She's Baaaaaack! Or, Gertrude Blows Her Nose

[GrandpaDenny]

I've been dealing with apparent vacuum and/or air leaks for, oh, I guess a month or so now. Since about a month after putting the new carbs on. It started out as an occasional stumble under load right after fueling up, then one day it became an all-the-time thing. Here's what I've been going through, with a little history thrown in for background of this once-upon-a-time $800 bike.

1. Replaced fuel filter, and fuel pump.
2. Replaced 50k mile old Iridium plugs with regular NGKs
3, Trimmed and reseated all plug wires.
4. Replaced fuel filter again with one from NAPA, reconditioned points on OEM pump and put it back in.
5. Replaced upper air box boots.
6. Sprayed starter fluid all over the place looking for vacuum leak(s).
7. Reseated upper air box boots.
8. Built a smoke machine, blew smoke up drain tank's drain, discovered still had one of the airbox boots messed up. Bottom edge curled over.
9. Reseated air box boots again.
10. Blew smoke, discovered left airbox boot leaking.
11. Reseated left air box boot.
12. Blew smoke, discovered upper end of left airbox boot leaking.
13. Reseated left airbox boot.
14. Still got smoke coming out, realized there is an index key & slot on airbox boots. Removed and reseated airbox boots again. Silicone spray and a pair of shoelaces worked wonders getting the upper end of the boots to seal correctly.
15. Blew smoke, looks like airbox gasket is leaking a little.
16. Flipped airbox o-ring.
17. Blew smoke, now dribbling smoke from front of airbox lid seal.
18. Put a little form-a-gasket on the airbox knife edge, put a little around the air filter element in case there were some pinholes I couldn't see (K&N filter adapted from a Camaro into stock filter plastic frame).
19. Burned up smoke machine.
20. Pulled vacuum lines off carbs one at a time to see if the emission controls were the problem. Nope.
21. Tried unsuccessfully to pull caps off #2 and #3 carb vacuum ports. Managed to lift #2 a little, maybe. Pushed it back down.
22. Still running the same, riding to work this morning, getting onto the PA Turnpike at about 4500RPM she all of a sudden started running right and zoomed her big fat gray ass up to almost 120mph. My commute was sooooo much more fun today!

So.

Other observations early on. Before the initial fuel pump replacement I ran a compression test and #2 was low; wet check determined rings. Since she's been getting blow-by in the tank from the first day I got her, and right after the carb replacement she would do 120mph, I figured that was nothing new. I did, however, soak #2 cylinder down with seafoam for a couple of days, and ran some seafoam in the oil for about 500 miles before changing it. I haven't run another compression test since, but I no longer am getting blow-by, and once again she's running great, so I think it was a stuck ring that has become unstuck.

Ah, the saga of Gertrude.

Hey Gene, guess I *don't* need a new engine. Yet.

[Scott-(Altoona, PA)]