CB450 Hooligan/Tracker/Adventure Bike AKA "Lucille"

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Been Around the Block
Hey guys! Love this forum and I'm stoked to finally has something post about on here.

Right now I'm planning on using her for daily driver use but I can't get the darned thing to idle! I have set the float height, adjusted valves, adjusted timing and points, new plugs gapped to spec, and some clean fresh oil....

She fires up and runs fine for a moment at idle then ramps up to about 4k-5k rpm? I'm supposed to be starting a new job tomorrow but it doesnt look like I'm going to be making it :mad:

ANY HELP IS GREATLY APPRECIATED!!!!!

Well here she is and a sketch of what she is soon to become
 

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Re: CB450 Hooligan/Tracker/Adventure Bike AKA "Lucille" -HELP ME!! CARB ISSUES!

maybe she's sucking in flalse air, check if your inlet manifold fits nicely, maybe the O-rings inside which seal everything are shot.

also check your spark plug colour, maybe that can also indicate something. as my cb had a similar problem but she was just running way to rich so she ran at idle for a few secs but when she got a little bit of air that would jump to 3-4K and stay there for about half a min and then drop again untill eventually after a few minutes the engine died because of filthy black spark plugs...
 
Re: CB450 Hooligan/Tracker/Adventure Bike AKA "Lucille" -HELP ME!! CARB ISSUES!

Kinked throttle cable?
+1 on checking the color of the plugs
Check for air leak with a unlighted propane torch.
 
Re: CB450 Hooligan/Tracker/Adventure Bike AKA "Lucille" -HELP ME!! CARB ISSUES!

check the advancer
 
Re: CB450 Hooligan/Tracker/Adventure Bike AKA "Lucille" -HELP ME!! CARB ISSUES!

Hey guys thanks for the tips I'll get right on it!

I think I'm going to weld up a 2-1 mainfold and get rid of these carbs soon.
 
Re: CB450 Hooligan/Tracker/Adventure Bike AKA "Lucille" -HELP ME!! CARB ISSUES!

I had a similar problem with my Cx500. Rebuilt the carbs. Ran better than ever after that. IMHO, that would be easier than building a 2-1.
 
Re: CB450 Hooligan/Tracker/Adventure Bike AKA "Lucille" -HELP ME!! CARB ISSUES!

Yep, check for intake leaks and a sticking advancer.

Also, occasionally, the advance spring will become too loose. You can try tightening them up by bending the wire so the "hooks" on the end are smaller.
 
Re: CB450 Hooligan/Tracker/Adventure Bike AKA "Lucille" -HELP ME!! CARB ISSUES!

will a 2-1 inlet manifold work properly if the engine didn't get a rebuild and there's a chance you've got 2 cilinders which both need different settings?
 
Re: CB450 Hooligan/Tracker/Adventure Bike AKA "Lucille" -HELP ME!! CARB ISSUES!

a 2 into 1 manifold is not really suitable for these jap twins the widely spaced cylinders because of center cam chain is one reason why,frame in the way is another
if it was a viable solution it would have been done at the factory,
it has been done people claim they run great but they are losing performance, throttle response and overall power will be less
there are a couple reasons the main reason is unequal length runners and or just having too many tight bends and/or too long of a path from carb to cylinder
the jap twins that have a single carb ,well some even have a specific cylinder head for that model with intake ports already pointed towards the center,closer together for a short efficient manifold
the twin carb models end up having intake ports that are too far apart for an efficient manifold
the british twins with single carbs alraedy have the closer together ports because they are a pushrod motor,no cam chain in the center, the bores and thusly intake ports are more closely spaced and some of them have a single carb specific head as well
now the inline fours that use a single carb for each outboard pair are a more natural situation as the intake ports are much closer together (the outboard pairs)
but they still lose top-end power over individual carbs
bottom line to all this is if you cannot get a pair of carburetors tuned it has nothing to do with more than one carb,but simply a lack of tuning skills
thinking you can do better with one carb and a poorly suited manifold is foolish at best
 
Re: CB450 Hooligan/Tracker/Adventure Bike AKA "Lucille" -HELP ME!! CARB ISSUES!

It's not that I can't tune the carbs it the fact that I want to do something different. I know how the British bikes work and I understand the down sides but this isn't going to be a race bike or restoration. It's going to get torn apart bit by bit and customized to my liking until I get it to the vision I have sketched out above.

With a well tuned vm32 and decent manifold it should perform just fine for my personal needs and it'll be one more feature on the bike that makes it mine that much more. It's not like I'm chopping the bike up and welding together a hardtail with a harbor freight flux core welder!

It's been done before and it works. How well it works is in the eye of the beholder but it will work and for me thats fine.
 
