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Shaping up a long-idle Vulcan 500

1K views 4 replies 3 participants last post by  bikerbill 
#1 ·
Now that I have my Beemer (old but golden K-75 RT) to ride, guilt in me said I really needed to fire up the wife's 2000 EN500 C-5 (Vulcan LTD) so that we could go riding together.
I knew those Keihin carbs respond poorly to long periods of not running. So I bought a set of jets (from CarbJetKits ™ [carbjetkits.com]) and surprised myself how easily I cleaned up all the parts, replaced the pilot and main jets and added a spacer that came with the kit to the main needles. BY FAR the biggest pain in the ass is getting the pair back in place, both the squeeze past the manifolds and getting the throttle cables hooked back on.

Battery charge, oil change and she fired right up!

However, the engine still bogs when you get to about a quarter throttle, and if you insist by further opening the throttle, acceleration is sluggish, punctuated by the occasional surge as a hint to how quick the bike should be.

Everything is stock. I have the petcock on PRI so I know the carbs are getting fuel. What to try next? Could the air filter be so dirty she can't breathe? (Will look at that tomorrow).

Any ideas much appreciated.
 
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#2 ·
Maybe with the petcock on Pri, you're getting too much fuel? Just guessing.
 
#3 ·
Geoff,

Try looking for missing parts in the airbox. A missing 'snorkel' on the top of the airbox will cause the symptoms you mention. Take a look at the spark plugs too. They will tell you if you are bogging rich or lean.
 
#4 ·
Thanks, I pulled out the air filter this morning (thanks to forum help on where it resides!) and it is ROTTEN! One panel of 9 in the truncated triangle has the foam nearly gone, and half the sealing edge foam on the perimeter is missing or rotten! Will obviously get new one, but now I'm concerned that foam dust may have made it through the wire filter and...be clogging an intake valve? Or can an engine breathe and expel that sort of debris?
 
#5 ·
Inspect the airbox itself as the missing air filter material may have simply fallen into the airbox. Take a peek through the slot the air filter hole and/or the 'snorkel' hole. If the 'foam dust' is fine enough it should go through the engine with little issue. If you are truly concerned about it perform a cylinder leakdown test. (A compression test would be inconclusive.)

When looking for a replacement filter consider that K&N makes an OEM replacement filter for the 500C that I think is much more durable than the original filter.
 
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