Man, what a project! I went through this on a '78 Goldwing (GL1000) about 29 years ago. Even with close to $300 in complete carb kits, floats, needles, and seats, it never would idle properly. I specialized in automotive electrical and carb repair at the time, but the Honda CV carbs are on another level.😜 I finally built a common airbox with runners to the individual cylinders, with a Weber 32/36 DGEV carburetor, and it turned into a completely different bike! It idled dead smooth at 750 rpm. and even though it lost a little bit of top end, it was predictable throughout the rpm range, and the fuel mileage jumped to around 46 mpg after I got the jetting just right!😊 Unless you're building a show bike, I'd never recommend tackling these carbs. Nowadays, it would probably be even better to set it up with Haltech programmable EFI, and get rid of the carbs altogether. With the crappy ethanol fuel we're dealing with now, you'd probably have to rebuild these every couple of years just to keep it running properly.😳
I saw only one of those conversions on a GL1000, maybe it was yours I don't know, here in Florida on a Vintage Japanese Motorcycle Club event, probably 10 years ago up in Ocala. The guy popped the fake tank cover off and I was like, woah.... no kidding. It ran perfectly and sounded great. Frankly, I'd love to try that mod someday. Cheers.
@@MotoRestoFL I did all this back in 1995 actually, before the internet and 3D printers were a real thing around here. (I'm in N.M. btw) The design was fairly simple except for working out how to keep the runners on the OUTSIDE of the manifold box to alleviate any restrictions or weird flow characteristics. I made the lower part and sides of the box in one piece, out of 1/8" steel, and drilled the holes while it was still flat so that they were actually a little below the bottom corner of the box when it was folded up. There were some weird compound angles on the runners that took a lot of filing and fitting, until I could actually tack them in on the bike, and then removed the whole assembly to finish welding it. I drilled the top plate for the carb inlets and mounting bolts, and welded nuts underneath for the mounting bolts before I welded the top plate onto the box. I also made a custom throttle cable eccentric for the Weber throttle shaft, so I could use the double throttle cables and a fairly light return spring, and not worry about it getting stuck open. It actually was much easier to twist than with the stock GL 'jungle gym' throttle linkage!🤣 Overall, I think I only spent about a week designing and fitting everything before I welded it all together. I was really impressed with how well it ran afterwards, and once I fine tuned the jetting, it ran even better! I rarely had to get into the 'secondaries' on the Weber 2 bbl. to get into traffic or whatever, but you definitely knew there was something different under that fake gas tank with the howl from that Weber, when you grabbed a handful!😄👍👍
I thought about adding a Valkyrie to my small stable of motorcycles, but I think that I will stick to my older Harley-Davidsons, a 1978 flh bobber, 1991 Softtail Springer, and a 1992 Electra Glide Ultra Classic. All of these are easy and simple to work on and maintain myself. But I still think that Valkyrie is an awesome motorcycle. I just prefer to have something I'm familiar with and know how to work on myself. Great videos, though 👌 All three bikes have CV carbs, and they are simple to tune and rebuild.
Love this series. At 3:48 in your video I can see two angled brass tubes extending into the float bowl, one open ended and one that appears solid. Can you tell me what each one is and what their purpose is please? I am working on an 84 GL1200 but the float bowl looks similar.
Oh, sure. OK, that rearward one or the one shaped like a bullet is actually part of the needle jet, because these aren't like a "standard" carb where the slide needle goes straight down into the "emulsion" tube (which is sort-of accurate), these are at an angle to the main jet and thus, that part is where the needle jet goes into and it's part of the main jet fuel path, it's just at an angle. The other one next to the jets is the starter or enricher jet, it's pressed in and non removable in these carbs, at least not by normal methods.
I really appreciate all your videos. Just got done doing a set of 97 Valkyrie carbs and pressure tested them like you did here. My carbs leak down very slowly after setting pressure at 5lbs. It takes6 minutes for them to leak down to 4 psi. How long should pressure hold for? Can't wait to get my bike running. Has sit for 17 years. Carbs were a mess as well.
It's a reference test so that's probably good. Switch out to a vacuum pump and try that direction. If they seal under vacuum 100%, which is what I'd expect, dun worry bout it as they say in Jersey. Cheers.
I have successfully Used the K&L 18-8955 needles on 2 98+ valkyries. David Wilder recomended them. He is some Valk Carb Guru. Pretty sure he said not to use them on the 97s.
Nice work . There’s a Valkyrie for sale in my area Got hydro locked from bad pet calk And unfortunately stripped the starter gear . Have you ever dealt with this And how big of a job is it ?
