Garage stuff 5-03-09

Did a bit of work on the SR500. The four things that need taken care of are: the carb leaks gas, it has an exhaust leak at the gasket, speedo needs put back together, and the front brakes need fixed. So, the exhaust and carb first. I took the header off, and besides the gasket leak, the inside pipe is cracked. These are double wall pipes, and it is a fairly common problem. I had a used but nice stock SR header that I bought for my XT project, so I'll use this one on the SR, and get another for when I'm ready on the XT.

Bad header:


Long shocks:


One problem that I ran into was that a previous owner installed longer than stock rear shocks. I'm all for longer suspension, but this caused a few issues. The bike was very tippy on the centerstand, and the big problem is that this caused the swingarm to be pushing down on the rear exhaust mount, causing all sorts of exhaust alignment problems. So, I had a set of shorter Honda FT500 shocks, swapped some bushings, and the exhaust fit perfectly. I might go back to longer shocks if I ever use an aftermarket exhaust, since this should only be an issue with the stocker.

Lower shocks:


On to the carb. I've got a brand new Mikuni VM36 round slide on the way. Rather than rebuilding the stocker, taking into consideration the cost of properly rebuilding this one (new diaphragms aren't cheap at all), and I'll sell this one on ebay, it'll actually cost less to convert to a new round slide, which is a more user friendly carb also. Since it is a stock engine, I'll be using a 36mm, while the 38mm might be a better choice for a modified engine.

Old carb: