CL350 Starts first try, idles great - seems to bog between 3-6K rpm????

[smithk4]

So I finally got the bike running ok - after all winter scratching my head i found that the spark advancer behind the points was rusted out and that's why the right cylinder wasn't firing. A little background of what i've done so far:
Compression tested at 174 and 176
timing and valves set
new condenser, points, coils, wires and plugs
I did clean each carb and "rebuild"
The battery is fully charged and I'm getting spark

So the bike was riding like a dream the first two shakedown rides after getting everything back together this summer but the other day I am cruising down the highway at about 6k rpm and i started coasting to reduce speed as a car a ways ahead was turning, I downshift to get going again and all the sudden the bike feels like its bogging down as I twist the throttle no extra power - just maintains the current level no matter how much i twist. I roll to the side of the road and the bike seems to idle fine, but now as i'm in nuetral revving it up, its backfiring on the right cylinder, rpms increasing up to 3k then bog somewhat and sometimes it seems to "pull" out of it and rev past 6500 rpms - as best as I can describe it. After a couple days I have tried adjusting the idle screw on the right side and this has eliminated the backfires, but when I manipulate the throttle ONLY on the the rightside carb it seems to have far less power and again sounds like its bogged down compared to doing the same thing on the leftside which revs the engine up quickly and smoothly. I have cleaned the carb again but today the exact same thing happens.

My initial thoughts are that I have measured the float height incorrectly on that side? All indications are a fuel problem to me..... ??? I do have pods, but if the issue was jetting wouldn't it be applicable to both sides, but to me the issue seems to be isolated to the right side. Can anyone confirm float height for stock keihin carbs on a 71 CL350? Any ideas?

 

[djelliott]

Recheck your points gap and timing. Might have slipped. I chased what I thought was a fuel issue for awhile and it turned out that it was a timing issue. Even though I was "certain" the timing was fine. Also, did you replace the advancer or just clean it up? The springs may be bad. one last thing, check your secondary main on the right side. It may just be biblically clogged. I know you said you cleaned the carbs but sometimes one persons idea of clean is not nearly as thorough as the next guy and even though id appears to be flowing it may be partially restricted causing it to run leaner then it should. Ultrasonic cleaning is a good thing to check out.


Just a few thoughts. Let us know what you find.

 

[Ryan P]

I'm currently having the same issue with my CL350. I've replaced coils, points, reset valves and timing, and had the carbs rebuilt, and it seems to kick in and out of power now. My plan is to recheck valves, timing, and points again and do another compression test. Love to know what you come up with here though because I've been having the same issue for a while now too.


Cheers - Ryan

 

[skatetheame]

I had this problem with my 360 and it turned out that the points gap was too small.