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Inherited a '98 FE400

B

bholmes

Joined Mar 2016
27 Posts | 1+
Hurricane, UT
I just picked up my dad's 1998 FE400 that has been sitting in my mom's garage for the last two years since he passed away. I did a quick carb clean, cleaned the fuel tank and put on new fuel lines and got it started up the cheater way by hooking it up to a car battery. I'm pretty sure it's a new head and cylinder because I found a cracked cylinder and dinged up head in a box in the garage and I know he had some major work done on it before it sat.

Next thing I need to learn about is carbs, though. It has a Mikuni TM38 flatside on it, 220 main jet and 25 pilot jet. I brought it from sea level CA to 3000-3500 elevation southern Utah. Wondering if I should just get her started or start over with jetting. Also wondering if I should do a complete carb rebuild or just a float bowl gasket (because it's leaking like a sieve). It's missing a float bowl bolt as well, planning on finding a match at the local hardware store.

Any tips on where to start would be much appreciated!
 
i can't help much with the Mikuni but the MJ and PJ would go down considerably at altitude. it is easier to set jetting WITH a mountain than without!

regards

Taffy
 
When you take the other float bowl screws out you will notice that your regular Phillips screw driver does not fit so well and will cam out in the screw. That is because they are not U.S. spec screws, they are J.I.S. (Japanese Industrial Standard). Mikuni makes a nice carb tool kit that includes a J.I.S. screw driver or purchase a J.I.S. screw driver set or don't worry about it but it will do some damage to the screws.

If you do strip out the screws order a pair of these:
http://www.amazon.com/Vampire-Professional-Tools-International-VT-001/dp/B006YJKAPQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1458758456&sr=8-1&keywords=vampliers+screw+pliers

81zkb5XQcVL._SX355_.jpg
 
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i should have my jetting setup for my old fe400 with a flat slide mickphooney written on the wall in the garage. ran well here at 3400 feet (however, taffy didn't like it at moab).
i'll get it in the a.m.
does it have the two petcock tank?
 
it seems for some reason, i erased it from the wall (doesn't sound like me) and left the dellorto specs. it's so faint, can't make it out except for a "240-250" (main jet?) sorry
 
She's running! I got a screw to match the float bowl and found this detailed instructional on another forum for my carb. Zilla oem carburetor cleaning/rebuild

After doing a more thorough cleaning and resetting the float height I got it to idle and rode it up and down the street a little. The pilot air screw could turn all the way out without killing the engine, so I ordered the next two sizes up of pilot jets to see where we go from here.

I also plan on ordering a few main jets of different sizes once I fiddle with the pilot jets.
 
put it between the top fuel tap and the diaphram pump. just my opinionb.

regards

Taffy
 
I would put it between the top fuel tap and carb. FYI, the fuel line in that picture from the pump to the top of the tank inlet is too long. It should rest / fit into that vertical groove. Use two small piece's of duct tape to hold it in place. You can see in the picture where the tape was originally placed by the adhesive residue. One strip on top and one on the bottom of the groove.
 
After cleaning out the fuel system, does the diaphragm pump need to be bled of any air in the system? The fuel line that runs from the pump outlet to the upper tank has some air in it and I'm not sure if that's going to be a problem.
 
bholmes said:
After cleaning out the fuel system, does the diaphragm pump need to be bled of any air in the system? The fuel line that runs from the pump outlet to the upper tank has some air in it and I'm not sure if that's going to be a problem.
Click to expand...

No bleeding is required.
 
Thanks! That gave me some confidence before I headed out today. Took her out on a maiden voyage, about 45 miles of dirt road and Jeep trail on the mesa's outside of Zion NP. Initially my mountain bike instincts had me pulling of the front brake (that's the rear brake on a mountain bike), but two minor spills fixed that real quick. Still got some idle tweaking to do, but I was overall really pleased with how it ran! And P.S. My back yard is awesome!
 
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When I get a bicycle first thing I do is put the front brake on the right side so in a panic I don't have to think which one the front brake. Added plus is if someone steals my bicycle Im hoping they crash using the wrong brake. Told in Europe front brake is on the right on bicycles? SORRY NOW BACK TO HUSABERG'S
 

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