Ghostbusters III: The Rise of Slimer

[Number Two]

So there I was....

   A good friend of my Dad, who goes by Adam 12, happened to come up with a nice litte orphan XT350 in a relative state of disrepair.  I haven't seen the bike, but CUL has, and maybe he'll pipe up and give us some more details on the origins of this machine. 

   My Pops asked if I'd take a look at the carb on this machine, since it wasn't starting or running.  I figure if I help get this thing going, I can further abuse my father by enabling another riding buddy for him.  I liked that idea so I said sure.  The next weekend when CUL was out for the Lap-II, he dropped off the carb.

[Number Two]

Neatly packed in a shoebox, I open it up and am faced with this...

[Number Two]

Alright, not quite, but is was mired in some pastey blue-green sludge truely not of this world. 

It was pretty siezed up, and smelled foul.  It did not take much imagination to understand why this thing wasn't working.  Off to the races...

[Number Two]

Here's some of the rough spots.



The crossover tube was plugged, the pilot was completely sludged in, the jet was plugged with dried out goo, and the nozzle above the jet was coated in a substance like cosmoline.

[Number Two]

After a little angioplasty, trachiotomy, and some chemicals-known-to-cause-cancer-in-the-state-of-California-y, the damage toll was tallied.

- Choke plunger had lost the metal tip which actually shuts off the passage when you close the plunger.  This type of choke is actually technically an enrichener.  Which means that you don't touch the throttle when starting with this type of device.  The extra air would dilute the rich mixture you got when you opened the 'enrichener.'

- Diaphragm on the CV carb was torn.  I think this is pretty common.  If you have this silly yamaha dual carb setup on your single cylinder like on my TT600 and Adam12's XT350, and it falls on its face up high in the rpm band, go straight for this diaphragm, and make sure it's in tact and installed correctly.

- The needle and seat were fused together.  I tried some gentle soaking, but they were done for.

[Number Two]

New parts in, lubed, gently locktighted in all the right places, and ready to ride.  My best interpretation of the carb would lead me to conclude that it was stored outside (water damage, and needle corrosion), with 2-stroke oil in it (one component of the slime).  Adam12, best of luck getting the rest of 'Slimer' whipped into shape.  Hope we get out for a ride someday.

[Hank]

Nice write up..I like the ghost.   Old gunky carbs can be pretty foul.   Let us know how she runs.   

I just spent the better part of 30 hours cleaning the sludge off and drilling 4 broken exhaust bolts out of the head of my new-to-me GS1100E.    Oh the fun that turns up in old bikes...   

[Crazy Uncle Larry]

NUMBER TWO--YOU DA MAN!!!

I'm sure Adam 12 is going to take a look at this and think, "That can't be my old, cruddy and slimy carb!"

Now, if it will just hook up and give some good loving to the rest of the old XT350, then he'll really be good-to-go!

And, like I said, if he changes his mind about things, then it might make a great "new guy" bike to have around
and let someone take a spin on. Hope it works for him!

Thanks again for the helping hand, dude! I'll let you know how things turn out.

[fringefan]

Nice job. I need to get into mine in the next few weeks to richen up the mixture so she runs a little cooler.

[Adam12]

I want to thank Number 2 and Crazy Uncle Larry for their help with the carb and thier encouragement to get the XT350 running. I have changed the oil, air filter, replaced the battery and have a new spark plug for it. I also had to purchase a carb boot because I ripped one taking the carb off. Oh yeah, also dumped the green slime out of the tank and refinished the inside of the tank and replaced the petcock. I was told that it ran great until about four years ago and then it was parked. The previous owner told me that he had it running two years ago but that it was running very poorly and he gave up on it. I am suspecting that he put 2 cycle mix in it rather than staight gas at that time. I think that I am ready to put it back together now when the carb is back in Custer. If it runs I will need to replace the tires and probably do some work on the forks. It is a pretty beat up bike but I am excited to ride this summer and hopefully will have a decent running bike for less than $600.00. I bought my 10 year old son an 80cc just over a year ago and I am looking forward to riding the trails where we live south of Custer with him this summer. Some day we may just do the laramie loop together! Thanks again #2 and CUL!