FreyZI

You probably would have appreciated this, then, @Lucky Phil: Sirloin flap steak marinated 6 or so hours in soy sauce and Chinese cooking wine with a splash of rice vinegar. Terrible photo, but tasty dinner.

Two kids in college and another heading there soon: pinching pennies is the name of the game. But if you're telling me that the CA seals are worth every penny, then that's what I'll get. And, thanks again, @Lucky Phil for the instructions; would not have even thought to attempt this without your detailed instructions and images. Making progress. I have the bushes and will have to wait on the seals.

Availability of the Yamaha seals seems a bit limited in the U.S., with prices between $8-10 per seal. The CA Cycleworks Viton seals are $10.50. Seems a lot of quid for what you get. I found several forum commentators who corroborated that the Yam seals are identical to Suzuki p/n 13651-51011. The latter are available for $2.22 or less. I will order a handful and see.

I also did not have a 9mm tap, nor access to Whitworth anything, but I did have a 1/8-27 NPT tap handy, which worked perfectly for drifting out the old bushes.

I inadvertently bought a 1/4 of beef -- and then a chest freezer. Will need some recipes. As there are a few Southerners and a few from Oz, I figure there may be a few BBQ/barbie favorites among you. BTW, happy Thanksgiving to those who celebrate it! Cheers, Frey

Time got away from me today. Hoping to get a little done tomorrow, starting with grinding the tails off the staked bolts to the throttle plate. The bottom photo is of the large diameter fuel line from petcock to pump; just an ugly end with frayed braiding . The throttle cable housing seems to be in decent shape, so I'll try to get just the innards.

This seems as reasonable a place as any to write more about Bubbles. Hard to believe we've been together almost four years. Decided it's finally time for some more invasive work. Thanks to @Lucky Phil for the throttle body rebuild "How to", which I'll be working through. As I don't have an oxy torch, I was concerned about removing the bolts fastening the lower assembly bar to the throttle bodies. Fortunately, I was able to remove three rather easily and one with a bit more difficulty. Apparently this was a bit of a miracle. Actually, the button head bolts on top were perhaps a bit more stuck, but all came out. As the tank is off and I have all winter, I have the occasion to do some deferred inspection and maintenance that I ignored when replacing the breather hose some time ago. I'm sure many more things will come to light, but today I added throttle cable and fuel lines to the list, and replacing all the worm drive hose clamps with proper fuel injection hose clamps, among other things. Many thanks to @gstallons for much advice on these endeavors! Cheers, Frey

So ....

That's why I'm here. Happy to know if you care to share any constructive advice.

Bubbles had been suffering from intermittent no start situations for a while, but always started eventually after several attempts interspersed with some permutation of manipulating key, switch, neutral, clutch, stand, swearing, etc. The last time she didn't start, thankfully, she was in the driveway. Ordered a ten-pack of relays and swapped, to good effect. The Tenni similarly got a new relay, and then a ride on a lovely fall day (50F, sunshine). Afterward, the Bubbles winter project commenced (a few weeks early). Tank, air box, and throttle bodies off. TBs will get a cleaning and new bush(ings/es) and some new rubber. Here's what the intake sides of the bores and butterflies look like. Is that bad? @docc, I saw that you commented on your dirty TBs from a cleaning in '23. How did they compare? On the right body, there's a little set screw acting as a stop, which I take to be an idle set. I've long felt Bubbles' idle was too low, so will be glad to experiment with that. While I'm at it, I will try to figure out why the so-called choke control has never worked. Always felt like the cable was stuck, so I'll check out the routing. Many questions undoubtedly will arise, but I'll post them in technical topics. Cheers, Frey

@Lucky PhilThanks for adding a word to my lexicon ("palaver", of course, to head off any of you jokers). Always happy for some "choice" words and phrases, too.

Or kinda stupid. Looks like that's an M10 bolt, so a wee bit small. My moronic moments continue.

I suppose this wouldn't work particularly well, as you don't have the benefit of tipping the bike a little left or right. Still, might be kinda fun.

@PressureangleWhen you do the diesel technique, anything after the diesel before refilling with transmission oil?

That definitely sounds more my style, if less thorough. I was planning to get Bubbles up to 50K miles and then treating her to a tank off/wheels off/decent tune up. I guess I can do that a little early.