CB to CL360. \ tearing into her a bit to day with some suspension/ carb Q's

[Cursh]

Hey guys - I've been trolling for a few years and only posted once or twice recently. I bought this CB360 mostly stock from an old honda tech who had her running (but not charging.) and after a year of young dumb bullshit (mostly not taking care of the few things that needed attention) I parked her in a barn for two years.

Fast forward and I have a mostly rebuilt CB360 that mostly runs all of the time (I know).

a few weeks ago (in the snow, on the side of the road where she lives under a tarp . . . city living, am I rite?) I threw on the factory CL exhaust that I sourced (and was luck enough to have parts donated for from Eric (hondabrat)) and have been riding it around a bit.

slip on exhaust question
I had to do some tricky attachments for the high muffler because it was cut off a set of factory pipes (its being held on by a few worm drive hose clamps - they work pretty well). The problem I'm having is that the factory slip on (with factory clamp) Doesn't seal for shit (I mean - its terribly - it basically just shoots exhaust out at my leg) is there a trick to this? Am i missing some sort of gasket or sleeve?

suspension question
Next question: Throwing some clip on's onto the front (Because I, and everyone else hates on my flipped riser bars.) I don't want to drop the bars anything crazy, because the bike is pretty comfortable to ride as is, so I thought I could drop the forks 2" or so and clamp the clips above the tree. It looks like I can adjust the rear shocks quite a bit by turing the lower seat. From my reading, it seems like If I lower the back the same my handling stays about the same. I know to check clearances to make sure I won't be bottoming out my rear tire.

carb question
the bike has been dying out around 5.5K rpm (as in loosing power - feels like its hitting a wall) so I'm guessing I've got something clogging one of my main jets. a few days ago it just dropped down to one cylinder while I was riding it. I've got inline fuel filters (its possible that I didn't clean this obstruction out the last time the carbs were off) so I'm hoping that I don't have anything new getting through. My thoughts are:

1: pull the plug - clean it off, make it's gapped properly - restart and see if that gets me back up to running proper up to the 5.5k I was hitting before.
- if this is the case, should I assume that the plug fouled due to the jet being blocked on that side? (I mean - I'd love to just clean the offending carb)

2: pull the exhaust and air boxes to see if the slide is stuck on that side. (which means I have to clean out both carbs because I can't imagine that a stuck slide would have anything to do with a clogged main jet - am I wrong here?)

3: Pull the carbs and clean them - I've got some spray start - is that basically the same thing as carb cleaner? my friend uses them interchangeably, but I've got no reason to believe that he knows what he is doing. (no offense friend).

if you want to see more random photos, I've got them on my site here (can't figure out how to size down with the image tags here) http://www.benlewiscreative.com/home/2014/04/progress-on-the-motorbike/

 

[wahvtec]

Im not sure but starting fluid might be a little more nasty for the crab metal bc i think its pretty darn corrosive. Id throw in clean plugs and run it for a few minutes at whatever rpm you can cruise in, and check the plug color. See if they indicate a lean or rich condition. If one comes out clean maybe you can just clean one carb. My right carb clogged on me the other day. Just drained the bowl and blew through the petcock and drained the bowl again. Back on the road. I would double check point timing and valves next. They can cause all kinds of demons. As for the slip ons mine did the same thing, just make sure they are slid all the way forward. There is a square notch that has to be all the way on the pipe or it'll leak. Felt pretty dumb that I missed it was just trying to get on the road.

 

[Cursh]

Good advice. The valves were set on point last winter, but they may have gone wonky. In my experience though, they usually get wonky once the engine is warm (*again, my limited experience) Timing is my ever bane. I need to pick my multimeter up from school - or get a better one.

-I lazed out and threw the clip ons on instead of pulling the carbs. Can only fit one display back on so I went with the tach.

Tried the plug chop, but I did it wrong/ half the engine just isn't firing (the exhaust side) So I'll probably just have to pull the carbs anyway.

 

[Cursh]

I just figured out what you said about draining the bowl and blowing through the petcock. I'm going to try that. Thanks for the pointer.

If I could get back to cutting out around 5-6k and do the plug chop there I would be a few steps ahead of where I am now.

 

[Cursh]

Longer 33mm Fork Tubes?

Cleaned the carbs out good, and now I'm pulling strong up to 6.5/7k before hitting that wall. I'm going to pull the carbs again and see what jets I've got. they should be correct as haven't swapped them from when i bought it from the tech
(it used to pull like a pissed off pitt bull).

so the frame hits the front fender under hard breaking (which was a fun realization - glad nothing bad happened.) I've got a smaller stock fender on the way, which should deal with that problem, but I'd like to set the suspension back to stock height. I'm interested in keeping the clip on's above the trees. It feels like there aren't a lot of 33mm forks out there. Do I have any options?

-Ben.