I was given a 1981 Honda XL500S that was in pieces recently. The bike was pretty much all there and the motor hadn`t been touched other than removal from the frame. I gave it to a bikeless friend and we got it running and semi-ridable within the space of an evening. The bike actually idles super smooth, doesn`t smoke and has very respectable low end power.
HOWEVER, the bike will not rev out at ALL. Anything over say an 1/8-1/4 throttle and the bike just gurgles and misses like crazy. It`ll rev out fairly well without a load on the engine though. I`m not exactly a newbie to dirtbikes so I really think the main is too rich. The thing that I don`t understand is the main is stock sized; 155 according to the clymer book. Is it possible to wear a main jet out this baddly??? Plus I always thought most street legal dirtbikes where jetted somewhat on the lean side to begin with for emission-related reasons. I should also note that the needle looked fine and as an experiment I cut a small groove above the single stock groove so I could drop it 1.5-2mm and lean the main jet out.....seemed to help but the bike still gurgles/misses like crazy.
Can we use XR500R carb parts on this bike (particullarly the adjustable slide needle and different main jet sizes)? All the places I usually order from online only list the 1981 XR500R, don`t even mention the XL500 at all.
Any help is greatly appreciated. Also, could anyone direct me a good online source of info for these bikes? Google doesn`t turn up much and the one site I found dedicated to these old XL`s is a german site.
HOWEVER, the bike will not rev out at ALL. Anything over say an 1/8-1/4 throttle and the bike just gurgles and misses like crazy. It`ll rev out fairly well without a load on the engine though. I`m not exactly a newbie to dirtbikes so I really think the main is too rich. The thing that I don`t understand is the main is stock sized; 155 according to the clymer book. Is it possible to wear a main jet out this baddly??? Plus I always thought most street legal dirtbikes where jetted somewhat on the lean side to begin with for emission-related reasons. I should also note that the needle looked fine and as an experiment I cut a small groove above the single stock groove so I could drop it 1.5-2mm and lean the main jet out.....seemed to help but the bike still gurgles/misses like crazy.
Can we use XR500R carb parts on this bike (particullarly the adjustable slide needle and different main jet sizes)? All the places I usually order from online only list the 1981 XR500R, don`t even mention the XL500 at all.
Any help is greatly appreciated. Also, could anyone direct me a good online source of info for these bikes? Google doesn`t turn up much and the one site I found dedicated to these old XL`s is a german site.