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1978 Honda CX500 Cafe Racer Build | PART 2 - Carburetor Rebuild & Tune

1978 Honda CX500 Cafe Racer Build | PART 2 - Carburetor Rebuild & Tune

Posted by Dan Doyle on 18th Sep 2015

I got all of the carb parts that I needed from Larry. (In record time, I might add.)

Assembly was pretty straightforward. Follow the book carefully, take your time and TRY not to get too frustrated while setting the floats (I thought my time as a free-man was up. I was going to kill someone and spend the rest of my days in prison.).

Oh yeah. Make sure to check that you have ALL of your parts before you start the rebuild process… The jets that I got (I’m not going to mention where I got them.) were too small for my bike. Not the # size, but the size of the threads. No biggie. After a few quick calculations based on the stock jet sizes, I figured that in order to get my 78 to a 90, I would have to drill it out to .035”

Finally! Now it’s time to install them on the bike…

I went with a tried-and-true set of  K&N Filter Pods to breath in the airflow. In my opinion K&N is the best option out there when it comes to performance and customer service to always back up their product.

With just a little valve adjustment and new iridium plugs she started right up! After taking it for a test drive, it was obvious that the bike was running lean. Between the exhaust popping and the completely white electrodes on my brand new plugs, it didn’t exactly take a rocket scientist to figure that one out.

Since I upped the jets to 90/120, I wasn’t really sure what to do, so I called up my man, Larry. I think he was fighting crime while he explained to me that I needed to drill the “low jet” out from .018” to .020” - .021”

Sooooo…. Take it all apart and do it again… FUUU%$@#(*&%@&@*CCCCKKKKKK!!!!!!

Turns out, the second time around is much faster, plus, I didn’t have to take EVERYTHING apart. After taking off the fuel bowl, I figured I was approaching the home stretch. Then I heard the worst thing ever… A barely audible “snap” as I’m “easy-outing” the second low jet. YOU MOTHER F%$@&@*##%#*#*(CCCCKKKKKKERRRRRRRRR!

I broke the tip of the easy out in the jet. Just the tip… After expressing my utter disgust with myself, very loudly, using mostly expletives, I hiked up my skirt, wiped my tears and grabbed a pick in a desperate attempt to try and grab what little bit of the broken piece of the tap was sticking out of the jet (holy run on sentence Batman) and force it to “unthread” itself from the jet. It was my Excalibur and I was no King Arthur.

I think I blacked out for about 30 minutes, but somehow I got that little f$ck-head outta there. Victory would soon be mine…

Got it all back together. NOTE TO SELF: Hooking up linkage with a friend is a hell of a lot easier than doing it alone…

It runs better, but I think I’m gonna drill it out a little larger before we leave next weekend for our trip. No more popping, but it definitely needs more fuel. Also, that exhaust is obnoxious. I put the Mac muffler back on for now while I figure something else out.

I’ll tweak it one more time before the trip and call it a day… I’m pretty sure that no one is reading this so I’m gonna give the readers a little gift for reading my dribble. Enter the code “HEMINGWAY” during checkout and you’ll get 5% OFF your next purchase on the site.

Until next time…