Yiotta
New member
Hi All,
I Inherited a 1983 Excell III 340 in 'I don't know yet' shape. Pics will follow.
It has been outside on a basic Yacht Club (I can never spell Yacht correctly) trailer for over 10 years and the old tarp has been torn for who knows how long and the plywood is rotten and the track falling through.
However, it belonged to my best friend and younger brother who passed away recently and I had talked to him several times about getting together to get it running and it never happened. So now it is my goal in remembrance to bring this sled back to 1980's glory. They are not at my house yet so I'm limited till I get them to my house. Yes... I said 'them'... the other is a 1991 Phaser II. It pulled over, has 120 PSI pressure in both cylinders and fat spark. That one I'll do a write up on shortly as it is sitting on the same trailer. Notice the rotted out decking on the Yact Club trailer ;^O
So, first thing I noticed is I could not pull it over. All I had was some 2 stroke oil so I dribbled an ounce or so onto the pistons and left for the day. The next day I went back and she pulled over just fine. I noticed the recoil was full of some kind of mouse condo shit so I pulled that stuff out. The belly pan is full of acorn shells and other crap...mostly black, decomposed whatever it is. So it pulls over now but no one was with me to look for spark or pull it so I don't know about spark. I did do a compression test and the Mag side is 120 but the PTO is only like 100ish so I'll have to pull the jug to investigate. hopefully it looks fine and it's just a stuck ring or something simple that can be fixed.
I pulled the airbox... PITA compared with my other sleds .. packed with mouse condo material. I haven't pulled that apart yet but I did bring it home and will have it properly clean for Saturday when I go back.
OK... this is where the really sucky part starts. with the airbox off this is what I saw:
I have the $100 Harbor Freight ultrasonic cleaner so i added some warm water and a little dish soap and ran several cycles till I fell asleep. When I woke up the next day it looked better but not all better.
I believe it is a Mikuni B38-32-
All the jets had been removed and in the USC so I sprayed carb cleaner through them and hit them with compressed air... didn't need any wire but I'll look at them closer before reassembly. One thing I did notice is I think there was a little spring with the needle and seat, it goes with the plastic needle insert... I think I briefly saw one then it disappeared on me. A needle and seat kit with Yamaha PN 8H51419015 is listed at $49 at Partzilla. But it begs the question: Does anyone know how to convert this butterfly carb to a round slide Mikuni VM carburetor on the 1983 EC340G ? And... get rid of the choke and install a primer instead?
Lastly, The butterfly linkage is really siezed. I did eventually get it to move from vertical to horizontal but it is so bad the spring won't pull it back to vertical. Never had seen this before. Should I cover it with kerosene, gasoline or whatever solvent for a couple weeks and see if it frees up? All ideas welcome.
That is it for today... thanks to all for the help
I Inherited a 1983 Excell III 340 in 'I don't know yet' shape. Pics will follow.
It has been outside on a basic Yacht Club (I can never spell Yacht correctly) trailer for over 10 years and the old tarp has been torn for who knows how long and the plywood is rotten and the track falling through.
However, it belonged to my best friend and younger brother who passed away recently and I had talked to him several times about getting together to get it running and it never happened. So now it is my goal in remembrance to bring this sled back to 1980's glory. They are not at my house yet so I'm limited till I get them to my house. Yes... I said 'them'... the other is a 1991 Phaser II. It pulled over, has 120 PSI pressure in both cylinders and fat spark. That one I'll do a write up on shortly as it is sitting on the same trailer. Notice the rotted out decking on the Yact Club trailer ;^O
So, first thing I noticed is I could not pull it over. All I had was some 2 stroke oil so I dribbled an ounce or so onto the pistons and left for the day. The next day I went back and she pulled over just fine. I noticed the recoil was full of some kind of mouse condo shit so I pulled that stuff out. The belly pan is full of acorn shells and other crap...mostly black, decomposed whatever it is. So it pulls over now but no one was with me to look for spark or pull it so I don't know about spark. I did do a compression test and the Mag side is 120 but the PTO is only like 100ish so I'll have to pull the jug to investigate. hopefully it looks fine and it's just a stuck ring or something simple that can be fixed.
