Cbx mechanic in south Louisiana

[Foreda]

Greetings
New to the forum and looking for a good mechanic in the south Louisiana area. I have a 1982 SS I need carb work done.
Thanks
Dale

[Foreda]

Or Texas? Preferably Houston.

[EMS]

Welcome to the ICOA forum, Dale!

While there may be some CBXers close to where you are, you may have trouble finding someone who is willng and CAPABLE of working on the carbs.
Your best bet is probably, to take them off yourself, send them out to someone to get them done and then have them synced on the bike after re-installation.
Another problem is, the two guys I know who do awesome carb work, Mike Nixon and Dave McMunn are usually terribly busy and it make take some time for them to get around doing them, if they accept them at all.

[Foreda]

Greetings and thanks fo the welcoming !
The problem I have is I purchased this bike off of eBay and the seller in his listing stated the bike ran great. When I received the bike, I started it and it was running maybe on 4 cylinders. I called the seller back and told him the situation so that is why I am looking for someone to fix it so that the seller can live up to the deal. I talked to Friendly Yamaha/Honda in Baton Rouge and they claim they have someone that can fix it so that is probably where I will bring it for now. If the seller does not live up to his end of the bargain, I have no problem filing a grievance with ebay and have no doubt they will side with me.
As far as the motorcycle is concerned, it is in incredible condition for a 1982 CBX 1000 SS. I could probably clean the carbs myself and I have sync tools etc to tune but I had an accidental fall about a week ago and I cannot get around or use my hands very well right now. I have never worked on the Honda carbs but have rebuilt the carbs on all 3 of my Yamaha XS1100's on more than one occasion. Perhaps there is someone here that can give me a idea of the difficulty level of cleaning th CBX carbs.
Thanks
Dale

[daves79x]

Welcome Dale! If upon your first go at it, the bike runs on 4 cylinders, consider yourself lucky. These thing are terrible starters after sitting a while, so do this first: Remove all the plugs and replace or take the cheap route and burn them off with a propane torch. Then reinstall and run a lot of fresh gas through the carbs. Do this by blowing into the vacuum valve vent line located on the right side routed somewhere near the airbox, with the carb drains open, of course. You have to get fresh gas to the carbs. Then try to start the bike. If it's going to run, it will now. If it fires up on all six, it will belch out soot and smoke until the cylinders clear since it's likely not been good and warmed up for a while. Get it off choke ASAP or you're pipes will blue. Riding it is better to get it good and hot. Who knows, it may run fine. If it runs enough to ride it, run a tank or two through it with some Seafoam mixed in the gas. That might clear some of the crud out. But if it idles even roughly, then the carbs aren't plugged too badly.

But whatever you do, DO NOT let a 'mechanic' touch the bike who has not worked on CBX's before. I'll guarantee you there'll be lots of stuff screwed up when he's done that is not now, and you'll be lucky if it runs any better. And you (or the seller) will be out a lot of money.

The bike is worth doing a little fiddling yourself, but if you are in a legal dispute with the seller, I don't know how to advise you there. Just know that at best, these bikes are finicky starters after sitting a while.

Dave

[Foreda]

Welcome Dale! If upon your first go at it, the bike runs on 4 cylinders, consider yourself lucky. These thing are terrible starters after sitting a while, so do this first: Remove all the plugs and replace or take the cheap route and burn them off with a propane torch. Then reinstall and run a lot of fresh gas through the carbs. Do this by blowing into the vacuum valve vent line located on the right side routed somewhere near the airbox, with the carb drains open, of course. You have to get fresh gas to the carbs. Then try to start the bike. If it's going to run, it will now. If it fires up on all six, it will belch out soot and smoke until the cylinders clear since it's likely not been good and warmed up for a while. Get it off choke ASAP or you're pipes will blue. Riding it is better to get it good and hot. Who knows, it may run fine. If it runs enough to ride it, run a tank or two through it with some Seafoam mixed in the gas. That might clear some of the crud out. But if it idles even roughly, then the carbs aren't plugged too badly.

But whatever you do, DO NOT let a 'mechanic' touch the bike who has not worked on CBX's before. I'll guarantee you there'll be lots of stuff screwed up when he's done that is not now, and you'll be lucky if it runs any better. And you (or the seller) will be out a lot of money.

The bike is worth doing a little fiddling yourself, but if you are in a legal dispute with the seller, I don't know how to advise you there. Just know that at best, these bikes are finicky starters after sitting a while.

Dave

Dave
First thing I did was put fresh plugs in. I'll try the flush thing next. Do I need to remove the tank to get to the vent line? I have factory manual coming in the mail so I am kinda running blind here.
Thanks
Dale

[daves79x]

Dale:
OK. There are a thousand things you should probably check out. Clean fuel tank, fresh gas, gas to all carbs, gas to each cylinder, spark to each plug. The carbs may very well need an overhaul, but maybe insuring everything that's easy to check out is done. Make sure the vacuum valve is not bypassed (if it is, fuel will flow any time the tap is on). The vent line is easy to trace from the valve on top of the carbs.

Acquiring a nice CBX, but one needing really gone over, can be frustrating if you don't know the bikes. If you hang in there, you will have invested a lot of time, maybe money, and frustration, but to most of us it's worth it. You can read several recent sagas of others in your situation here. All were thrilled in the end, but will admit it was a tough journey.

I'd be happy to talk to you about a lot of this stuff if you want.

Dave

[Foreda]

Dave
That would be great to talk to someone. My cell number is 337-517-1401 and my email address is dale_foreman@msn.com. Give me a ring when you can.
Thanks
Dale Foreman

[EMS]

Comes a little too late now...but still....If you want someone in particular to get your phone-no or any other private connection info, send him a pm (private message) by clicking on the little square in his id field. This way, not the whole world will see it and call you after 11:30 p.m.....

[Foreda]

Comes a little too late now...but still....If you want someone in particular to get your phone-no or any other private connection info, send him a pm (private message) by clicking on the little square in his id field. This way, not the whole world will see it and call you after 11:30 p.m.....

Thanks. I should hane done that. I belong to many other forums and they basically have the same rules. Oh well, you learn from your mistakes.
Thanx
Dale

[EMS]

Comes a little too late now...but still....If you want someone in particular to get your phone-no or any other private connection info, send him a pm (private message) by clicking on the little square in his id field. This way, not the whole world will see it and call you after 11:30 p.m.....

Thanks. I should hane done that. I belong to many other forums and they basically have the same rules. Oh well, you learn from your mistakes.
Thanx
Dale

Dale: It is not really a rule here. Just a recommendation in your best interest and to protect your private info.