Re: CB450 Hooligan/Tracker/Adventure Bike AKA "Lucille" -HELP ME!! CARB ISSUES!

why not want performance AND looks? compromise a bit... it's not that the look of the bike is determined by the fact if you have 1 or 2 carbs
 
I have an idea in mind for my battery box and carb placement in the middle of the bike and I'm going to try it out but if it doesnt work the way that i want I'll just buy another Mikuni and set itback up for dual. It's not that hard to switch it back and it's not like I can never go back. I just want to try this out and I don't see how it will hurt performance that badly. The only thing I'm trying to decide on is what side to bring the carb out on...

Next thing to be done is the exhaust and seat arrangement.. I'm going to order some shorty mufflers and modify them a little for the exhaust. For the seat I'm ordering a steel trailer fender and a Biltwell harlot pillion pad from Lowbrow Customs and I have a black pleated West Eagle solo seat already.

After that the gas tank I'm using is a 70's coffin tank that was frisco'd for chopper use.. I've cut the bottom off of it and I'm in the process of reworking it to sit down on the CB.

These bars are fine for the moment but I plan on cutting them down and welding in some threaded bungs to clean everything up and eliminating the clamps for a cleaner more narrow/lane splitter look. And the headlights i"m planning on running are dual stacked vintage VW Beetle reverse lights..

I'f anyone on here has an old front drum brake I'm trying to buy one ;)
 
Re: CB450 Hooligan/Tracker/Adventure Bike AKA "Lucille" -HELP ME!! CARB ISSUES!

i don't see how there's enough room for a 2-1 manifold + carb +pod filter + battery...

your manifold needs to be as less airflow restricting as possible and those inlet ports are pretty far apart so i would say good luck with that because to clear that center frame tube your carb wil be placed exacly under your ass. what leaves no room for a battery unless you don't mind your rear tire eating it and spitting acid over the place.
 
Re: CB450 Hooligan/Tracker/Adventure Bike AKA "Lucille" -HELP ME!! CARB ISSUES!

jungalist said:
i don't see how there's enough room for a 2-1 manifold + carb +pod filter + battery...

your manifold needs to be as less airflow restricting as possible and those inlet ports are pretty far apart so i would say good luck with that because to clear that center frame tube your carb wil be placed exacly under your ass. what leaves no room for a battery unless you don't mind your rear tire eating it and spitting acid over the place.
hey give him a break ::) he wants to make a ton of extra work for himself,make the bike run like shit while being slower as well, because he can
 
Re: CB450 Hooligan/Tracker/Adventure Bike AKA "Lucille" -HELP ME!! CARB ISSUES!

xb33bsa said:
hey give him a break ::) he wants to make a ton of extra work for himself,make the bike run like shit while being slower as well, because he can

lol, as long as he doesn't cut up his frame for the idea of running a single carb it's ok, so he can come back to his decision...
 
Re: CB450 Hooligan/Tracker/Adventure Bike AKA "Lucille" -HELP ME!! CARB ISSUES!

Anything is possible, I'd like to see it done! Realistically though you probably won't have enough space to build one that has equal length runners(runs better and is easier to tune), keeps the stock battery box, and is visually appealing. I'd say ditch the battery box and build your 2-1 mani so the carb sits just behind the frame down tube. Or take the much easier and proven way of getting a new set of mikunis, this will be cheaper with much less swearing all said and done.
 
Re: CB450 Hooligan/Tracker/Adventure Bike AKA "Lucille" -HELP ME!! CARB ISSUES!

I have the battery box already made along with some new electronics ready to go.

Antigravity 4 cell and a reg/rec combo unit... Should be plenty of room.

Lovin all of the nay sayers on here... Maybe I should've posted this over on the 33.
 
Re: CB450 Hooligan/Tracker/Adventure Bike AKA "Lucille" -HELP ME!! CARB ISSUES!

your bike, your time, your money... prove me wrong and make that thing run ;)
 
Re: CB450 Hooligan/Tracker/Adventure Bike AKA "Lucille" -HELP ME!! CARB ISSUES!

I know it's a 180* crank and it wont run as smooth as brit or an xs650 but if I can tune it for the pulses it should be just fine... Just going to take some tinkering.

I'm not cutting the frame except for detabbing, modifying how the rear fender mounts up, and when I set up my coffin tank I'm going to regusset the neck and redesign the top engine mount and reposition the coils... Just cleaning things up for the most part.

But thats a ways down the road maybe before I go to Barber again this fall.
 
Re: CB450 Hooligan/Tracker/Adventure Bike AKA "Lucille"

Just curious but is there a difference between the early 65-71 carbs and the ones on my bike from 74?

The single carb idea might be a little more than I'm bargaining for atm so I might just order some rebuilds and see if that will make a difference.
 
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