I pulled the airbox... PITA compared with my other sleds .. packed with mouse condo material. I haven't pulled that apart yet but I did bring it home and will have it properly clean for Saturday when I go back.
OK... this is where the really sucky part starts. with the airbox off this is what I saw:
I have the $100 Harbor Freight ultrasonic cleaner so i added some warm water and a little dish soap and ran several cycles till I fell asleep. When I woke up the next day it looked better but not all better.
I believe it is a Mikuni B38-32-
All the jets had been removed and in the USC so I sprayed carb cleaner through them and hit them with compressed air... didn't need any wire but I'll look at them closer before reassembly. One thing I did notice is I think there was a little spring with the needle and seat, it goes with the plastic needle insert... I think I briefly saw one then it disappeared on me. A needle and seat kit with Yamaha PN 8H51419015 is listed at $49 at Partzilla. But it begs the question: Does anyone know how to convert this butterfly carb to a round slide Mikuni VM carburetor on the 1983 EC340G ? And... get rid of the choke and install a primer instead?Lastly, The butterfly linkage is really siezed. I did eventually get it to move from vertical to horizontal but it is so bad the spring won't pull it back to vertical. Never had seen this before. Should I cover it with kerosene, gasoline or whatever solvent for a couple weeks and see if it frees up? All ideas welcome.
That is it for today... thanks to all for the help
Last edited:
welcome!
sounds like the rings where rusted to the cylinder walls. happens when things sit for extended periods. at 100 psi compression, it should run and free up fine with some heat cycles. just run the 1st tank of gas as premix as a precaution. replace the fuel filter as i have had one rot in 1/2 in the tank and fill the carb with crap that i am still chasing to this day.
you might want to pull the cylinder drain plugs on the bottom end to check for water sitting in motor. there is a 78 we have in the fleet that did this and froze so that it would not turn over at all. got it warm and started and been fine since.
i have one of those carbs here in my tool box with a stuck choke plunger that works fine. hasn't been on a sled in almost 20 years. there was a thread on here about converting an ovation/et410 from the 2 barrel carb to a single mikuni that might have some good info for you.
once running i would check the crank seals and the carb joint to intake with quick start or flamable brake clean as they can dry out and cause an engine to go lean and burn down.
these little 340 motors are pretty tough and take a crap ton of abuse before they fail in any big way. most fail from oil pump not working or someone leaning them out.
sounds like the rings where rusted to the cylinder walls. happens when things sit for extended periods. at 100 psi compression, it should run and free up fine with some heat cycles. just run the 1st tank of gas as premix as a precaution. replace the fuel filter as i have had one rot in 1/2 in the tank and fill the carb with crap that i am still chasing to this day.
you might want to pull the cylinder drain plugs on the bottom end to check for water sitting in motor. there is a 78 we have in the fleet that did this and froze so that it would not turn over at all. got it warm and started and been fine since.
i have one of those carbs here in my tool box with a stuck choke plunger that works fine. hasn't been on a sled in almost 20 years. there was a thread on here about converting an ovation/et410 from the 2 barrel carb to a single mikuni that might have some good info for you.
once running i would check the crank seals and the carb joint to intake with quick start or flamable brake clean as they can dry out and cause an engine to go lean and burn down.
these little 340 motors are pretty tough and take a crap ton of abuse before they fail in any big way. most fail from oil pump not working or someone leaning them out.
Yiotta
New member
Thanks for the checklist Maim. Much apreciated.
Testing the fuel pump and oil pump is new to me. I have a couple bigger sledheads than myself that can help me and I'll become a bigger sledhead.
Last night I did a warm bath of 50/50 water and Pinesol in the cheapo ultrasonic, ran it till I fell asleep and pulled the parts out this morning. The water was filthy still. And the new solvent I tried discolored the carb body and float bowl. I'll try to find a way to restore the luster of fresh carbs.
But... on the plus side, the butterfly plates are now completely unseized and the spring snaps it back to vertical when the arm is released...PHEW! and, after blasting the passageways with carb cleaner then air I am confident those are now in good shape. I did notice I had missed the choke jet or whatever on my dish soap soak but got it out for the pine sol. I am missing the little spring that comes on the nylon seat insert... damn it.. I was trying to be so careful but I don't know where it went and I work on carbs on all kinds of equipment with little springs and never once lost one. This spring is only like a 1/8" long and I cannot find a picture of it. I think the Needle and Seat kit has the needle jet, seat, little nylon rod (in one of the pictures below. It's actually yellowish white in the light and is plastic/nylon) and the spring I'm missing. See pics below.
