Carb rebuild question...

[Guest]

The question I have today is, when would you rebuild the carbs? I'm working in an 82 gs850g, it only has 7000 miles on it and I'm sure that the last two owners never rode it. I have bought the carbs kits and the o-rings for the rebuild but I'm not going to be able to get it running for a couple of month due to weather. Do I put the carbs together now or wait till later?

Thanks

[BassCliff]

Hi,

It doesn't matter when you do it as long as you do it properly before you try to ride it. About the only thing you should use out of those "carb kits" is the float bowl gasket. Did you get a carb O-ring kit from http://cycleorings.com? Did you get intake boot O-rings?

Mikuni BS(CV) Carburetor Rebuild Tutorial
(by Mr. Nessism)

CV Carburetor Rebuild Guide
(Courtesy of GSR and John Bloemer)
(Click here to see the CV Carb Notes)

Air Intake Repair:
Airbox removal, intake boots and O-ring replacement

Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff

[spyug]

I would say anytime the bike has sat for a year or so or even less time in any part of the continent where the gas is known to be less than top grade.

If the bike was sitting for 6 months or a little more I would always try some fresh gas and a couple of tanks full mixed with some Seafoam as that might be all you need.

Should you notice any stumbling, hesitation, backfiring , lack of power or any other strange symptoms then its an automatic clean and rebuild. As friend and site wizard Cliff says.....no half measures, do it right, strip, dip and rebuild with new o-rings or fugedaboutit!

The tutorial is excellent, it is really not hard, infact the hardest part is usually getting the carbs out. Give it a go anyway just for the experience. The bike will thank you with some sweet running.

Cheers, good luck and let us know how you make out.
Spyug

[Steve]

The question I have today is, when would you rebuild the carbs?

If you treat the carbs right, you should only have to do it once. Usually, it will be necessary when you get the bike. Then, because you will treat it a LOT better than the previous owner(s), you should never have to do them again. Example: I rebuilt the carbs in my wife's bike 6 years and about 22,000 miles ago. I refreshed them this past spring, not because there were any problems, but because the carbs were off so I could enable a cylinder liner transplant. I figured it wouldn't hurt anything, and it's cheap enough, so I dipped them again, installed new o-rings and re-painted them.

I am confident that I did not waste any money in the process, but, because there was no apparent change in the way the bike ran, I also feel that it was not really all that necessary (at this time).

Once you freshen up your carbs, just be sure to keep fresh gas going through them by riding the bike or be sure to treat the gas if you have to store the bike for the winter.

.

[Jedz123]

Agree with Steve 100% on the carbs after they are properly rebuilt/re cleaned is to make sure the gas you run through is properly treated. Buy a bottle of Stabil Marine formula (Blue additives with ethanol treatment)and add The recommended amount to every tank! You can go years without carb hassels. It's definitely the best preventive maintenance measure you can do!
Good Luck!

[76Mike82]

Thanks for the replies guys, I guess I worded my question badly, but BassCliff gave me the answer I was looking for. I was worried about assembling the carbs (and intake o-rings) months before they will ever see gas.

Thanks again

[koolaid_kid]

Prior to mounting them on the bike be sure and test them on your bench using a temp fuel tank. Both sets I rebuilt had at least 1 needle/seat stick after sitting in a box for a while. It is a lot easier to correct them on the bench than pull them back off the bike to correct the issue. Just my two cents worth.

[76Mike82]

not to sound dumb but what type of bench test are you talking about? I've never done any type of bench testing on any of the carbs I've rebuilt.

[tom203]

not to sound dumb but what type of bench test are you talking about? I've never done any type of bench testing on any of the carbs I've rebuilt.

He probably means to test that float needle/seats are doing their thing and holding back fuel reasonably well.

[76Mike82]

He probably means to test that float needle/seats are doing their thing and holding back fuel reasonably well.

That makes more sense, Thanks!!!!!