2002 Viper carb cleaning

Wizard

Wizard

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Jan 31, 2013
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Traverse City, Michigan
Looking for just a little expertise; I own 3 SRX's plus at the end of last season picked up an '02 Viper with tons of miles and it ran awesome the few rides I took her on. All 4 sleds fired up this year, but the Viper is not idling on the center cylinder. This used to happen a lot with the SRX's and shitty gas until I started putting them away with marine stabile AND sea foam (and starting them a time or 2 over the summer). Out of 12 carbs, I ended up with one clogged idle jet this year so I'll be pulling them off the Viper and going through them tomorrow after work. My main question is...does it make sense that my gas treatment approach worked again this year for the SRX's but not the Viper; does it have smaller idle jets or some other difference? Also, having gone through SRX carbs many times I'm thinking this will be a breeze, but since I don't have a Viper manual I'm wondering if I need to be aware of any differences in the job other than the air box set up. And last, is there anything else Viper guys would do on these once you're in this far, anyway?

Thanks!!!
 

I'm not sure about jet size, But people always ask me why our family cleans our carbs every year. And my answer is always that one clogged jet can cause a cylinder to run lean and seize the motor. So when I clean carbs I take out all jets and spray carb cleaner on them and then blow them out with the air compressor. And before we put the jets back in we blow air through every hole or tube on the carbs. I'm not sure I answered your question but I would run through the carbs again.


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Run through them again?!!! I haven't gone through my Viper's carbs, yet; getting started tonight.

What I'm looking for is technical info about any variations between a rack of SRX carbs that I'm used to and the Viper's carbs so I don't have any surprises on what I'm assuming will be routine maintenance.
 
There are differences between the viper and srx carbs but its nothing you will notice while cleaning them other than the obvious different jetting. I just worked on a vmax 600 triple last night that was missing on one cylinder. Pilot was plugged.
 
the carb racks are identical size, its only the different specs of the slide cutaway, needle,nozzle and jets that are different, but none the less exact same procedure.
 
I put mine at 3.5 last year and it was too much. 3.25 seems to be where everyone puts them. Clip 4th groove down with both shims on top.
 
Just getting to this...so, drew24 (or anyone else), when you say "Clip 4th groove down with both shims on top", which end of the needle are you calling the "top"? Is there a diagram in this forum (only asking because I looked but haven't found) that clarifies the dif' between clip position 3 vs 3.25 vs 3.5, etc?
 
Wizard said:
Just getting to this...so, drew24 (or anyone else), when you say "Clip 4th groove down with both shims on top", which end of the needle are you calling the "top"? Is there a diagram in this forum (only asking because I looked but haven't found) that clarifies the dif' between clip position 3 vs 3.25 vs 3.5, etc?
Click to expand...

This diagram indicates the clip positions. The middle picture is position 3. Clip on 3rd with two washers under the clip.

3.5 is the clip on the 4th notch one washer on top, one on the bottom.

3.25 is clip on 4th with both washers on top.
 

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One thing different is the jets are all the same size on the viper, and not all the same on srx's. So you have to not mix them up with srx but no worries with the viper. They run lower compression in one of the cylinders to compensate for more heat. I bet it was because more than one person put their jets back in wrong.
 
Question for drew24...you mentioned that the 3.5 needle setting was too much so you were going with 3.25. I went through my carbs and my machine is running great with one exception; I went with 3.25 and I'm not so sure I like it so I'm wondering what your issue was with yours at 3.5 and did 3.25 cure it?

My Viper at 3.25 snaps off the line, but the mid range puts me to sleep; takes significantly longer to get to 60MPH than when it was at the stock setting of 3.0, then once it gets there it kicks back in and rockets up from there. Is that similar to your experience or do you think the 31° temps (overcast, so it didn't feel too warm) are to blame?

If it's this bad in the mid range on a 20° day, I'm going back to the stock setting.
 
At 3.5 it was a little sluggish in the mid. Wasn't really as sluggish as it was drinking gas and the plugs and pistons showed it was pretty rich. You shouldn't notice it much when going from 3 to 3.25. Its just to give it more safety margin with the gas today not being as good as it was when the machine was made. I don't think going from 3 to 3.25 would cause the issue you are having. Maybe one of these other guys on here with more experience could tell you for sure.
 
if your riding snowmobiles at 30+ degrees out, sure they are gonna be rich, even stock it will be rich because the air temp is so high youd have to jet down to run clean. The 3.25 setting will not effect the way it runs but add some extra gas to cool the piston tops and be clean as can be in normal operating temps of a snowmobile which is 0-25 degrees. 3.5 setting is for putt putt riders and will keep the sleds from burning down on long railroad beds and road riding where theres an extended cruise section and they do not go on and off the gas.

again... if its 30 plus degrees out it gonna be rich!! pistons are a $100 each, rings $25 now plus the replating of a cylinder($225) and maybe a ruined head($100 for used head), so is it worth it to get every mile per gallon on the edge??? or is it safer and much cheaper to run a bit richer!
 
Well put. I should add the reason I started at 3.5 was because it is my wife's sled and I wasn't sure how she would ride it. I thought she would be scared of it but it turns out she likes it. lol I could hear how she was driving it through the radios and that's why I decided I could drop them to 3.25 safely. They were at the stock 3.0 position when I got the sled and it was just rebuilt from a burn down at 1800 miles when I got it. No way for me to what caused the burn down though. The last time we rode it was down to -4F and it was good to go.
 
Thanks for the feedback, guys. Based on comments, I might be ok at 3.0 because I get on the mains a lot, but I still plan to leave her at 3.25 to be safe. Haven't commented in a while cuz I've been waiting to even get down to 25° to see how she does, but instead it's been near 40 and the snow's all gone! This winter has sucked, so far! LOL
 
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