Problems: Gas tank + getting at the carb

[Fenixgoon]

I have a 1983 GS650G and was checking it out today, hoping to tear it down and clean the carbs. First thing I checked was the gas tank - exterior is good, but the interior has rust in it.

Is this a total dealbreaker or can I clean it out somehow?


My second problem comes from getting at the carbs. With the mounting bracket that holds the choke cable, one of the screws is almost impossible to get out and is beginning to strip. Any ideas on how to approach that? Obviously it will need to be replaced.

Picture of the mounting bracket on the carb. The screw in the back is the one that is stripping.
http://img165.imageshack.us/img165/6452/dscn0151rd1.jpg


Thanks!

 

[rustybronco]

I have a 1983 GS650G and was checking it out today, hoping to tear it down and clean the carbs. First thing I checked was the gas tank - exterior is good, but the interior has rust in it.

Is this a total dealbreaker or can I clean it out somehow?

no deal breaker. there are plenty of threads on cleaning and/or coating the tank.

My second problem comes from getting at the carbs. With the mounting bracket that holds the choke cable, one of the screws is almost impossible to get out and is beginning to strip. Any ideas on how to approach that? Obviously it will need to be replaced.

Picture of the mounting bracket on the carb. The screw in the back is the one that is stripping.

Thanks!

I cant see the choke cable bracket?, just the throttle cable bracket.
remove the air cleaner, disconnect the the carb rack from the boots, move the rack rearward and you should be able to get at the cables and brackets.

 

[Nessism]

Get an Impact Driver from Sears for the screws.

For the tank, as Rusty said there are lots of threads... http://www.thegsresources.com/_forum/search.php?searchid=789442

 

[Steve]

I cant see the choke cable bracket?, just the throttle cable bracket.

If you look very carefully, just past the throttle cable bracket, you can see the choke cable guide where it turns to go across the carb bank.

None of those screw heads look bad. :-k Get a good hand impact driver, use the #2 Philips tip.
Tap it in gently, then just try turning it by hand. If that does not work, use the hammer on the driver.

.

 

[Redman]

Fen,

Welcome to GSR.

About that troublesome screw;

Yah, try some penitrating oil, let it sit for a couple hours. Try an impact tool (hammer driver tool).

IF screw gets too messsed up can try this: Cut a slot with a hacksaw blade (or dremmell tool) and then use a big straight blade screw driver. Make sure its a good deep straight cut first, if the screw driver is slippping - stop - and cut it deeper and straighter.

Make a list of all the screws and bolts that are the least little bit messed up. Get new ones so next time is not such a trouble.

 

[Fenixgoon]

Victory is mine! (sorta)

Victory is mine! (sorta)

So I was able to get that screw out. #2 Phillips head > mounting bracket of doom. I guess whatever phillips head I had before wasn't big enough.

Now I have other problems (more like I don't know which part is which). According to the Clymer manual, I'm supposed to slide the outer end of the throttle cable out of the mounting bracket (done) and disconnect the inner end. Is this the inner end?

http://img120.imageshack.us/img120/5263/throttlecableyx3.jpg

Next, I'm supposed to disconnect the choke from the actuating lever. Is that just the lever under the clutch on the left handlebar?

http://img514.imageshack.us/img514/4984/chokeactuatoreh0.jpg

I'm loving this so far, even though I haven't gotten far at all really. It's great to find out where everything goes . I was playing with the throttle just to see the cable move from the tension. I also found out where the clutch cable goes to from squeezing that in and out. Same with the choke lever.

 

[Bones]

Now I have other problems (more like I don't know which part is which). According to the Clymer manual, I'm supposed to slide the outer end of the throttle cable out of the mounting bracket (done) and disconnect the inner end. Is this the inner end?

Follow the cable down to the carbs. (It is better if you loosen the clamps on the boots on both sides of the carbs and slide the carbs away from the engine) You will see that the cable connects to the third carb from the left. That is what you need to take off.

Also: the choke cable needs to be disconnected at the carbs (bottom of your picture). This is easy. There is a slider on the underneath side of the cable that needs to be pushed away from the end of the cable. Then the cable will come out.

I hope this helps.

Bones

 

[Fenixgoon]

Follow the cable down to the carbs. (It is better if you loosen the clamps on the boots on both sides of the carbs and slide the carbs away from the engine) You will see that the cable connects to the third carb from the left. That is what you need to take off.

Also: the choke cable needs to be disconnected at the carbs (bottom of your picture). This is easy. There is a slider on the underneath side of the cable that needs to be pushed away from the end of the cable. Then the cable will come out.

