Not sure whats going on the 38 pilot jet and the mixture screw 2.5 turns out should work together
Replaced valve shims around three months ago.
New airfilter
New plug

Starts up cold fine.
Starts if I turn off for 1 sec
Starts after I shut off the bike walk away for an hour then come back (no choke)
Starts when hot if I give it like 1 mm of throttle....

Hard starts when I literally turn it off for 30 sec
Hard start directly after I turn it off


wtf is going on , ill have to crank it three times and it will start up
can it be the starter ? I think it sounds a little slower than usual
maybe I didn't do a good job with the valve shims?

the drain plug on the float bowl will drip like 5 drips 5min after I turn off the bike too ...

 

My bike takes more cranks to start when warm and starting fairly quickly after shutting off. Like stopping at the post office to mail some packages, then starting to go. Just takes a bit more cranking. No problem though. Might be a slight case of the cylinder being a bit full of exhaust gasses or maybe a slight bit of vapor lock, don't know. But it starts and not been a problem so I don't worry.

As for the drain - normal. The jets don't touch the bottom of the bowl, so there is a small amount of fuel in the bowl that cannot be drawn off by shutting the gas off to run dry. Not enough is left to be a problem if the bike sits. New fuel will mix and all will work.

 

If that carb is dripping after shut down that is your issue. Flooding. Check your float hight. Also check your float needle and seat for dirt.

 

shouldn't be dirt in the needle I cleaned it 3 times within the last few months


...I did suspect the float though. When I installed it I wasn't sure what I was doing.
I put the pin through the plastic and then hung the needle on the little plastic bar .. was that correct installation?
I also adjusted the mixture needle by spinning the carb instead of removing it and It flooded. that was just yesterday not the other days it was hard to start.


what are the parts I can throw at the bike if float height is out of spec?

 

I thought it could be something weird like this .... Id prefer it to start up right away.

 

That needle sits on a little tab. You need to bend it to adjust float hight. Very easy to bend it by accident. Check the manuel for proper spec and how the measure.

 

It ain't parts to throw on, son. If you really want to get the float height set correctly, open your service manual and check the procedure.
If you don't have a service manual, ask around. Someone probably has a digital version they can shoot your way.

Luckily, the carb also has a drain nipple on the bottom of the bowl and you can do an even more accurate check of fuel level to adjust float height accordingly. It may even be possible to use this method while the carb is still mounted on the bike.

 

still not sure if it is the float but at this point what else can it be? I was suspecting it anyways. ill check it out this weekend.
where'd you buy those carb drain tubes?
my carb drain tube (for when the carb gets turned over) ..burnt in half because I accidentally had it resting on the exhaust lol ...


how convenient is that T handle mixture screw? do you still have to squeeze your hand passed the cam chain tensioner and header to adjust it?



how does the drain plug help?
yeah I can prob just rotate the carb while still in the boots... aghh the only problem is the last time I installed the carb I had It near perfect with the alignment marks which was a pita

 

don't think I bent it , I was very careful the carb pieces ...lost one of the float bowl screws though.. any site recommendations for float bowl screw?
can the float go out of spec by its self?


honestly kind of want to sell the 09 for the 2018 model ...
so many random issues with my 09 and more to come , but I feel like there will be nothing to repair on the 2018 model and that wouldn't be fun either.

 

The fuel / vent hose came from my local dirt bike shop.
The Kouba T-handle screw is convenient enough. A finger must still be squeezed in there.
The hose you see in the picture is connected to the drain plug then looped back up. The drain screw opened and the fuel rises in the tube to the same level as it will be in the carb. The fuel in the bowl should be right at the level of the top of the bowl, where it meets up to the carb body. Within a mm or something ... I'm not remembering the exact tolerance. With this method, you can SEE the fuel level instead of just setting the float to a certain spec. This is arguably the better method of checking float height. In my picture above, you should be able to see the fuel meniscus in the clear tube just barely above the float bowl. I went through several iterations of closing the fuel supply, lowering the level tube and draining fuel into a can, putting the level tube back up, then opening the supply again to see where the level rose to. I had to open the carb at one point because something was sticking and fuel was running out the upper vent line. More details in My 351 Build thread linked below.
Also notice that the carb bowl screws are different; all eight butter-head JIS carb screws were replaced with allen drive socket cap stainless screws.

Why would you want a new, trouble-free 2018 model that you could just ride and ride without messing with? <confused> <sarcasm>

edit: here's another pic showing fuel being fed into the carb through the normal feed. This does not very well show the separate level-indicating tube in the first picture, above.