The other half has been refurbishing a Yamaha XV750 Virago that he got off a mate who had lost interest in it.

Well after about 4 years of doing it, interspersed with his other projects, it is finally on the road (and up for sale).

But towards the end of the project he noticed that there was not much top-end power and suspected some kind of fuel starvation issue.

Now if you’ve ever tried to remove the carbs from an XV750 then you’ll know they can be tricky little suckers, with much skinning of fingers and cursing resulting, although now of course Pete is an expert in such matters – knuckle skinning and cursing that is!

Call it divine intervention if you will, but coincidentally, what do we find in the September 2008 edition of Classic Bike? An article about NRP Carbs (www.nrp-carbs.co.uk) based in Manchester.

Andy Nowicki specialises in repair kits and parts for 1960-2000 Japanese carbs and the article read like a masterclass in how carbs operate and the problems that could occur.

This led Pete to inspect the carb diaphragms on the XV after the article explained how damaged diaphragms cut power. Andy explained how the nitrile vacuum diaphragms in constant vacuum carburettors need to be in perfect condition. He told the story of a Yamaha V-Max only giving 65bhp because the diaphragms were dodgy.

Well the diaphragms looked OK and did not have any of the tell-tale signs of less than perfect ones as described by Andy:
· Leaks
· Pin-holes
· Cracks
But they did look a bit tired and were loose on the carb slides, so….

On the phone to Andy, who is a really, really, helpful bloke. The diaphragms were duly dispatched. The diagnosis – they were perished. Sigh! So new ones were sent back together with a rebuild kit for the vacuum petrol tap.

The service was unbelievable – we sent the carbs to Andy on the Wednesday morning and by the Saturday morning we had the new ones back in our grubby mitts. Can’t complain at that!

Yes – and that did cure the problem.