Recommissioning a '48 Rapide

[Bill Thomas]

Sorry Paul, It's not easy without having the things in my hand.
As an old racer we had no tick over on the T.T. Amals.
I think it's best to have one throttle cable going into 2 cables, That was standard, but the fashion years ago,
Was 2 cables, Some people still like that but not me.
I thought you only had trouble with the front carb' ?.
As a guide the mixture screw should be about 1 plus a small bit out from gently all the way in.
Fingers crossed, Bill.

 

[Bill Thomas]

There are other things to check, The distributor cap, No tracking cracks etc,
H.T. lead connections, And make sure the leads have proper wire in them, Years ago we had those rubbish
leads, Carbon track, ??, Sorry might not be the proper name,
They were a nightmare in the motor trade,
Good spark plugs, I like Champion N9YC, about 20 thou gap.

 

[Gary Gittleson]

OK. Here's the picture I mentioned. I am also including a picture of the mod I did to the air screw. Many others have done something similar. The problem is that when the engine is hot, it's very difficult to adjust the air screw without burning one's fingers. What I did was to turn a 3/4" brass rod and knurl the edge. I made it a snug fit over the knurled head of the air screw, applied loctite and pressed it on. It's now very easy to adjust with one finger.

 

[Robert Watson]

My early B has the carbs with the short arm floats on which is almost impossible to adjust the air screws. I did very similar except I divided the face into 4 numbered 1/4's so I have an idea of where the adjustment is.

 

[Gary Gittleson]

Not sure I understand the numbering. On the D, there's no way to see the damned thing without removing the carb. It took some contortions to take the picture without doing so.

 

[Robert Watson]

You could stamp some numbers on the knurled face or even on the inner face?
If I forget where I am I can always screw it in and start again, First time I tried I realized I didn't know where I started, That's when the number punches came out!

 

[TouringGodet]

Yikes, this new member thread has really run a wild course. Please split off new topics.

 

[Robert Watson]

Nah, we're just helping a new member sort some issues with his bike and offering helpful suggestions!

 

[Bill Thomas]

Paul, Just a thought, If you change the fixture of the front carb', Check it with the petrol tank on !,
The "B" tank didn't have a very big cutaway for the front carb',
The later "C" tank , They made a bigger cutaway.
If you need to make the rear of the tank higher, I fit an extra rubber on the rear fitting.
The trouble with Mod's, / Bodges , Which I have done many, You do one thing and have to do another
make it work.

 

[Chris Launders]

Instead of the standard head on the screw, what about silver soldering an Allen bolt head on, then you could use a long ball ended Allen key to adjust it, there looks to be room to do that.