Fuel lines, needle jets and heat shield

With the exhaust, and so the carbs, off I could tackle a couple of other jobs.

First up was replacing the soft fuel lines in the engine bay. The current ones were not E10 compatible so this was a straight swap. I also wanted to reinstate the original heat shield as I think this does a better job of protecting the carbs from heat transfer than the more blingy stainless one I fitted some years ago.

I also wanted to check inside the carbs to see if there was any sign of hose debris which could have caused the recent hesitation on the Scotland trip. Nothing was found inside the carbs but when reinstalling and firing up there was no fuel reaching the carbs. The pump was fine - discharging more than the required fuel in the measured time. The engine also fired when squirting Easy Start into the carb mouths, so it was definitely fuel starvation. Taking the carbs apart I found the needle jet in the front carb was sticking closed and so preventing fuel reaching the rear one too. A quick additional clean and everything was back to normal again. We'll have to see if that was the cause of the blip.