Just took delivery of my new Venom X22R...

[JerryHawk250]

Originally Posted by Chrisguga

So tonight’s progress...

I treated the gas tank with oxacylic acid and water 3 times. This did a nice job of removing the rust. I then swished some 50:1 gas:oil mix that I use in my weed eater and blower to give the tank a light coating of oil. I did this twice and emptied the contents each time.

Here are before and after pics. I used these plugs from a car interior fastener kit to plug the holes in the bottom of the tank.

I had to use the Dremel on some of the plastic to fit one of the mirrors as the plastic was covering the threads. That’s the last pic.

That method looks to work well. Glad you were able to get it cleaned up. I sure this will help someone else if have rust in there tank.

[JerryHawk250]

Originally Posted by Chrisguga

Oh yeah, the plugs. I thought it was a good idea and it worked well.

I also installed my NGK plug and changed the oil tonight. I decided to go ahead and put the plastics back on so I could ride and get 100 miles on it so when I do the valves and oil cooler, I’m ready for my next oil change. Getting the plastics back on is a bit of a pain, but I’ll be faster with it next time.

Here’s how she sits all buttoned back up.

Bike sure is pretty. Looks almost as good as mine. I could just be bias. Removing and replacing the plastic gets much easier the 2nd go around.

[Chrisguga]

Tonight, I’ll work on loosening the chain again. I attempted to this morning and loosed the axle nut, lock nuts, and attempted to adjust the adjustment screws, but nothing I did had any effect on the chain. I’ll revisit it tonight.

My idle is also nearly 3000 rpm so I’ll need to look into turning that down.

[JerryHawk250]

The adjuster only work to take slack out of the chain. loosen the axle bolt and adjuster nuts and slide the wheel forward. lightly snug up the axle bolt and use the adjusters to remove the slack. once set then tighten up the axle bolt and lock the adjuster nuts in place.
Rpms should be around 1500 rpms at idle.

[Chrisguga]

Cool, I’ll do that.

Also, I didn’t see an obvious idle screw on the side of the carb. I’m new to carbs so it’s a learning curve for me. Is it under it?

From reading, there are idle speed and idle richness screws? You adjust the richness screw up as the idle speed increases until you reach the max and then adjust the idle speed down until 1500, correct? Where are these two screws located?

Thanks Jerry!

[JerryHawk250]

Originally Posted by Chrisguga

Cool, I’ll do that.

Also, I didn’t see an obvious idle screw on the side of the carb. I’m new to carbs so it’s a learning curve for me. Is it under it?

From reading, there are idle speed and idle richness screws? You adjust the richness screw up as the idle speed increases until you reach the max and then adjust the idle speed down until 1500, correct? Where are these two screws located?

Thanks Jerry!

The idle speed screw is on the right side of the carb right next to where the throttle cable attaches. It's in line with the slide of the carb. This will adjust the idle speed. DO that first.
The idle mixture is on the bottom of the carb on the engine side of the carb. There is an aluminum plug covering it that you will have to drill out. Mine popped out before I finished drilling it. I was able to do this without disconnecting the cables. My idle mixture screw was almost all the way closed. I turned it out 1 1/2 turns out from lightly seated and ran perfect.

[Chrisguga]

Perfect, thanks again for all of your help, Jerry.

I hope I can one day be a solid resource to the board as well.

[JerryHawk250]

Originally Posted by Chrisguga

Perfect, thanks again for all of your help, Jerry.

I hope I can one day be a solid resource to the board as well.

You already have. Your tank cleaning method seem to have done a great job. Just check your fuel filter every once in a while in case it's collecting any residue from the rust.

[Chrisguga]

I think i’ll try some handlebar risers like these. Ill need to take some measurements first. My weight is shifted too forward on my arms for comfortable riding, especially after the gym.

Rox Speed FX Pivot Handlebar 2" Riser 7/8"Handlebar Black 1R-P2SS https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0052YK270..._LjJAEb951P651

Ill also need to adjust the carb a bit more. I adjusted the idle down now so that’s good, but now I’m getting a sputtering miss under load at 1/4 to 1/2 throttle in 5th gear around 50mph.

[JerryHawk250]

Yeah, you're a little taller than i am so the 2" risers should help.

You will need to adjust the idle mixture. Sounds like it's set to lean like mine was. Also i would order a set of jets. The stock carb comes with a 98 main which is on the lean side. A 105 main will probably be about right.

[Chrisguga]

The needle affects 1/4-3/4 throttle mixture, doesn’t it? I wonder if I need to try a washer or two to shim it? I will definitely order a jet kit.

[JerryHawk250]

Originally Posted by Chrisguga

The needle affects 1/4-3/4 throttle mixture, doesn’t it? I wonder if I need to try a washer or two to shim it? I will definitely order a jet kit.

Yes but you need to get your idle mixture dialed in first.

[Chrisguga]

Ok, so tonight’s update. I did the kickstand mod and it’s now parallel to the ground when up, mounted the license plate, pulled the bars in at a steeper angle which helped the riding fatigue a bit, put some slack in the chain. It’s right at 1” or 25mm movement now. I don’t know the specs for this bike, but that seems like a good number based on other bikes.

I also tightened up the plastics a bit more because I was getting some rattles, but that’s now good. The brakes seem to be getting slightly grabbier as they break in. I do have a low speed squeak which I need to figure out. I can’t stand odd noises.

Finally, and the biggest problem at the moment, is that I couldn’t pull more than 60mph indicated today because once I was up to 60mph indicated, at approximately 6k rpms, it started missing so badly that it simply couldn’t pull past that rpm/mph.

So, obviously the carb tuning is out of wack, but I also wonder if the bit of oil I added to this first tank of fuel is fowling things up? I planned to take the bike to the girlfriend’s house an hour away this weekend, but I’m second guessing that considering I can barely run a legit 50-55 mph.

Can the idle mixture screw have any effect on higher speed power or is it simply for idle speed?

[JerryHawk250]

You should clean the brake rotors real good with brake cleaner to remove the film off. They will grab much better.

Idle mixture effects idle to 1/4 throttle. The 98 main jet is too small so you'll need to put a larger jet. The first few hundred miles the engine will be tight. It will loosen up with some miles on it. Once I got my carb dialed in I could hit 70 mph GPS confirm easily.
Stock sprocket is to low geared.

[Chrisguga]

Originally Posted by JerryHawk250

You should clean the brake rotors real good with brake cleaner to remove the film off. They will grab much better.

Idle mixture effects idle to 1/4 throttle. The 98 main jet is too small so you'll need to put a larger jet. The first few hundred miles the engine will be tight. It will loosen up with some miles on it. Once I got my carb dialed in I could hit 70 mph GPS confirm easily.
Stock sprocket is to low geared.

I ordered that jet kit you recommended in your mods thread. I also ordered the thicker grips.

I think I’ll like the bike a lot better once I have the carb sorted out. I can barely keep up with traffic stoplight to stoplight at this point and can’t even keep up with traffic up a hill in 45 mph zones.

The motor totally falls on its face past 5000 rpm at any throttle position.