]

I'm getting closer and closer. New plugs took care of the dead cylinder. I took it for a quick rip and I don't really have a good spot to do a wot run but I did the best I could. Rear plug is still a little sooty and front is a little white. No popping anymore. I'm currently running
Rear carb
Main 155
Pilot 55
4th clip from the top
2.5 turns out

Front carb
Main 145
Pilot 52.5
4th clip position
2.75 turns out

[Herb]

Your plugs should be a white color if you are running unleaded gas.

Here is a great article on reading plugs.

https://www.enginelabs.com/engine-tech/ ... ent-fuels/

[Sammittrue]

That was a good read thanks for sharing. I was looking for a coffee color but it runs pretty damn good as is. Rode to work yesterday about 70 miles round trip. I did notice at full throttle shifting from 1st to 2nd clutch slips ever so slightly. Not that I plan on running it that hard all the time just trying to give it a shake down. Also looks like the gasket on the left cover leaks a bit on to the exhaust so it's not done yet.

[hillsy]

That was a good read thanks for sharing. I was looking for a coffee color but it runs pretty damn good as is.

You won't see tan coloured plugs anymore since unleaded has been the norm. You'll see off white or grey/black and not much in between.

Plug reading was far more indicative with leaded fuel.

[Sammittrue]

^^^ good to know!