hi all, new to this forum but hoping i can get some help here. i recently purchased a couple of old sleds for quite cheap from a teacher at the local high school, after sorting out some issues with the first one, a 78 arctic cat el tigre 6000 i picked up a 197? arctic cat pantera, and i cant get the bloody thing to idle, i have ripped the carbs apart and thoroughly cleaned them 3 times (i was shown how by a mechanic with a passion for sleds so im sure they are nice and clean) changed plugs(have spark), replaced fuel filter, everything simple and yet whenever i start it it will idle for about 5 seconds and stall out unless i choke it, my friend suggested that gas may be getting by the choke plungers? not sure what he meant by that, i have also sprayed the seals to make sure its not a seal, thats what i had issues with on the tigre, clutch engages good, doesnt drag on belt or anything runs on both cyl but just seems to flood or lean out and die(fairly new to this so im not really sure how to tell the difference) anyways sorry for the long post, just hoping to get this sorted out because it seems like it will be an awesome machine, has lots of power when it wants too, a good example being the time it took off because the throttle stuck open and drove itself into the garage...... any good fiberglass repair tips?:blush: anyways thanks in advance, also it is an early model with a 2 cyl 500cc free air spirit motor and 2 vm32 round slide carbs. also any good part stores in the leduc/edmonton area would be appreciated info

it will stall out after 5 seconds unless i choke it.this tells us it wants fuel.you give it choke to get fuel.look at the starter circuit and the idle circuit,forget about the other two circuits for now( midrange and top end )
the starter circuit,
1) the choke itself
2) the air passage

the idle circuit,
1) pilot jets
2) the air passage
3) bypass

even in the summer months the choke is important to start a cold engine,the engine will let you know when too turn off the choke,course this only applies if all other things are air tight.

thanks, im thinking about replacing the jets, any recommendations for jet size?

**update** i replaced the needle valve(?) i think thats what its called, and it runs a little better, it will now idle at half choke but no choke still stalls out, and im wondering if there is a way to just temporarily disable the choke to see if bad choke seating or operation is at fault?

it appears that it was the idle jets more than anything, replaced them and it runs alright, and should get better when it gets colder out(not really meant to run at 20 degrees above 0:tounge:)

But it looks really nice. End your timeshare today. Get timeshare relief (http://timesharerelief360.com/blog).

it appears that it was the idle jets more than anything, replaced them and it runs alright, and should get better when it gets colder out(not really meant to run at 20 degrees above 0:tounge:)

What jet size did you get to? I have a VM34 carb that's brand new and needs major jetting.