I've been planning upgrades(?)for the Russian Mini Tractor. I bought the rig 10 years ago yesterday and it is fast approaching 50,000 miles on the clock, which may already be dead in Ural years.
First planned upgrade turned out to be a F'up on my part. The Kiehen CVK 32 carbs are wearing out and causing minor headaches. I want to replace them with Mikuni VM round slides. The Mikunis lend themselves to more precise tuning and there is a whack of info out there for them.
The first pair of VM carbs I bought were the F'up.
I was told they were 30's, which would work well with the 750 engine. Not too big, not too small. I paid too much and they were nasty inside and out. It turned out that they are 28's. Perfect for the old 650, a bit underwhelming for the 750 without a lot of modifications. So I put those on the shelf and waited for larger ones to show.
VM 34 carbs showed up a couple weeks ago, cheap. It turns out that the 34's are what SpeedMotoCo spec's for their Ural upgrade kit. These were nowhere near as bad as the 28's and I had everything on hand to rebuild them. Just a size comparison.
Along with the newer carbs, I'll be losing the airbox and going with a different filter system. The current airbox placement makes it a major PITA to service the K&N air filter and a misplaced foot can knock the intake hose loose between the air box and carb, causing the CV carbs to misbehave. Tired of dealing with that problem.
Another problem raised its ugly head. The mufflers are rotting out. WIth production of the legacy models in hiatus and the sanctions against Russia, spare parts are drying up. No new mufflers to be had. But, the rig has BMW heritage and a fellow ABATE member used to be a small BMW dealer. He had a pair of take off mufflers and just gave them to me. And they will fit with little or no modifications.
As the bike is camo, chrome mufflers will stick out like a priest in a whorehouse, so I hit them with a few coats of heat resistant flat black.
The carb and exhaust changes won't happen for at least another month but the stuff is here for it. Saturday, though, two new tires are going on, the rusted out rear fender is being replaced, and if I get the time, the fairing will be pulled and repainted light OD.
