Another frustrated 80,s Liquifire owner

[Liquifire 4/6]

My bro and I both ran Liquifires back in the day. I had an 80 and an 81 and my bro had an 80. We rode them until the late 80s. They were a bit finnicky with respect to carburetion, but if properly maintained, they ran really sweet. By the late 80s, we could no longer easily source JD sled parts, so we gave up on them. I think one of the biggest issues with the Liqs of that era is trying to find the proper inlet needle valves for the carbs. All of our Liqs came factory equipped with 1.2 needle valves. I could not find any of the 1.2 valves available after JD quit the sled business, so I had to use the commonly avilable 1.5 versions when our vaves started leaking. And they just did not seem to work as well......the sleds just didn't run as cleanly as with the 1.2 valves. I'm guessing most people out there now are running the 1.5 needle valves. Does anybody have a line on 1.2 valves with the proper thread diamter to fit the Powerjet Mikunis used in the Liquifires?

[400brian]

Well my original motor was an hsr setup so I have the parts. Also what about converting to hand chokes? I know they sell the setup with the little levers that bolt on the Carb.

I have bought both the button and lever type hand chokes for Mikuni. I haven't tried them yet, but I can tell you that they appear to be on/off, there is no half choke. The levers are larger than I thought, clearance could be an issue.

[ljm]

As far as the HSP coil goes.. There is a guy (Checkmarks) that is on here some and often on the Kawatrax forum.
He has used a coil from a late 80"s Polarias Indy. He used a Polarias stator and flywheel.

Just an FYI

Lloyd

[harleysportster]

Chuck,
It's funny that you posted this and I am having the same problems. I was scyronizing the carbs on my '80 the other day and discoverd that I needed new carb boots. After installing them I can't get this beast to run. It fools out the plugs and is acting like it is too rich. Would the fact that it is close to 50 degrees outside have anything to do with it? I noticed the tubing for the power-jet is full of gas. Is this normal since the power jet is in the bottom of the bowl? My choke plungers look good but they may need replaced as well.
Pat

Update: I had ohmed out the external coil and found that I had weak spark due to problems in the spark plug caps. I switched out the coil with a spare I had and it fires now. I still have slight carb isssues but I am gaining on it.

[AirborneX4Special]

I had a bad spark plug cap on my 84 last year. Funny how it kept fouling the plug on that side.........

[nick80lf]

Does anybody have a line on 1.2 valves with the proper thread diamter to fit the Powerjet Mikunis used in the Liquifires?

Mikuni still manufactures the original 1.2 inlet needle (metal tip only) which is vm28/163 - 1.2. You can find them on page 485 of the 2012 Auto Distributor catalog, part number is vm2816312.

[ljm]

Hey guys

I have a 80 Liquifire that was giving me a lot of grief. Poor idle and no warm start.

After reading this thread I cleaned the carbs AGAIN, set the chokes as described here and now it starts, idles and will start warm.
Now just to get some snow.

Lloyd

[Matt]

Does anybody have a line on 1.2 valves with the proper thread diamter to fit the Powerjet Mikunis used in the Liquifires?

Mikuni still manufactures the original 1.2 inlet needle (metal tip only) which is vm28/163 - 1.2. You can find them on page 485 of the 2012 Auto Distributor catalog, part number is vm2816312.

And...it's on back-order. ETA is mid-February, but I've found many of the ETAs to be a shot in the dark.

[Mr. Deere]

Wow! Is this possibly the holy Grail of all fixes? I thought Viton tip was the best to buy! I wonder if that's why my sled is flooding out. We have snow.so I will check the chokes put some.new plugs in and see how she.runs.

[I500]

Thanks Guys........ Lots of great idea for fixes on this thread.. I finally had time to take another shot at this sled. Here is what i found. Just like Airborn said, When you close the dash it does affect the choke plungers. I didnt see this one coming. I compensated for this and installed different plugs. Found one to be defective and it was a new plug, she took right off... Dropped it off the stand and ready to take for a test drive...................I,m sure that there will be many bugs to sort out before ready to race, but its a start

[Danzig]

Another thing to look at is the throttle cable....the aftermarket cables i have also found to stick in the three to one block especially when putting the dash panel down,be sure to ziptie these blocks together, they can and will come apart also the cables will pull out of the block ..the best throttle block is the oem ones, manufacturer supply are time bombs.

[AirborneX4Special]

Another thing to look at is the throttle cable....the aftermarket cables i have also found to stick in the three to one block especially when putting the dash panel down,be sure to ziptie these blocks together, they can and will come apart also the cables will pull out of the block ..the best throttle block is the oem ones, manufacturer supply are time bombs.

Roger that. I have had one of those aftermarket cables from Dennis Kirk pull like a freight train on my thumb and bind all in one fell swoop. Luckily, I called DK about it and they took it back without an issue. That thing was junk and I told them as much. The used OEM one I found was infinitely better.

[JDT]

Paul is correct. The aftermarket ones are Ok for twin cables but when you have three they bind and break.

Geniune Mikini cables are good if they still make them.