Engine Not Getting Fuel After VM Rebuild

[slaveforthewave]

dave, you're awesome! let me know when you are free'd up. i'll button the rest of the bike up and leave the carbs to someone who know what the hell they are doing!

[KEITH KRAUSE]

Well, based on your very first post you said "before the carb rebuild it ran pretty reliably". So I have to believe you've done one or more things wrong to the carbs.
If you can get help from a member here than that should be better than taking it to a shop, though it depends on the shop. Many shops don't know how to work on older bikes and you'll get in deeper.
Re-reading your posts I was focusing on how you needed to cover the carbs intake to get it to start at all but now you say it ran about 30 seconds before dying. I have no idea how well it ran for those 30 seconds and that matters a lot. If it ran decent then died, I'd have to say it's not primarily a poor bench synch/vacuum issue but a fuel flow and/or venting issue. Sounds like it's running out of fuel which is more often related to no fuel but can be venting related.
If not using the petcock then it's possible your fuel source isn't vented? If it is vented, then something is stopping fuel flow or keeping things flowing too slowly. Possible float level issue or debris in the carb passages or float seat area. Any fuel filter being used? Did you change any fuel or bowl vent lines? Are they all hooked up as per factory? Any chance you could have disturbed the manifolds pulling the carbs out and possibly created an intake leak by cracking one or more of them?
If all above are good then you need to go back and check all you've done inside the carbs.

[slaveforthewave]

keith, when i got the bike it had a tag on it that had not been registered since 02. i assume the bike was sitting that long. the slides were stuck in place, and after a little coaxing with carb cleaner they slid free again. after taking off the electronic ignition from my gs850 and hooking up what was necessary, i hooked a funnel to a gas line and poured some gas into the carbs. i have a video of her running from that moment. she ran until the gas in the bowls was gone. now when she runs you can just hear something is wrong. the idle will be low and then just jump up a few hundred rpm and maintain that. then the idle kind of surges up then down then back up again until the idle get's so low it just dies off. the intake boots all look fine, but i know the exhaust is sketchy. i let the gf 'help' when i was removing the motor and she snapped two studs off so when i attach the new exhaust it is tight, but not quite the same. other than that, the intake and exhaust should be in good working order. fuel is coming in through a funnel that has no top, so it is definitely vented. i believe i am supposed to cap off at least one of the vent lines on the carbs that goes to the petcock because the tank i have will not be vacuum operated, but putting your finger over one or all of them while it is running does not seem to help or hurt anything. but the bike will not run without choke on and still dies out; which, like you said, seems to point to a fuel issue. before following the advice of this thread, getting the broken fuel screw tips out etc, when i would throttle up you could audibly hear some sort of loud vacuum noise from the carbs as the bike died, but now if you grab the throttle the bike actually revs up. no popping, sounds good. i consider that progress, on a glass half full day.

thanks so much for all the insight and help. without this forum i would be a sitting duck.

[Big T]

So, you're only smacking yourself in the head with your hand now, rather than pounding it against the wall?

There's hope yet. Did you replace the broken fuel screws?

[slaveforthewave]

you're so eloquent with your words big t! and you hit the nail on the head! haha

with the fuel screws i actually just put some 150 grit in the da and spun them until they were nice and sharp. i literally spent hours online trying to find replacements! if anyone knows where i can get replacements please let me know!

[Big T]

you're so eloquent with your words big t! and you hit the nail on the head! haha

with the fuel screws i actually just put some 150 grit in the da and spun them until they were nice and sharp. i literally spent hours online trying to find replacements! if anyone knows where i can get replacements please let me know!

This is the only thing the "carb kits" are good for, even Mikuni doesn't have them anymore

[Big T]

This is the only thing the "carb kits" are good for, even Mikuni doesn't have them anymore

Search for "Keyster" or "K&L"

[slaveforthewave]

this is the kit i bought:

http://www.z1enterprises.com/Carburetor-Rebuild-Kit-GS1000-197879-502.aspx

came with everything else but that needle pretty much... of course. i'm thinking about just naming this bike clusterf*ck because that's been the modus operandi of this whole thing. at this point i just have a hunk of metal, a motor, and two wheels!

[KEITH KRAUSE]

this is the kit i bought:

http://www.z1enterprises.com/Carburetor-Rebuild-Kit-GS1000-197879-502.aspx

came with everything else but that needle pretty much... of course. i'm thinking about just naming this bike clusterf*ck because that's been the modus operandi of this whole thing. at this point i just have a hunk of metal, a motor, and two wheels!

Not sure what good the kit will do. With your pod/pipe mods the mains are useless. The screw is the side air screw which you should have already. Gasket can be used. You need a stage 3 jet kit.
Your re-sharpened pilot fuel screws may not allow proper operation. The tip must be as per factory and if you decreased the overall length that can be a problem too. The main problem you describe of stalling with (I assume) a closed or minimally opened throttle, suggests the pilot circuit isn't flowing enough fuel. The fact that you need choke to act as a partial substitute for the pilot circuit says the same thing.
The pilot circuit isn't flowing well. If you cleaned the carbs and removed the broken tips then you'll be able to take some carb cleaner with a tube and shoot it through each pilot fuel screw port and see a good spray column come out. By the way, each pilot circuit has TWO of these tiny holes per carb. If so, then that suggests the screws themselves are damaged/compromising flow and you need new ones. Many members here should be able to help you with getting used ones that are in good condition. "SUDCO" in Los Angeles may have these screws too.

[slaveforthewave]

i really bought the kit for the gasket and the springs and what have you. got them pretty cheap so when it was all said and done the price was comparable to finding the pieces, not to mention one of the pilot air screws was a little stripped when i got it out. either way, yeah i have a bag full of parts.

but as for that pilot fuel screw, i tried the sudco site. the weird part is it isn't that the part isn't available... there isn't even a part listed!

http://www.sudco.com/Diagrams323728/expvm29.gif

someone please point out some sort of user error so i can get these damn things. maybe i will post on the wanted board here for some?

[KEITH KRAUSE]

That diagram was for VM29's. 29's don't use the pilot fuel screws.
You have VM 26's, stock carbs for the 1000.

[KEITH KRAUSE]

I checked out their site and couldn't find a parts diagram for the 26's. Could be there somewhere as I didn't have time to look at it completely.
I did notice they listed the air adjusting screw and it's spring, then right after them they list an "idle adjusting screw" and it's spring. ?
Could be they mean the pilot fuel screw which is the correct terminology regardless of what they call it. It's possible too that they actually mean the thumb operated adjuster knob mounted in the center and underneath that adjusts the idle rpm's by contacting the throttle pulley. But I think they are talking about the pilot fuel screws you need.
Call them to find out.

[slaveforthewave]

well, i called the only florida sudco distributor listed on their site, they gave me nothing. just posted an ad on here for the screws. i guess i'll just wait it out. i bet hand sharpened screws don't help much of anything!

[slaveforthewave]

okay, now i'm really confused...

i bought this rebuild kit:

http://www.z1enterprises.com/Carburetor-Rebuild-Kit-GS1000-197879-502.aspx

which has jets for the 1000.

and the same prices kit for the 750:

http://www.z1enterprises.com/Carburetor-Rebuild-Kit-GS750-197779-487.aspx

has the pilot fuel screws that i need and literally cannot find anywhere else...

i really hope i don't have to spend 100 dollars to get 4 screws!