GS 450 Carb Swap?

[scottychop]

Curious if anyone has done a carb swap on a 450. I see a lot of folks who want to run pods or stacks that run into all sorts of trouble with stock carbs. Has anyone gone to something different? I'd sure like to hear some stories about what worked for you. I have been thinking of doing some mild modifications to my own GS and would love the advice.

Scott

[BassCliff]

Hi,

Changes in the air intake and/or exhaust system will require jetting changes to your carbs, not a "carb swap".


Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff

[scottychop]

Yeah.

Thanks, but not what I was asking really. My question was if people HAD swapped out carbs, what did they go for, i.e. CR, Keihns, Mikuni..... and if they ran better, worse, or if it defeat the purpose. I guess not to many folks are interested in hopping up a small displacement twin unless its a Honda or Yamaha.

Thanks though,

Scott

[GregT]

Any aftermarket slide type carb will be better than the OE CV carbs.
Even, God help us, Amals....
I run Dellortos on my race 450 - but only because they turned up at the right price. Keihins at the top of the list, the others pretty much level but slightly less desirable. Depends really where you get them and what the backup is like - availability of jets and needles etc.
Street use around 32 - 34 mm will work.

[pete]

I'm aiming for pods (K&N of course) and custom exhaust for my 450 when i get there, but I'm hoping not to even think about swapping carbs out.

I expect to spend some time rejetting and tuning for sure.

To be honest, the pods and exhaust are 75% for looks, 20% for freer breathing, 3% to avoid battling getting the airbox back in, and 2% wanting that airbox space for a bit of covered in storage space.

However, if the right set of carbs came up for the right price at the right time I would consider them, but I honestly have no idea what the right set of carbs would be so probably wouldn't even see them in the first place...

[scottychop]

Thanks

GregT,

I'd love to hear more about your race bike for sure. What other engine mods have you done? Do you have a thread on here somewhere?

I am on another board dedicated to cafe style bikes, and time and again these little GS's come up as just ok donor bikes, mostly I think due to the lack of kickstart but secondly the cv carbs. I had some slide carbs sitting on the shelf and was wondering about the switch. Of course they are the wrong size but it got me thinking.

Cheers,
Scott

[friedshrooms]

what if you put 2000-2010 gs 500 carbs on it? I'm sure those are the right size. I posted a thread about that and got no responses. They do have fuel pumps though, but I'm sure that'd be easy enough to wire up if you had to.

[scottychop]

Interested

Fuel pumps huh? Got a pic?

[friedshrooms]

Fuel pumps huh? Got a pic?

They arn't on my 450 but the engines look very similar... It seems like it could be very beneficial to the engine. These carbs are $199 on ebay. Also if you look at the intakes there are attachments for the vacuum tubes so I guess you wouldn't need to, would be a very fun experiment though.

[scottychop]

nah

Too new for my blood. I'll stick with mechanical carbs until fuel injection pops up it's ugly head.

[GregT]

I think you'll find the carbs have accelerator pumps and will work with gravity feed.
The wiring looks like a throttle position sensor - which you wouldn't use.

[scottychop]

Ah

Ah yes, I see it now. Thanks.