• Required reading for all forum users!!!

    Welcome!
    Register to access the full functionality of the GSResources forum. Until you register and activate your account you will not have full forum access, nor will you be able to post or reply to messages.

    A note to new registrants...
    All new forum registrations must be activated via email before you have full access to the forum.

    A Special Note about Email accounts!
    DO NOT SIGN UP USING hotmail, outlook, gmx, sbcglobal, att, bellsouth or email.com. They delete our forum signup emails.

    A note to old forum members...
    I receive numerous requests from people who can no longer log in because their accounts were deleted. As mentioned in the forum FAQ, user accounts are deleted if you haven't logged in for the past 6 months. If you can't log in, then create a new forum account. If you don't get an error message, then check your email account for an activation message. If you get a message stating that the email address is already in use, then your account still exists so follow the instructions in the forum FAQ for resetting your password.

    Have you forgotten your password or have a new email address? Then read the forum FAQ for details on how to reset it.

    Any email requests for "can't log in anymore" problems or "lost my password" problems will be deleted. Read the forum FAQ and follow the instructions there - that's what we have one for...

  • Returning Visitors

    If you are a returning visitor who never received your confirmation email, then odds are your email provider is blockinig emails from our server. The only thing that can be done to get around this is you will have to try creating another forum account using an email address from another domain.

    If you are a returning visitor to the forum and can't log in using your old forum name and password but used to be able to then chances are your account is deleted. Purges of the databases are done regularly. You will have to create a new forum account and you should be all set.

VM carb identification

Charlie G

Forum Sage
Super Site Supporter
Past Site Supporter
I have a set of VM carbs which were given to me and I was told they were off a 78-79 550e. Recently someone on the forum told me they were VM26's and I measured the inside bore of the engine side and they do measure 26mm. I'd like to part this set,at little or no cost to either of us, to members who need parts, but I want to be sure that I have them identified corectly. Can the collective mind here help out and decern which carbs they are. I saw the 550 that they were supossed to come off of, but this was a spare set and I'm not even certian they are for a Suzuki.

IMG_0949_zps36f602b1.jpg


IMG_0948_zps1a7a763a.jpg


IMG_0947_zpsbb307e45.jpg

IMG_0946_zpsb9e2d4a0.jpg


Thanks for your help.

cg
 
sure look like VM26SS's to me, if they measure 26mm then i'm pretty sure you are correct Charlie......
 
Isn't there someone already asking about VM26s? I need to go find the thread.

I just read a thread where doona in England needed some parts, which is what prompted this thread.

This set is frozen. Is it possible to get them a part without breaking something? I've never taken apart this type of carb.


cg
 
Easy. Remove the choke and throttle rod, remove the mounting plate screws, pull each carb off. Then figure out why there are two fuel Ts, Kawasaki fuel screws and no air screws.
 
Pretty easy to disassemble Charlie. Maybe spray some carb cleaner or WD40 in there to get the slides moving first. Can't really damage anything doing that. It would probably be easier to try and get the slides moving first before you disassemble as you don't have any leverage once you pull them apart. Just so you know someone has but the carb bodies in the wrong order. The air mixture screws are all supposed to point outwards so you can get at them. Same with the float bowl drain screws. What's probably happened is they've tried to make two number 1 carbs and two number 2 carbs work as a whole rack of carbs, something like that anyways. You'll have to have a good look at them once they are all apart to tell what carb bodies you have. You can tell by looking at which way the air mixture screw is pointing and also if the carb body fuel inlet goes all the way through it or stops on one side, if that makes any sense.
 
Last edited:
Easy. Remove the choke and throttle rod, remove the mounting plate screws, pull each carb off. Then figure out why there are two fuel Ts, Kawasaki fuel screws and no air screws.


The 78 and 79 parts fisce shows only one tee and two nipples as you said. I'll pull them appart and see if I can blindly make rhyme or reason on what is happening here. I have too many parts for bikes I don't have.

cg
 
Pretty easy to disassemble Charlie. Maybe spray some carb cleaner or WD40 in there to get the slides moving first. Can't really damage anything doing that. It would probably be easier to try and get the slides moving first before you disassemble as you don't have any leverage once you pull them apart.


Years ago I think I remember someone writing that they broke needles off that were corroded together in the carb. This is why I asked.

cg
 
The fuel screw tips tend to break off if someone screwed them in all the way. Never seen corrosion cause it, they just go in and get stuck. The slides get stuck too sometimes. If they do, leave them in and throw the whole thing in the dip.
 
Years ago I think I remember someone writing that they broke needles off that were corroded together in the carb. This is why I asked.

cg

The were probably talking about the fuel needles, the tips are pretty fine. Also once you get into the underneath of the carbs the pilot jets have a very small straight slot to them and you can easily strip them (and then you're buggered) if they are stuck in there, but usually spraying them overnight with something is more than enough to loosen things up first.
 
Charley

Before you even put a screw driver to them, set them on the bench and hit them with pentrating oil on every screw and in the slides

Repeat for a few days

Then strip the chokes, the tops, the slides, the bowls and everything on the bottom. Then, separate them from the rack last and into the dip they go

A JIS screwdriver is helpful and an impact driver for the rack bolts
 
AND......DO NOT pry the slides up with a screwdriver!!!!! Use something like the plastic handle of a paintbrush if you need to pry them to break them loose. Up and down a little each time and add more penetrating oil as you go.
 
You may find that they're toast. I had a set that the slides froze in after I stupidly left them on the back porch over night to get rained on (and in) and when I finally fetched them a few days later the slides were locked up like no ones business. I tried everything I could think of to break them loose. Soaked them for literal days in dip, soaked them in un-diluted CLR, boiled them, tried marvel mystery oil, and finally I actually broke a screwdriver trying to pry them loose (I'd at this point decided that they weren't worth saving but didn't want to be defeated haha)

There's something with those VM carbs, I dunno what sort of alloy they are, but even after dipping them, and rinsing them I find I usually have to take some fine sandpaper to the slide bores and the choke plunger bore to clean out the metalic residue or the slides will stick. The CVs don't have that problem.

Btw those certainly look like 26s to me too. If they'd been 22s from a 550 the bodies would have rings around them going down the outside of the slide bore towers. Some of the 22s (I don't think they were used on GS models however) that I've seen also had accelerator pumps.
 
Josh...Did ya try some propane heat on the slide towers and then some oil soaked in? The heat usually expands the aluminum just enough to get them oiled well and moving.:)

I use a new green dish scrubbie to scrub the towers nice and shiney too. Like you said, theres something about the alloy and a good cleaning keeps the slides very free moving.
 
Try some Deep Creep and work them slowly. A pic of one using DC after they were returned from rebuild.

IMG_0889.JPG
 
Try some Deep Creep and work them slowly. A pic of one using DC after they were returned from rebuild.

IMG_0889.JPG

What is Deep Creep? This is a new one? I'm not that old:rolleyes:! I looked it up. I'll pick up a can. Thanks.
 
Last edited:
Try some Deep Creep and work them slowly. A pic of one using DC after they were returned from rebuild.

IMG_0889.JPG

Aren't these the carbs that you sent off for a rebuild and they came back with frozen slides?
 
Steve.
Same carbs. Six weeks, sticking slides, full of spider webs etc. etc. etc. It's a done deal and was such a PITA that I really don't care to remember. Should have done them myself, although carbs of any kind have never been my forte.
 
Back
Top