Sorry for the delay in responding, UA-cam moved the comments inside the creator studio and I couldn't find them! lol... regarding your question, not I have not. I'm not even sure where the starter clutch lives on that engine. I know where the starter is, so you can pull that and take a look. If it damaged the gear on the starter, it probably damaged the gear on the starter clutch. Not enough familiar with those to say. Either way, you may be in for a very expensive repair. Not to mention the other possible damage from that situation to the cylinders and rings.
I had bad luck with the k&L float needles on my zg1000. Random flooding issues. Paid the price at 45 bucks each for oem. That hurt but two years out and running correctly.
Most of the time they work great. But I gotta go with what the testing shows at the time of the work being performed. It’s the only metric I have to go off.
@@MotoRestoFL cool. Really like what you do. I've been looking for a "barn find" valkerie for a project. Does anyone sell the bearings for the linkage?
I been shopping for a valkrye for two years however no luck close home but now have chance to buy a 1998 with 10k actual miles,,he is asking 3200 OBO,,says it hasnt been cranked in 5 years,,throttle is stuck so carbs are prb all gummed up,,im a 67 year old guy who always worked on cars ,,bikes since i was 12,however i never have worked on a valkrye ,,what cost am i looking at if i do labor on carbs,,im thinking he will not take less than 2500
For whom to do the work? If it were me and I was just doing carbs like sent to me that are probably in bad shape, prob $800 with parts but if they’re really bad possibly more. If I was doing the removal work as well, it’d be more. I am not trying to scare you away so it really depends on how bad they are. And parts prices are changing almost by the day. Inflation.
@@MotoRestoFL Thanks for the info,,seller has increased price so im def out,,i can bbuy one running in great shape for close to what he now wants,,,bike is in excellent cosmetic cond,,only 10324 miles one owner,,its tempting because its close to home,,im near chas sc and most valkryes for sale are in other states,,alot of them in fl and south ga or atlanta area,,i am 67 and have rebuilt many old bikes,,re did a 99 valkrye 10 years ago but honestly dont think im up to all the labor involved in removing the carbs etc,,actual carb repair is pretty simple but getting them back on right and tuned is a chore sometimes,,thanks for the info,,im going to keep looking for a valkrye,,sometimes getting one at a great price is about timing and someone needing bike gone asap
I am looking into buying a Honda Valkyrie and I would love to bring it straight to you. I know you have on your page that you are not taking on new customers, but knocking on the door is not entering. If you stay firm on not taking new customers, do you have a mechanic that you recommend for this type of work? Thank you for making this type of videos.
Where does it say I'm not taking new customers? I keep getting that. Every job you have seen on the channel has been a new customer for the last couple months. I put a video up two years ago about insurance issues closing us down, but we resolved those and I deleted the video. Please let me know where you see that. Email me motorestofl@gmail.com for more info on working on a bike. Cheers.
EDIT: I found it, my sincere apologies, I forgot I had put that into the "basic info" page where the channel title and description are written. I changed that. We have insurance renewal coming up soon, it might end up coming to an end, but as of right now, I would take in a Valkyrie depending upon how buggered up it is.. lol.. Cheers.
WOW !!! Boy you are GOOD. Is it (Valkyrie) now OLD technology? How would you describe it in your own words? How does it compare with the Goldwing technology??? THANK YOU VERY MUCH sir. Regards from 'OZ'. (Australia)
I can't speak on the Wings, I've never worked on one. As for the first part of your question, it's complicated. Not the answer, but the setup. I have a hard time describing this sometimes, but any multi-cylinder engine which is carbureted must be treated with the concept that the carbs are Precision Fuel Metering Devices. Consider the challenges of the engineers on later units. The have to walk a very fine line between performance, balance, fuel economy and EPA standards for USA bikes. Thus, they operate on a thin line of air -- fuel -- ignition -- timing -- valves, etc. Carbs really need to be 100% spot-on in order to be at the place the imagineers designed the ENTIRE system. Valve clearance, compression, ignition voltage, it all plays a role. Extricating everything else and assuming it's nominal, I treat carbs like I said, as precise fuel metering devices. As such, I deal with them very... precisely. Cheers.
Man, what a project! I went through this on a '78 Goldwing (GL1000) about 29 years ago. Even with close to $300 in complete carb kits, floats, needles, and seats, it never would idle properly. I specialized in automotive electrical and carb repair at the time, but the Honda CV carbs are on another level.😜 I finally built a common airbox with runners to the individual cylinders, with a Weber 32/36 DGEV carburetor, and it turned into a completely different bike! It idled dead smooth at 750 rpm. and even though it lost a little bit of top end, it was predictable throughout the rpm range, and the fuel mileage jumped to around 46 mpg after I got the jetting just right!😊 Unless you're building a show bike, I'd never recommend tackling these carbs. Nowadays, it would probably be even better to set it up with Haltech programmable EFI, and get rid of the carbs altogether. With the crappy ethanol fuel we're dealing with now, you'd probably have to rebuild these every couple of years just to keep it running properly.😳
I saw only one of those conversions on a GL1000, maybe it was yours I don't know, here in Florida on a Vintage Japanese Motorcycle Club event, probably 10 years ago up in Ocala. The guy popped the fake tank cover off and I was like, woah.... no kidding. It ran perfectly and sounded great. Frankly, I'd love to try that mod someday. Cheers.
