float bowl flooding.......

[turkeyroll60]

This is the second time I have had the carbs off of my gs450. The first time I cleaned and rebuilt them, put them back on and experienced a sever lack of power and leaking from the float bowl (around the gasket area) of the left carb. I pulled them off and set the float levels within spec by using a digital caliper. I won a set of bs34ss carbs off ebay and used the float valves from them since they appeared to be in better shape. It was then I was comparing my carbs to the ones I won that I realized that the previous owner stripped some of the float bowl screws and put larger ones in. I also noticed that the needle jet appears to have been modified as it is half the size of the one in the new carbs (ebay) and there are no little holes in the side that would control the fuel as the jet needle is pulled up by the diaphram and slide. I am about to give the ebay carbs a good cleaning and put them on as they appear to be in better condition at this point. Any thoughts or suggestions?

[pete]

Sounds like you're onto the right things there, and definitely sounds like the PO had some fun with those carbs...

While the jets will have markings on them telling you what they are, it's hard to see if they've been tampered with as they're so small.

[turkeyroll60]

Thanks Pete. I am taking my time with these. I just took down the left carb and started their day long bath in carb cleaner. I realized these eBay carbs were handled a lot better than my current ones. As for the float bowl gasket, when should they be replaced. The ones off my current carbs are soft and pliable but seem thin. The ones off the eBay carbs are stiff and bridle but seem thicker. Both appear to be made of rubber.

[pete]

Given the float bowl gaskets are so cheap, I'd just go buy new ones. From memory they're less than $6 each from Boulevard Suzuki, so even walking into your local dealer shouldn't be expensive.

My genuine ones are rubbery and flexible and I've had the float bowls off and on a bunch of times fiddling with the jets and they still seal like new.

[spyug]

Now for all you toffs to whom money is no object go ahead and buy your fancy fb gaskets. For the rest of us peons, make em yourself. If you buy paper gasket material from the local auto store $10 will get you enough material to make them and others for the rest of your natural life.

Take the old one, trace it, cut it out and Bob's your uncle and Fannies your aunt. If you take some nasty smelly old cheapo axle grease and rub a little into both sides it will seal better and will come off easily and in one piece next time.

If you are super cheap ( er I mean frugal) like me and my fellow Scots, you can even carve up your Cornflakes box and use that.

Hopefully you will have sorted out that nasty spillage. With the cost of dino juice going through the roof these days we can't afford to waste a drop now can we.

Good luck with it.
Cheers,
Spyug

[hampshirehog]

Don't worry too much about your gaskets - they haven't got much of a job to do (they are only designed to prevent fuel slop). As long as they aren't missing chunks they will work as intended.

The key is the the float valve (or multiples thereof). If it shuts off properly and you have set the float levels accurately fuel shouldn't reach the level of the top of the bowl and leak anyway.

[turkeyroll60]

Thanks for all the help. I'm gonna try to reuse the old ones. I am very confused by my clymers manual and suspect I may have been setting the floats wrong the last two times. The manual says the float level for all models is 25.6-27.6mm. Right after that sentence it reads "the correct float level for gs450 models is 21.4-23.4mm." Well I can tell you that I didn't have problems with my 450 until I lowered the floats. After visually inspecting the floats at 22.6mm I realized the floats hit the top of the carb body before the needle valve can fully seat. I'm sticking with the 25-27mm range this time and I bet things will flow nicely. The second problem I noticed with the old carbs is that the needle jet isn't sealing when it slides into the throttle body thus gas over fills due to the improper float setting and flows right up into the throttle body and right into the engine. I will get this one right I swear!

[pete]

Thanks for all the help. I'm gonna try to reuse the old ones. I am very confused by my clymers manual and suspect I may have been setting the floats wrong the last two times. The manual says the float level for all models is 25.6-27.6mm. Right after that sentence it reads "the correct float level for gs450 models is 21.4-23.4mm." Well I can tell you that I didn't have problems with my 450 until I lowered the floats. After visually inspecting the floats at 22.6mm I realized the floats hit the top of the carb body before the needle valve can fully seat. I'm sticking with the 25-27mm range this time and I bet things will flow nicely. The second problem I noticed with the old carbs is that the needle jet isn't sealing when it slides into the throttle body thus gas over fills due to the improper float setting and flows right up into the throttle body and right into the engine. I will get this one right I swear!

If I remember, I'll check what the factory manual says for float height for you. I set mine according to that but it was a while ago and I can't remember now, but I think it was somewhere around 24mm... don't forget to measure with the gasket out too. Probably won't get to check the manual until this time tomorrow night though, if I'm lucky.

[turkeyroll60]

My new ebay carbs are clean and reassembled. I blew through all openings to ensure all air passages were good and put them back on. Major plus is that there is no more flooding out the vent tubes but now the bike wont start. There is fuel as when I prime the carbs a little fuel leaks out the vent tubes. The petcock only work when suction/vacuum is applied. I checked both plugs for sparks with positive results. The stock airbox is sealed and a clean airfilter is properly fitted. Throttle cable has all slack taken out and the idle screw was adjusted through its full range and still no starts. Not even a turn over. The carbs were listed on ebay as coming off of a late 70's suzuki but I'm not sure which model. The only thing I have not messed with is the air mixture screws. They still have the plug from the manufacturer in them. Could be something as simple as that? How many air cooled twins were out there in the late 70's that would require a different setting from my 82 450txz? I am really stumped here.

PS...Im also posting this in a new thread so that I may get more responses.

[pete]

If it doesn't even try to crank, it ain't the carbs.

The clutch safety switch or main fuse or grounds?