SO Martin, you've got 145 main jets, and 175 air correctors. What AL said about removing the mains is good advice.
My article is good for synching only. Initial adjustment and jetting are NOT covered. I could write a book, and still not cover it all. CB Performance Weber or Dellorto books are pretty good, although they lean REALLY heavy in the rich direction of jetting.
Dellorto UK turned up trumps with a delivery today - super quick service! So a strip down and clean of the second carb and there’s more dirt in the other accelerator pump:
A few hours later and I’m now happy these are clean, back to ‘standard’ and ready to go.
Good to see they’re sequential numbers.
Bitterly cold in the garage today, even with the heater on. Tomorrow will see me getting back underneath the car to sort flange seals, driveshafts and rocker covers.
That's great news, Martin! Full speed ahead. 
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@Martin's Eleven (UK) posted:.... and there’s more dirt in the other accelerator pump
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Martin, that is not dirt.
I'm sure archaeologists have a better term for it, but it is not dirt.
Whatever it is, removing it should noticeably lighten the car, and that will help performance, too.
Carry on.
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@DannyP thanks for the tip. I know all about balancing carbs, having a Honda VFR750 which has four carbs to balance, using a Morgan Carbtune. Makes all the difference!
Anyway, I found out today the 150 or 175 option when buying the Dellorto service kit I mentioned in an earlier post was actually referring to the needle valve controlled by the floats, because there was a replacement needle and seat in the kit. Luckily when I removed the seat there was a 150 stamped on the side, so that was a match. Phew.
Apart from the dirt there were numerous other reasons why the carbs were misbehaving. The accelerator pumps look like they were set so that they were always leaking extra fuel into the mix. The floats were mostly set right but one was cracked so perhaps leaking/not floating? The idle mixture screws were all over the place. And of course the manifold gaskets were reused far beyond their natural lifetime so lots of air leaks. And finally the air filters are good looking foam filters but they obviously haven’t been cleaned and oiled in many years. I’ve had motocross bikes before where I’d wash and oil that filter every 2 or 3 rides. So that’ll be the next job for the carbs, but only once they’re refitted. I’ve got a lot to do in the engine bay before that point. :-)
@Sacto Mitch yeah, I know it’s not ‘dirt’ in the sense of ‘pick it up out of a ditch’ dirt. I’m pretty sure it’s dried up, crystallised fuel from lack of use. Googling it, I find this useful article about stale fuel converting to peroxides and gum. A common risk with ‘occasional use’ vehicles I guess. Worse still in lockdown where no-ones driving anyway!
i always have fuel stabilizer in the motors i dont use all the time and refresh with new gas when needed
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Martin, it looks like you're doing a great job of cleaning things up.
I have Webers, not Dellortos, but they're alike in many ways. One thing I noticed is that your carbs were dirty on the outside, from the tops on down (before cleaning). That's often caused by leaking needle valves. After shutdown, pressure in the fuel lines causes the bowls to fill and overflow out of air passages at the top of the carbs, letting fuel seep down the outsides of the carb bodies. Another symptom of that is a heavy odor of raw gas starting a few minutes after shutdown. The rebuild kit should solve that.
Also, I've been remarkably lucky avoiding the typical 'dirty idle jet' symptoms that are so common with these carbs. I think the main reason is trying to not let the car sit for more than two weeks without running it, for at least a short while. Granted, this is a lot easier in a mild climate, but there's really no better solution to chronic carb problems than just running some fresh fuel through them as often as possible.
Good luck!
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OK, Mitch....
Come on over and start Pearl for me. It’s supposed to be around 12° here with wind chill tonight. I’ve got Scotch to help you warm up afterward....
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@Gordon Nichols posted:OK, Mitch....
Come on over and start Pearl for me. It’s supposed to be around 12° here with wind chill tonight. I’ve got Scotch to help you warm up afterward....
If you're supplying the Scotch, Gordon, I can start it with just two fingers.
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@DannyP posted:... CB Performance Weber or Dellorto books are pretty good, although they lean REALLY heavy in the rich direction of jetting.
I've found that too, Danny, and have always thought that those books had some great information in them (the troubleshooting guide is excellent!). As for the jetting advice- that's so as a beginner if anything you'll err on the rich side and not melt the engine down (and be looking for them to replace it). Once you've gained some experience you learn how far you can take it successfully.