@@MotoRestoFL I did all this back in 1995 actually, before the internet and 3D printers were a real thing around here. (I'm in N.M. btw) The design was fairly simple except for working out how to keep the runners on the OUTSIDE of the manifold box to alleviate any restrictions or weird flow characteristics. I made the lower part and sides of the box in one piece, out of 1/8" steel, and drilled the holes while it was still flat so that they were actually a little below the bottom corner of the box when it was folded up. There were some weird compound angles on the runners that took a lot of filing and fitting, until I could actually tack them in on the bike, and then removed the whole assembly to finish welding it. I drilled the top plate for the carb inlets and mounting bolts, and welded nuts underneath for the mounting bolts before I welded the top plate onto the box. I also made a custom throttle cable eccentric for the Weber throttle shaft, so I could use the double throttle cables and a fairly light return spring, and not worry about it getting stuck open. It actually was much easier to twist than with the stock GL 'jungle gym' throttle linkage!🤣 Overall, I think I only spent about a week designing and fitting everything before I welded it all together. I was really impressed with how well it ran afterwards, and once I fine tuned the jetting, it ran even better! I rarely had to get into the 'secondaries' on the Weber 2 bbl. to get into traffic or whatever, but you definitely knew there was something different under that fake gas tank with the howl from that Weber, when you grabbed a handful!😄👍👍
Your content is top shelf. Thank you! I picked up a barn fresh Voyager XII and your series on that has been priceless.
I get nightmares from that bike. Good luck. :)
Beautiful bike, glad you got it sorted out and it sounds great.
Enjoyed the video Tom,, so you. Like the valkary flat six. RIDE SAFE OUT THERE!
I am TRULY AMAZED !!!
Love the sound of the flat six, great job!
I thought about adding a Valkyrie to my small stable of motorcycles, but I think that I will stick to my older Harley-Davidsons, a 1978 flh bobber, 1991 Softtail Springer, and a 1992 Electra Glide Ultra Classic.
All of these are easy and simple to work on and maintain myself.
But I still think that Valkyrie is an awesome motorcycle.
I just prefer to have something I'm familiar with and know how to work on myself.
Great videos, though 👌
All three bikes have CV carbs, and they are simple to tune and rebuild.
Love this series. At 3:48 in your video I can see two angled brass tubes extending into the float bowl, one open ended and one that appears solid. Can you tell me what each one is and what their purpose is please? I am working on an 84 GL1200 but the float bowl looks similar.
Oh, sure. OK, that rearward one or the one shaped like a bullet is actually part of the needle jet, because these aren't like a "standard" carb where the slide needle goes straight down into the "emulsion" tube (which is sort-of accurate), these are at an angle to the main jet and thus, that part is where the needle jet goes into and it's part of the main jet fuel path, it's just at an angle. The other one next to the jets is the starter or enricher jet, it's pressed in and non removable in these carbs, at least not by normal methods.
Great, thanks so much for your valued opinion
GOOD JOB.
I really appreciate all your videos. Just got done doing a set of 97 Valkyrie carbs and pressure tested them like you did here. My carbs leak down very slowly after setting pressure at 5lbs. It takes6 minutes for them to leak down to 4 psi. How long should pressure hold for? Can't wait to get my bike running. Has sit for 17 years. Carbs were a mess as well.
It's a reference test so that's probably good. Switch out to a vacuum pump and try that direction. If they seal under vacuum 100%, which is what I'd expect, dun worry bout it as they say in Jersey. Cheers.
Awesome ! Thanks ! 👍👍
very good video
Thanks
How come the Valkarie 1500 doesn't have a pump where my carb. VFR750F does?
Tank petcock is high enough to provide gravity feed.
Fantastic work..how can someone contact you for work?
motorestofl@gmail.com. Thanks.
I have successfully Used the K&L 18-8955 needles on 2 98+ valkyries. David Wilder recomended them. He is some Valk Carb Guru. Pretty sure he said not to use them on the 97s.
That makes sense. All the others I did I believe were +97
Amazing... 👍👍
Nice work .
There’s a Valkyrie for sale in my area
Got hydro locked from bad pet calk
And unfortunately stripped the starter gear . Have you ever dealt with this
And how big of a job is it ?
