78 GS1000C carb problems

[matt8874]

Hey all, its been a long time since Ive posted about carbs and I am still having issues.

I have a 1978 GS1000C and its hard to run it. I have changed out the air box to 4 pod air filters to make the carbs easily removable. I would rather avoid switching back but if its necessary I guess I would. The bike will run at idle, but any time I try to give it gas it bogs and dies instantly, meaning it isnt getting enough gas I assume. I have tried to turn up the idle speed so I can turn the choke down, but when I get the choke almost half way it wants to die.

I have not synced the carbs yet, I need to buy a tool for it unless someone can tell me how to make a home made one.
But as for my adjustments I have just done the basic pilot screw and air mixture adjustments (I think it was 3/4 out from soft bottom on fuel and 1 1/2 for the air mixture). Carb #1 air screw is stripped out on the head so cant adjust that one. It seems to run fine at idle when I can get it to run. And if I run it with low gas and put the petcock on reserve, when I shut the bike off every couple minutes the drain tube spits out a little fuel on the ground, and Im not sure why..

Can anyone give me some advice? Thanks!

[Spyderman]

http://www.thegsresources.com/_forum/showthread.php?199275-Pods-Pipes-Panic!-(Help!-Your-Bike-has-Pods)

http://www.thegsresources.com/_forum/showthread.php?194050-Help!-Your-Bike-Won-t-Run-Well

Scroll the right side and see the VM rebuild tutorial..

http://members.dslextreme.com/users/bikecliff/

Vale adjustment

http://members.dslextreme.com/users/bikecliff/images/gs850valve_adjust.pdf

once you have gone through the above stuff you will then need to rejet your bike for the pods

also on cliff's site you will find all the needed and useful info you require and more so poke around on there you will find lots to read

[matt8874]

I was unaware that the pods would effect the carbs so I have the original air box installed again.

It runs now, but after a minute of running it starts smoking white, like a lot of smoke, and only from the right side pipe. It also get very hot, I do not have a fan blowing on it but I will try that next time, but I dont think the white smoke is from it just running with no air cooling it?

So as in the original post, the pilots are still at 3/4 turn from lightly bottom. I started adjusting the air screws, the idle would go up a lot with just small adjustments, and there was so much smoke I had to turn it off because I couldnt breathe.

Before I put the pods on I had it running pretty good, enough to even drive perhaps. But stupid me thought putting pods on would make life easy next time I had to remove the carbs, so I attempted to adjust it to the pods and now I am back in the garage.. I ordered my carb sync tool today so it will be a few days before I get that.

I guess my main question now is, why is there so much white smoke? It did this when I first got it too but not this bad, as I mentioned I fixed that just before installing the pods. Is the mixture too lean or too rich? It runs with the choke all the way off, as in the lever part is pushed all the way down. It runs very high idle when the choke is up, so I think I need to adjust the idle screw with the air screws to tone it down a bit.

[chuck hahn]

Maybe got it too hot and the valve stem seals are now leaking??? NON use of a fan makes things go south quickly.

[matt8874]

Well Im not sure, its weird because it had some white smoke before, then I got it straightened out, then put pods on, now Im back to the stock air box and it smokes more than ever. But it only smokes after like 2 mins of running at idle. I did put the fan on it this last run and it still smoked but not as much as earlier today, about as much as it did the very first time. Good news is it runs steady and can give it plenty of throttle without it bogging.

[RayC]

Hi
I have a 78 GS 1000 also with pods they are better than the stock air box mainly you pull the carbs in minutes
Change all your carb phillips screws to allen heads and clean the pilots then ck your fuel screws with pods and stock pilot jets 1& 1/2 to 2 turns should be enough for Stock exhaust or not?
Just dialed mine real close with 4 into one - #120 mains #17.5 pilots 1 turn on fuel screws and ~ 1 +or - on air screws
Synced the carbs and still likes to idle around 1400 -1500 rpm
Hope this helps a bit

[Guest]

Ray, go back to the stock #15 Pilot jet and put a larger main jet in there. I have the equivalent of a 133.1 main jet in mine, but I also am running a 4-1 exhaust. You should have more like a 123.8 main jet. The larger pilot jets are not necessary on the VM carburetors. A Dynojet 3304 jet kit would help a lot, the needle taper is a lot better than stock. Discard the two upper vent lines. All bets are off if you are using the cheap pods. The carburetors can be dialed in so it purrs like a kitty. Matt It sure sounds like valve seals, and a large fan helps a lot when syncing the carburetors. I just got a 24" shop fan at Harbor Freight. It will keep the bike cool while working on it and the smoke out of the garage. After you get it up and running, white smoke when downshifting is definitely valve seals, but sometimes it might just need to be run and might get better with regular riding.