I hope this helps.

Bones

I got the choke cable off. I think the throttle cable will have to wait until I can detach the carbs from the engine (which is my problem now). The airbox detached just fine. However, the carbs don't seem to want to come off the engine. There are plates that mate the engine to the carbs after the hoses - can I just unscrew and remove these plates (see pic) instead? My dad said that the hoses might have dried out and so I'd have to cut the hoses off and replace them.

http://img210.imageshack.us/img210/7678/carbhoseuh6.jpg - carb/hose/engine interface

*bows to the GSResources gods in thanks*

 

[waterman]

From your last picture, you should be able to remove the carbs from the intake boot by pulling the carb body towards airbox. First you will want to completely loosen the screw on the band clamp. I find that if I rock the carbs up and down, I can get one edge out and then they come easy.

Please don't cut the intake boots, the hose and plate piece are one. It will also be nearly impossible to remove the plate with the carbs in place.

 

[Steve]

The easiest way I have found to remove the throttle cable is to loosen the locknut that attaches the cable to the bracket on the carbs. Loosen and move the airbox back as far as you can. Loosen the clamps, slide the carbs back, away from the cylinders. With them tilted back a bit, open the throttle, either with the hand grip on the handlebar or just lifting on the pulley that the cable pulls on. Hold that in place, now you can slide the barrel on the end of the cable sideways out of the pulley.

When you put them back in, just remember to attach the cables after the carbs are slid into the general area, but before they are put into the intake boots.

While you have the carbs out, are you replacing the o-rings on your intake boots? Highly recommended. You can get them, along with carb o-ring kits and stainless hardware for the intake boots, from cycleorings.com. The owner of that little enterprise is a member here.

.

 

[Fenixgoon]

I wrestled with that carb some more and pulled it off, no thanks to the airbox which really wouldn't move back at all

Looks like the engine hose for carb4 is torn up a little bit - is this a big issue at all?

http://img142.imageshack.us/img142/5300/dscn0174bb5.jpg

Here are a few pics of the carbs as I disassembled them. An interesting difference between my carbs and those in the CV guide is that the idle adjust screw on mine is held on to the carbs via a gang plate of sorts. I had to remove that in order to separate the carbs.

http://img523.imageshack.us/img523/2650/dscn0177en3.jpg -carbs (engine side)
http://img510.imageshack.us/img510/6169/dscn0178yq0.jpg -carbs (airbox side)
http://img517.imageshack.us/img517/6863/dscn0180jy0.jpg -carbs separated
http://img254.imageshack.us/img254/550/dscn0181kt6.jpg -idle adjust + attachment plate

I'm confused as to how to remove the air screw on the carburetors. There's no way to attach a screwdriver to it at all. Are they spring operated - just push in and they'll pop out?

http://img57.imageshack.us/img57/1893/dscn0189ml6.jpg

The other thing that got me was the float bowl pin. Mine's very short, so I guess I just need to pry it open with a small flathead screwdriver.

http://img267.imageshack.us/img267/5817/dscn0187pt0.jpg

Other than that things have gone pretty smoothly between the Clymer manual and the CV carb guide from here. You guys rock

http://img401.imageshack.us/img401/4152/dscn0196gu4.jpg - the help

 

[Phaseman]

Intake manifold

Intake manifold

You probably already know this but it might be a good idea to plug up those cylinder intake holes if your going to have the carbs off for any amount of time.

I can never let that one pass as when I was a kid I saw a guy tear up an engine pretty bad when left unattended, a small screw found it's way into the intake manifold.

 

[BassCliff]

Hi Mr. Fenixgoon,

Good work on your carbs so far.

I'm confused as to how to remove the air screw on the carburetors. There's no way to attach a screwdriver to it at all. Are they spring operated - just push in and they'll pop out?

http://img57.imageshack.us/img57/1893/dscn0189ml6.jpg

Very carefully drill a hole in that little cap (don't go too deep!), put in a small flatblade screwdriver, and pop out the cap. Then you will be able to remove the screw underneath.

Keep up the good work.

Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff

 

[Fenixgoon]

Hi Mr. Fenixgoon,

Good work on your carbs so far.



Very carefully drill a hole in that little cap (don't go too deep!), put in a small flatblade screwdriver, and pop out the cap. Then you will be able to remove the screw underneath.

Keep up the good work.

Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff

Sounds like a job for a dremel, Bassclif?

