First Carb Job Done! Sorta...

[jbthomp]

you have to lower them until they just contact the needle plunger, then hold them there and measure.

Yes that's how you do it and make sure you measure from the gasket surface with the gasket removed. There is no way to know for sure what has and hasn't been done in the past especially with a bike that is a couple decades old.

[srg]

That's because your float levels are too high. You need to get the clear tube to check the float levels before you put them back on. Or you will have to take them off again.
...
This tool or something similar is what you need to check the actual fuel level in the bowls. You could probably make one if you wanted to.

$7 for all four:

http://guglielmo.us/mc/carb_fuel_level.html

[JMHJ]

Excellent. I think the Ed Ness tutorial has something like that. If my floats are set right and those needles are seating, the gas may be bypassing around the o-ring on the tube that the float needle sits in; I can't name that part. I'm guessing here, with the best of my memory as to how it operates.

I can get some tygon tubing, and can probably come up with some screws too, although mine are a bit different and seal w/o any type of gasket.

[Killer2600]

$7 for all four:
http://guglielmo.us/mc/carb_fuel_level.html

That doesn't include new drain screws that are $5 each as per that howto

[jbthomp]

o-ring on the tube that the float needle sits in; I can't name that part.

Inlet valve or needle valve seat

[srg]

That doesn't include new drain screws that are $5 each as per that howto

I made an attempt to locate matching bolts at a hardware store to no avail. Apparently it's a metric thread with a unusual pitch to it. *shrugs* Maybe McMaster-Carr would have it cheaper.

[JMHJ]

Many thanks to Robert Barr for his great O-ring kit...

I pulled the carbs off this weekend and replaced the intake boot O-rings (which were unbroken, but pretty much flat).

I got into the carbs again tonight... I turned them over and blew on the fuel intake pipe... leaked air like crazy. The needle seat and other float O-rings that go to the start circuitry were brittle garbage. After replacing those, I couldn't make them leak by blowing on the fuel inlet.

I see how badly they needed replacing now. I think I'll get another set of O-rings just to have for later. Maybe that'll jog my memory about the correct way to do this, should I live long enough to need to do it again.

All I need to do now is check float heights, break the carbs apart again to replace the fuel inlet seals (which are more like bushing-type seals instead of O-rings), put them back on, synch, and then adjust the pilot screws... I may find some more adventure there, but I hope not.

I'll be really surprised if this didn't do the trick.

[Steve]

I think I'll get another set of O-rings just to have for later.

For those of us who buy bikes or work on them for others, having a set or two 'on-hand' makes sense. However, if this is your only GS, you won't need the new rings.

A few years ago, I was doing some work on my wife's bike and figured I would go through the carbs to see how they looked. It had been six years since I had cleaned them and installed the o-rings, but everything looked GREAT.

.

[JMHJ]

Ahhh... Good. Yes, this is my only bike.

[Steve]

The o-ring set is certainly inexpensive enough, but you would probably lose it before you needed it.

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[JMHJ]

The o-ring set is certainly inexpensive enough, but you would probably lose it before you needed it.

.

Yeah, you're probably right. I'm swamped with "stuff" as it is.