Rookie ROV, with 83, need carb kits and advice

[FB]

ROVs:

I just purchased an 83 Vision with 16,000 miles from a friend who handn't ridden it in 3-4 years and have the following situation:

a. new battery,
b. emptied fuel tank and refilled with fresh fuel and added some Seafoam
c. cleaned petcock,
d. new sparkplugs,
e. removed and reinstalled exhaust system
f. new exahust to muffler seals (still hava an exhaust leak on rear maniford pipes where they attach with clamps to the engine head.

Condition:
Bike starts and runs with choke and eventually will warm up and idle...pretty well ~1000RPM
Reading the many threads...I believe I have the Vision "stumble"
          ....it will rev up and run kinda OK,
          it has a stumble below ~3,000-3,000 RPM and then takes off with plenty of power..scary ride in traffic!

Questions:
1. Recommendations on the process to reuild/balance carbs (I've done automobile carbs).
2. Where do I get the carb rebuild "kits"?
3. What parts should be replaced...I saw discussion on the needle valves...floats????
4. How do you build a vacuum manaometer for balancing vacuum?

I'd appreciate anyone's advice and sourcing of kits...(I live in Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN) and the local Yamaha dealers are not real helpful.

Thanks,

[h2olawyer]

Welcome to the finest forum you're likely to find.  Congrats on getting the rare 83!  The 83 carbs were redesigned to eliminate the stumble & as far as I know, it was successful.  You are probably just experiencing dirty carbs.  The kits are available from Sirius, out of Canada.  They can be found on eBay.  You will need 2 kits.

The manometer plans can be found here: www.xz550.com/art_files/4dollarmano.jpeg (Thanks to the BMW Airhead site)

Idle should be set @ 1300 RPM.

I'll let someone with 83 carb experience explain them better.  I do know floats for the 83 carbs are impossible to find - just ask Lucky.

H₂O

[Superfly]

Welcome!

The 83 carbs rock.  I do love mine.  But treat every piece in there like they are made of gold, because alot of the parts are not made anymore, and next to impossible to find, short of finding another set of 83 carbs (good luck on that one also!) 

The rebuild on them are really straightforward, especially if you have some carb experience.  There are rebuild kits out there for them, but on my carbs I have been able to clean them out really good, without the rebuild kit, and have them work great.

To balance them, I have always just used 2 vacuum gages hooked onto the nipples of the carb boots, and that balances them fine for me.

With the carbs cleaned, Synched, & Pilots set right, I never had any type of stumble on my carbs.  Hope this helps a bit.

[d0n]

I recently bought an 83 vision too. Mine has 22k miles. You're probably going to go through a lot of the problems I have. Check out this post and some of my others.

http://ridersofvision.net/forum/index.php?topic=4630.0

Lot's of memebers gave me some great advice regarding problem diagnosis and repairs.

My bike ran just like yours too! It acts like it has very little power in the lower rpms and then really surges forward when the revs pick up! Whoa! Hang-on!  :o It was pretty hard (and dangerous) to ride in traffic.  :o 

I sent my carbs off to a member here to have them rebuilt. I got the carb kits from ebay for around $24 each.

A couple things you should check asap...

Put a car jack under the front of the engine and raise the front wheel off the ground a little. See if your handlebars move freely from side to side. If you feel any "detents" you will have to replace your steering stem bearings. If your fork seals are leaking you can fix them at the same time. You're looking at about $85+ shipping for the seals and bearings.

Check the little rubber boots on the front calipers and see if they're deteriorated.

good luck with the new bike!
Post some pics of it.