Sorry for the delay in responding, UA-cam moved the comments inside the creator studio and I couldn't find them! lol... regarding your question, not I have not. I'm not even sure where the starter clutch lives on that engine. I know where the starter is, so you can pull that and take a look. If it damaged the gear on the starter, it probably damaged the gear on the starter clutch. Not enough familiar with those to say. Either way, you may be in for a very expensive repair. Not to mention the other possible damage from that situation to the cylinders and rings.
I had bad luck with the k&L float needles on my zg1000. Random flooding issues. Paid the price at 45 bucks each for oem. That hurt but two years out and running correctly.
Most of the time they work great. But I gotta go with what the testing shows at the time of the work being performed. It’s the only metric I have to go off.
@@MotoRestoFL cool. Really like what you do. I've been looking for a "barn find" valkerie for a project. Does anyone sell the bearings for the linkage?
@@fattkaw I only did a Quick Look but found none. I’m sure Rich at red eye knows the bearing numbers and sizes.
❤Sounds Awesome 🎉
I been shopping for a valkrye for two years however no luck close home but now have chance to buy a 1998 with 10k actual miles,,he is asking 3200 OBO,,says it hasnt been cranked in 5 years,,throttle is stuck so carbs are prb all gummed up,,im a 67 year old guy who always worked on cars ,,bikes since i was 12,however i never have worked on a valkrye ,,what cost am i looking at if i do labor on carbs,,im thinking he will not take less than 2500
For whom to do the work? If it were me and I was just doing carbs like sent to me that are probably in bad shape, prob $800 with parts but if they’re really bad possibly more. If I was doing the removal work as well, it’d be more. I am not trying to scare you away so it really depends on how bad they are. And parts prices are changing almost by the day. Inflation.
@@MotoRestoFL Thanks for the info,,seller has increased price so im def out,,i can bbuy one running in great shape for close to what he now wants,,,bike is in excellent cosmetic cond,,only 10324 miles one owner,,its tempting because its close to home,,im near chas sc and most valkryes for sale are in other states,,alot of them in fl and south ga or atlanta area,,i am 67 and have rebuilt many old bikes,,re did a 99 valkrye 10 years ago but honestly dont think im up to all the labor involved in removing the carbs etc,,actual carb repair is pretty simple but getting them back on right and tuned is a chore sometimes,,thanks for the info,,im going to keep looking for a valkrye,,sometimes getting one at a great price is about timing and someone needing bike gone asap
I am looking into buying a Honda Valkyrie and I would love to bring it straight to you. I know you have on your page that you are not taking on new customers, but knocking on the door is not entering. If you stay firm on not taking new customers, do you have a mechanic that you recommend for this type of work? Thank you for making this type of videos.
Where does it say I'm not taking new customers? I keep getting that. Every job you have seen on the channel has been a new customer for the last couple months. I put a video up two years ago about insurance issues closing us down, but we resolved those and I deleted the video. Please let me know where you see that. Email me motorestofl@gmail.com for more info on working on a bike. Cheers.
EDIT: I found it, my sincere apologies, I forgot I had put that into the "basic info" page where the channel title and description are written. I changed that. We have insurance renewal coming up soon, it might end up coming to an end, but as of right now, I would take in a Valkyrie depending upon how buggered up it is.. lol.. Cheers.
I have a valkyrie 01 willing to be in touch for any major works pleases let me know if it is alright with you.
Motorestofl@gmail.com. Thanks.
WOW !!! Boy you are GOOD.
Is it (Valkyrie) now OLD technology? How would you describe it in your own words?
How does it compare with the Goldwing technology???
THANK YOU VERY MUCH sir.
Regards from 'OZ'. (Australia)
I can't speak on the Wings, I've never worked on one. As for the first part of your question, it's complicated. Not the answer, but the setup. I have a hard time describing this sometimes, but any multi-cylinder engine which is carbureted must be treated with the concept that the carbs are Precision Fuel Metering Devices. Consider the challenges of the engineers on later units. The have to walk a very fine line between performance, balance, fuel economy and EPA standards for USA bikes. Thus, they operate on a thin line of air -- fuel -- ignition -- timing -- valves, etc. Carbs really need to be 100% spot-on in order to be at the place the imagineers designed the ENTIRE system. Valve clearance, compression, ignition voltage, it all plays a role. Extricating everything else and assuming it's nominal, I treat carbs like I said, as precise fuel metering devices. As such, I deal with them very... precisely. Cheers.
@@MotoRestoFL
THANK YOU VERY MUCH sir for your detailed reply.
Very Much APPRECIATED.
Thank You.
Hav a gd 1 !!
You have the patience of an oyster, my friend.
Thanks, the other day on this old lawn tractor I bought, there may have been a high-velocity flashlight launch episode. Maybe. lol