Advice on where to start?

[Guest]

So I'm feeling a little overwhelmed with where I should start in terms of re-building my carbs. I have no idea what the PO did to them. I have to adjust, if it hasn't already, for the 4-to-1 exhaust and 4 pods. I'm not sure where to start, and I have bookmarked a lot of pages about my carbs and jetting, float height, etc. Help me not feel so overwhelmed? I want to learn without stressing myself out. Thanks all!

[tom203]

Pull carbs and see what you got! Yes, fun awaits! but this is a must do, if you want your bike to run right.
Of course, you've seen the Basscliff links ???

http://www.mtsac.edu/%7Ecliff/storage/gs/Mikuni_BS-CV_Carburetor_Rebuild_Tutorial.pdf

[Crankthat]

Rebuilding carbs and other links.

After opening above link I see more goodies have been added to BaseCliffs site.
Thank you Cliff!!!!!

If you have booked marked and read then you already have a good idea of what to expect.
Order up your o-ring kit and hex fasteners.
New rubber plugs and gaskets may be necessary also but to be determined after you get to them so do not order them yet unless you can spare the cash.
Get your digital camera ready for some pictures.
They will help you to remember order for assembly.
Do not take too many pictures, just good ones.
Adjust your valves.

Do you have penetrating oil?
Do you have a hammer driver?
A few old flat head screwdrivers you can grind down do fit tight in your jets?
A hand held torch? - May be necessary if your jets are varnished in with old gas
Carb dip?
Patience?

Start to soak the fasteners in penetrating oil now and wire brush any exposed threads.
Snap a few pictures of your choke assembly and throttle assembly.
You will want to know position.
Tomorrow give everything a good rap with your impact driver and loosen.
I prefer to loosen the tops and bowls before the rail that keeps them in a bank.
The carbs are less likely to move when using the driver when dissembling in this order.

Remove the rails next and hold off before splitting the bodies.
Take a few more photos paying attention to the placement of throttle levers and fuel spacers/Ts.

Separate bodies.
Lay them out next to each other in correct order pull fuel ts and place in between bodies in correct order and snap another picture.

Carefully take the tops off and pull diaphragms being careful not to rip the rubber.
Gently rub needles with a 3m pad and lube to clean and smooth.
Do not rub hard or to much as you do not want to change outside surface area.

Flip bodies over and gently remove bowls.
Remove plugs and start hitting jets with penetrating oil.
While waiting for oil start to grind down your old screwdrivers for tight fit in different jets. (You do this so you do not strip or mar the brass jets)

Now is a good time to pull the caps on your mixture screws.
After removal spray with penetrating oil.

Let everything soak a day or two and try and remove.
If anything is stuck start to apply heat to break up varnished gas.
Be careful you do not use to much force and strip anything.
Apply heat then more lube and let soak as much as needed.
This takes patience.

Dip, clean, inspect, clean more, inspect, clean more, inspect, ect, ect, ect.
Reassemble with new o-rings and hook up on bike to make sure they are proper and bike runs well.

Take back off and start your jetting adventure.

[Anthony]

Thanks so much Crank! That makes it a little less intimidating to understand. Quick questions though. About the hex fasteners, where are these located? and can I just go to Lowes to get them replaced, or is that from the same website as the o-rings? Just want to be clear on that. Also, I don't have a torch, and don't think i can shell out money for that. What can I do in that situation? Thanks again.

[eil]

A torch? What? No, you shouldn't need a torch. Carb dip will do a fine job of cleaning out out the crud in the carbs.

The only reason you'd need new fasteners is if the old ones are buggered or you just want nice new ones. Pro-tip: These carbs (and every other part of the bike) use JIS screws which looks like phillips screws but are not. Phillips screw drivers tend to strip the heads if they're in there good. You can either buy special JIS drivers, or you can do what I did and grind off about 1mm of the tip off a new #2 phillips bit and use that bit (and ONLY that bit) for all of the smaller JIS screws on the bike. (Except the ones you need an impact driver for.)

Just read through the carb rebuild tutorials (I believe there's two of them), arm yourself with the few tools you'll need, and you'll be just fine. Take everything one step at a time. After the carbs are clean and reassembled, then go about fixing the jetting.

EDIT: another tip: you may need an impact driver to loosen the screws that attach the carbs to the gang rails. If so, be very very careful when doing this, carbs are somewhat fragile and aluminum breaks easily. Do not use an impact driver on the float bowl or diaphragm cap screws.

[Anthony]

Awesome, thanks for the input!

[tom203]

Likely there is a member near you to offer hands-on advice/help.

[Anthony]

Unfortunately I'm in a remote area as far as GS members go. Last time I saw, there were only 2 others even in VA, and they were in NoVA, 4-5 hours away. But who knows, maybe I'm mistaken!

[JMHJ]

It all makes more sense once you get into them and put your hands on the parts.

I saw a cheap impact driver at the local auto parts store (O'Reilly's), after I'd searched in vain at Lowe's, and did mine w/o one (used a Dremmel to cut slots as necessary).

I got some replacement fasteners (the rail ones, etc., not the intake boots ones that you can get from cycleorings.com) at Atwood's (hex head, not allen; and some new Phillips ones too).

[growler]

Hi Anthony. I felt the same way before I did my carbs. I felt much better going into it after reading the carb tutorials many, many times. You can also find a couple youtube videos to watch beforehand to get a general idea of how to do things. Armed with the general knowledge you gain from this thread and then the detailed tutorials on Basscliff's site - you'll be good to go. Don't rush through it. Taking your time and being thorough and clean will be key. Good luck.

[Crankthat]

After reading Eil s post I can see where my choice of wording may cause confusion.
The use of a torch would be to loosen up any gas varnished to the jets.
Or your mixture screws.
One of the handheld torches would do.
Heating up and then spraying penetrating lube help pull the lube into the threads also.
A heat gun may work also.
Hopefully things will not be so stuck and you will not need that.

The hex hardware would be for the rail and carb bowls and tops.
Many of us have owned old bikes where work has never been done with them and the fasteners strip the heads if you are not real careful.
Sometimes they strip the Phillips slots even with using JIS screwdrivers.
I have only broken down 4 different sets of GS carbs (1 twice) and have had issues each time.
I have gotten everything apart without having to cut or drill yet still striped some heads.
Probably the most embarrassing part is I have a large tub of anti seize and still forget to use on the carb Phillips bolts.
It is just recommended to purchase some hex hardware so this never happens.

[JMHJ]

Probably the most embarrassing part is I have a large tub of anti seize and still forget to use on the carb Phillips bolts.

The Suzuki service manual for mine says to use Loctite on the gang rail screws. I opted out of that, but it was a risk.

[Anthony]

Okay so for my year and model of bike (82' GS750E), what is the size of the intake o-ring for ordering? Or is mine a gasket? I'm not too sure and haven't had time to look. And when I get the old screws out, can I just take the sizes to Lowe's and get new allen head screws for it, or do I need to order those online?

[78550GS]

You will probably want SHCS in the same size as what was removed. The lowes near me rarely has any metric fasteners that I like, but I have a small company that sells every fastener known to man.

[eil]

There is no intake o-ring on that engine, just inexpensive rubber boots. (One of the big improvements Suzuki made to this engine over the 8-valve one.)

As fasteners go, you're not likely to find what you want at a big-box store, your best best an independently owned Ace Hardware or the like.