I'm looking for posts on fuel lines most recommended. I really dislike not being able to see if anything is in the lines so I'd like to use as little of the black factory style fuel line. Looking for recommendations:
- External Fuel Line: 3/8 Tygon yellow always pops up. I like the transluscent so you can tell if there is fuel in the lines.
- In the fuel tank, I need to find ethanol/gasoline submersible 3/8 fuel line, correct? Should I look for the Yamaha part number or have any comment on in tank line that will last. Gates 3/8 Submersible SAE 30R10 Fuel Line like this I used on my moto with in tank electronic fuel pump
- Oil Line: I suppose that 3/8 can be used for the oil too ? But for oil is the blue polyurethane the go to?
- Pulse line: What's best for that?
Testing the fuel pump and oil pump is new to me. I have a couple bigger sledheads than myself that can help me and I'll become a bigger sledhead.
Last night I did a warm bath of 50/50 water and Pinesol in the cheapo ultrasonic, ran it till I fell asleep and pulled the parts out this morning. The water was filthy still. And the new solvent I tried discolored the carb body and float bowl. I'll try to find a way to restore the luster of fresh carbs.
But... on the plus side, the butterfly plates are now completely unseized and the spring snaps it back to vertical when the arm is released...PHEW! and, after blasting the passageways with carb cleaner then air I am confident those are now in good shape. I did notice I had missed the choke jet or whatever on my dish soap soak but got it out for the pine sol. I am missing the little spring that comes on the nylon seat insert... damn it.. I was trying to be so careful but I don't know where it went and I work on carbs on all kinds of equipment with little springs and never once lost one. This spring is only like a 1/8" long and I cannot find a picture of it. I think the Needle and Seat kit has the needle jet, seat, little nylon rod (in one of the pictures below. It's actually yellowish white in the light and is plastic/nylon) and the spring I'm missing. See pics below.
I'm looking for posts on fuel lines most recommended. I really dislike not being able to see if anything is in the lines so I'd like to use as little of the black factory style fuel line. Looking for recommendations:
- External Fuel Line: 3/8 Tygon yellow always pops up. I like the transluscent so you can tell if there is fuel in the lines.
- In the fuel tank, I need to find ethanol/gasoline submersible 3/8 fuel line, correct? Should I look for the Yamaha part number or have any comment on in tank line that will last. Gates 3/8 Submersible SAE 30R10 Fuel Line like this I used on my moto with in tank electronic fuel pump
- Oil Line: I suppose that 3/8 can be used for the oil too ? But for oil is the blue polyurethane the go to?
- Pulse line: What's best for that?
that carb is looking much better.
on the suction side of the pump, i reccomend something with support to resist collapsing. automotive rubber gas line is good for this. from pump to carb, clear/translucent is fine.
you are correct on the type of line for in the tank. i tend to use 3/8" automotive gas line and have had no issues yet. the one you posted is good for this as well as the pulse line from the bottom end to fuel pump but you can use lower psi rated hose to save some $$ as this only has around 7-8 psi pressure at any time. you already have an aftermarket fuel pump as oe on this era was usually a round pump.
the oil lines and fuel lines are interchangeable and there is no specific colour. just the size is important. i have used gas rated clear, yellow, blue and pink with no issues.
on the suction side of the pump, i reccomend something with support to resist collapsing. automotive rubber gas line is good for this. from pump to carb, clear/translucent is fine.
you are correct on the type of line for in the tank. i tend to use 3/8" automotive gas line and have had no issues yet. the one you posted is good for this as well as the pulse line from the bottom end to fuel pump but you can use lower psi rated hose to save some $$ as this only has around 7-8 psi pressure at any time. you already have an aftermarket fuel pump as oe on this era was usually a round pump.
the oil lines and fuel lines are interchangeable and there is no specific colour. just the size is important. i have used gas rated clear, yellow, blue and pink with no issues.