Thanks,

Mr. Fenixgoon

 

[mike-s]

First post, so hello , taking me a while to get used to the reverse order of these threads, (most recent post first, etc). Now that's out of the way, down to bizniz.

I wrestled with that carb some more and pulled it off, no thanks to the airbox which really wouldn't move back at all

They rarely do, i have a gs(x)250te and the only real way to make the airbox move more than 2mm (1/16 inch) is to take the battery out as well as all the bits that are (obviously) bolted to the airbox to secure it, such as the plate mounting the starter & indicator relays, the rectifier & the toolbox plate on the opposite side, etc.

Looks like the engine hose for carb4 is torn up a little bit - is this a big issue at all?

I'd be cautious, but not overly concerned, as long as there is a continuous seal around the lip of the boot and near where the retaining strap is, there'd be little to worry about. It's cracks that go from the lip all the way in past the carby ridge that would cause the most issues i imagine. But still, to be fair, the only way to be sure is to 1) test it when reassembled, and 2) replace if paranoia gets the better of you, or if there is a leak that you've confirmed

Here are a few pics of the carbs as I disassembled them. An interesting difference between my carbs and those in the CV guide is that the idle adjust screw on mine is held on to the carbs via a gang plate of sorts. I had to remove that in order to separate the carbs.

Not a bad thing, mine has them too. Another positive from this is it makes the carby's more of a singular "unit" as opposed to seperate things bolted together, i.e. if there was only the butterfly rod as well as the top mounting plate & choke rod that held them together

I'm confused as to how to remove the air screw on the carburetors. There's no way to attach a screwdriver to it at all. Are they spring operated - just push in and they'll pop out?

Welcome to the joys of owning a motorbike made for the US market. They deliberately put these little caps in there to stop tampering (side note: i am not from the US, but i've heard about these often enough, and drilling them through seems to be the way to go. The biggest problem i can see with them though, is when you actually have a reason to remove them, you have to go through all that hassle just to gain access, also, does anyone know if the dmv's can pull you up on these caps being missing?). As you suggested a dremel bit will do the job nicely, just remember the cap is rediculously thin and if you are anything but light handed you may go further than you mean and damage the airscrew (even though that's recessed back about 1/16-1/8 from the face of the hole)

The other thing that got me was the float bowl pin. Mine's very short, so I guess I just need to pry it open with a small flathead screwdriver.

Good grief no!! just use a small thin object to push the pin through, on mine i just use a old small diameter (i use a 1.5mm key, but thats close to a 1/16th if you dont have metrics) allen/hex key and poke it out. there will be a face on one side of the plate so that the pin can only go in & out one way (similar to the head on a nail). You may require some persuasion as the steel & aluminium could have started binding if the carbs hadn't been stripped in a few years.

 

[LarryA_Texas]

float pins

float pins

I


http://img523.imageshack.us/img523/2650/dscn0177en3.jpgThe other thing that got me was the float bowl pin. Mine's very short, so I guess I just need to pry it open with a small flathead screwdriver.

:!:That's another high-risk area. If you haven't already done it, be very careful about hammering those pins out. The posts they go through are easy to break off and then you're in trouble. About the only solution is to get another carb body.

Tap lightly...and if it's giving you any resistance at all brace the posts on one side and cut a small dowel to put between them to brace the other.

 

[Bones]

The other thing that got me was the float bowl pin. Mine's very short, so I guess I just need to pry it open with a small flathead screwdriver.

I agree with Larry. I was dumb enough to use a small nail and a small hammer and now I have a big problem. I busted the post on my #3 carb and now I have to locate another body. (My connection flaked on me)

When you remove the float pin be very carefull!! If it is stuck in place (as mine were) spray some penetrating oil like WD40 and let it sit for a while. Then try what Larry said and tap them out CAREFULLY. I only wish I had thought of the "small dowl between the post" trick.

I hope this helps.

Bones

 

[Fenixgoon]

Just picked up a valve cover gasket, breather gasket, and tappet depressor tool

I probably won't get to the carbs again till Saturday

 

[darkstar757]

Good Work

Good Work

Way to work this out bro!!!


I will be following you along your thread hard!!!

 

[Fenixgoon]

I got a little bit farther today in taking out the main jet and a few other things (it's cold so my time is limited before my hands freeze ). How necessary is it to get the air screws out? I'm going to use yamaha carb cleaner, which is supposed to be safe for plastics (though I might as well get out as much as I can). The only thing left besides the air screw is the float assembly. I tried letting some WD-40 sit but that didn't help. I'll probably have to (gently) bang it out.