Honda Spree and Elite 50 Forums

Greetings:

I'll try to answer what I can:

Hm, I haven't checked the compression yet, no. I'm honestly pretty new to fixing up things like this, I've been kind of learning as I go. How difficult it would it be to check the compression, would I need some fancy equipment to do so?

Actually this is one of the simplest, quickest, and cheapest things to test:

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/d ... mber=92697

And my idle screw's about... 3/4ths of the way in?

First you need to be aware that there's an Idle Throttle Stop screw, which is basically a doorstop for the throttle slide, and an Idle Mixture screw, which adds air to the incoming mixture as you screw it out from fully seated. Most people turn it in lightly all the way until it stops, then measure by half-turns out from there. A turn and a half is typical. Once the engine is fully warmed, you adjust to get the highest idle speed after the throttle-stop is set to roughly 1800 RPM.

And the jet's set to the 4th setting, it's running a bit lean.

Do you mean the needle clip position? What makes you believe it's a bit lean? The needle clip setting richens or leans the midrange, part-throttle mixture only. Clip on top is leanest. Clip at bottom-most is richest. Start in the middle - my needles have all had only 3 grooves, but some have 5.

Here's how it currently runs... yadda, yadda, yadda...
So, any ideas? yadda yadda... it feels like the carb just isn't getting enough fuel to it from the start.

Bingo!

I think your bike needs a working cold-start mechanism which this carb is not providing. If no one with the knowledge of this exotic carb to help you make it work comes forward, I like the idea of replacing it with a proper US-marked mixer with a bystarter. Many of us know all about that device.

But when it's running from the manually added fuel, the throttle starts responding, meaning fuel is getting to the carb just fine. Is there not enough suction from the vacuum tube to the petcock from a cold start?

See above. Fuel's in the carb, but a cold engine needs much richer mixture until it warms.

I've seen a few people mentioning adding primers - could this be a viable solution? And sorry if any of this sounds obvious or elementary - again, I'm pretty new to stuff like this.

I only use my plumbed primer if the bike's been sitting more than a few days.

HTH

Wheelman-111 wrote:Greetings:

Actually this is one of the simplest, quickest, and cheapest things to test:

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/d ... mber=92697

Hmm, I'll definitely look into this, might be work it to find out.

First you need to be aware that there's an Idle Throttle Stop screw, which is basically a doorstop for the throttle slide, and an Idle Mixture screw, which adds air to the incoming mixture as you screw it out from fully seated. Most people turn it in lightly all the way until it stops, then measure by half-turns out from there. A turn and a half is typical. Once the engine is fully warmed, you adjust to get the highest idle speed after the throttle-stop is set to roughly 1800 RPM.

I've been playing with the throttle top screw in the past, but haven't really touched the idle mixture screw, since it's always partially blocked by my air box. I'll try setting from your advice this weekend.

Do you mean the needle clip position? What makes you believe it's a bit lean? The needle clip setting richens or leans the midrange, part-throttle mixture only. Clip on top is leanest. Clip at bottom-most is richest. Start in the middle - my needles have all had only 3 grooves, but some have 5.

Sorry, got my words crossed up, I meant it's a bit on the rich side. The clip I've got has 5 positions, I'm currently set on the 4th, I've found it's easiest to get going, and once it's running it doesn't seem to spew any white smoke, which I understand is unused fuel - so it seems okay for now.

I think your bike needs a working cold-start mechanism which this carb is not providing. If no one with the knowledge of this exotic carb to help you make it work comes forward, I like the idea of replacing it with a proper US-marked mixer with a bystarter. Many of us know all about that device.

Hm, I'm considering doing something like this, if it'll truly make it easier to get going. It might be tough to judge from the pictures, but does it look like a US carburetor could fit in perfectly? And as for the bystarter, I understand it requires electricity. I'm not sure my scooter has the connectors to support this.

See above. Fuel's in the carb, but a cold engine needs much richer mixture until it warms. I only use my plumbed primer if the bike's been sitting more than a few days.

Hm, is this relatively easy to set up? How would I do this? If it can get my scooter going consistently and easily, that's all I'm looking for.

Thanks for the great advice everybody, I appreciate it. I guess my main question now is: should I try going for a US carburetor (if it can be installed to my scooter), or installing a primer (if this actually works well). Again, at the end of the day I'm just looking for a solution to help my scooter get going when cold.