North Texas Carb/synch expert you would recommend?

[modifieddesign]

I'm nervous about taking on rebuilding and synching my carbs my self. If I decide not to is there anyone in Dallas or North of Dallas that you would recommend to work on my bike? I want someone that doesn't slack and has done it before.

[TheCafeKid]

Any one of us could probably rebuild your carbs for you. I could do em in a week. But we can't sync them for you unless one of us is local to you and has a manometer.

As far as rebuilding your carbs. Not much to be nervous about. They're pretty simple if you use the carb rebuild tutorial that's been included on the main page, in BassCliffs website, or Nessisms signature line in all his posts.
It's honestly better to learn to do this stuff yourself. Many of us love to lend a hand, but keeping one of these bikes up requires a regular schedule of maintenance. Unless you have deep pockets and a good mechanic on retainer, or a local GSer that has nothing to do with his time, YOU need to do it yourself.

I promise, once you do a rebuild/cleaning, you'll feel comfortable taking on all sorts of carburetors. And it will give you a better understanding of how they work and what goes on inside of em...just like the first time you do a valve adjustment. Sure it's a little daunting at first. But once you see how simple these motors are...next thing you know you'll be rebuilding them from the cases up for fun and giggles.

[modifieddesign]

I guess I just need to suck it up and do it. I read the directions your talking about and it just seemed daunting. I found a vacuum synch kit on ebay for around $60 shipped. Is that about right for one of them? it's 4 gauges.

[TheCafeKid]

I guess I just need to suck it up and do it. I read the directions your talking about and it just seemed daunting. I found a vacuum synch kit on ebay for around $60 shipped. Is that about right for one of them? it's 4 gauges.

Those'll work though a set of glycol or mercury gauges are better. Better still is someone who's done a sync before to teach you that part.
But, as far as the rebuild goes, if you take your time, and stay organized (keep the parts of each carb separate and such, follow the tutorial to the letter not skipping or skimping on any step) and do a proper bench sync (also in the tutorial) you should be darn close enough that your bike will run pretty well without a full dynamic sync until you can find someone local to help with that.
Syncing or balancing as it's also called is simply setting the throttle blade (or butterfly) opening on each carb so that the pull through each carb is relatively close to eachother to make a smoother running engine. It's a fine tuning process but ultimately the bike will run pretty well without for the time being.
For now it's more important that you get those puppies rebuilt and throughly cleaned and a proper bench sync. Assure you also follow the suggestions on adjusting your valve clearances, and sealing all intake leaks as well to have a fine running GS. There are no shortcuts with these steps.
It's part of owning an older motorcycle (well...any motorcycle that doesn't have hydraulic lifters, which arent all that common)
If you have questions there are tons of threads on the subjects and well put together tutorials as well. Plus all of us to talk you through.

It's not super difficult and it goes a long way to helping understand how everything works and how to keep your GS tip top. Do these things and your bike will nearly live forever. Lots of GSR members with hundred plus thousand mile bikes. They're near bulletproof if you put the work in.

Good luck!

[whereiwannabe]

When I first showed up here as a noob (pretty much still am) one of the first things I did was ask for recs on a local dealer / mechanic. Responses were in line with The Cafe Kid's...and guess what? He/they are right!

I'm slowly working my way thru all the baseline stuff (just finished the valve adjustments), building up confidence, and my toolkit. Of course, the more I read the more I learn and the longer my to-do list gets .

The members here, along with the online resources, are simply amazing. My bike already runs very well but I plan to continue on with next steps, which are the same as yours: carb rebuilding and syncing. One, I enjoy it (probably most important reason!). Two, great education. Three, talk about empowerment and self-confidence. Four, I save a buttload of $$$. And five, my bike benefits (which benefits me). And now I am a member of a great community. Put a price on all that if you can.