Don’t worry MItch, once this car’s running again I’ll be driving it at every opportunity. Even in England, as a biker I know there are surprisingly few rainy days, which means there are a lot of days when I I can wrap up warm and jump in the Speedster with the hood down. I used to have a black and tan Mk1 Miata that was my everyday car and I ran that with the hood down every drive unless it was raining.
Like you I spotted the oily residue outside the carbs and manifolds and guessed it was something to do with fuel backing up. This car has had a few POs, so one never knows the history of maintenance - it’s always good to start afresh and then work from ‘factory reset’.
We’ve got slushy snow this morning at around 34f, so I’ll get the heater going in the garage. At least it’s not as cold as those Navalny supporters had to contend with yesterday in -58f! I will look to swap the old ‘up and over’ garage door for a roller door this year, which will help seal out the droughts.
So, end of the weekend and I'm happy with progress. Got the rocker covers on (thanks for the 'greasing the gaskets' tip - they went in a treat),
and then new flange seals before fitting the IRS axles (complete CVs and axle both sides). No instructions with them but they look like they can be fitted either way round.
However, there's a groove/band in the axle you can see in the pic. This now has me worried - is this the right way round? I just checked and at least both axles are aligned this way.
Now it's on to the fan shroud and engine bay..
Thanks again, one and all, for your support and advice. It helps keep me motivated! :-)
Martin-good progress. I'm ashamed I've been sitting on my butt with ~$1,000 in parts sitting new in their boxes. (I did manage to get my new Beck horn button on) 
FWIW, I've had two bikes and now the Spyder with twin 45's and I get 80% of my parts from DellortoShop UK. IMO, the best Dellorto source in the world. Even here in the western US, I get my parts in ~a week, courtesy of HRM Mail.
I checked around and found nothing regarding the orientation of the CV axles—either side to side or left to right. Given their design and task, it seems logical they should work the same either way, but that kind of thinking has often gotten me in trouble.
I, too, have never paid any attention to any specified orientation of the drive axles - I just pick them up and put them in. And while I've not seen any shafts with that indentation all the way around that yours have, I have seen a few with a protruding ridge all around right where yours has the indentation and others with nothing at all - Maybe be a UK thing? 
More than likely, it is there as an aid to manufacturing to hold the bare axle at a certain attitude for the assembly of the CV joints. I'm guessing here, but that's my story and I'm stickin' to it.
Don't forget to torque the end screws to 25 ft. lbs. and peek out the back side while rotating the shaft to make sure that the far ends of the screws don't hit the transaxle case.
Years ago I drove a Vanagon Westy daily. One winter the CV joints started making noise. I put the van on ramps and slid under to investigate. The grease had hardened and migrated away from the balls in the joint.
Simply grabbing the axle and sliding it from wheel end to transmission end a few times spread the grease around.
Cost: ZERO and silent running restored. That poor 90hp Wasserboxer worked hard pushing that 3600 pound vehicle. It needs all the help it can get!
Probably a good practice to do this every year when you grease the front end and change the oil, guys.
@DannyP, that's a good idea. I would never thought of it.
It's said that used axles (swing as well as irs) should always go back on the same side, as you don't want to be stressing them the opposite of the way they were before. That said, I've never heard of anyone (other than drag racers) breaking them. As for the ridge on stock irs axles- something in a wee, foggy corner of my brain is saying it goes to the outside, but don't take that as gospel. I know who to ask and if I remember I'll call him later. Al
@ALB posted:It's said that used axles (swing as well as irs) should always go back on the same side, as you don't want to be stressing them the opposite of the way they were before. That said, I've never heard of anyone (other than drag racers) breaking them. As for the ridge on stock irs axles- something in a wee, foggy corner of my brain is saying it goes to the outside, but don't take that as gospel. I know who to ask and if I remember I'll call him later. Al
I always put CV joints back where I got them-- orientation, etc.
... but this may be more due to being a bit OCD, as the balls almost always end up all over the parts washer (when I take the joints apart to inspect for wear) and go back in no certain order, so none of my effort makes any difference.
This is metaphorical is a lot of ways.
