GS1100E and Mikuni 33 smoothies

[GregT]

Sit a slide, base down, on a flat surface. It should be possible to measure the height of the cutaway with a vernier or sliding drills in as a gauge.
I assume the 1.5 or 2.0 is probably millimeters. On british carbs it's 1/16 inch per 1.0 division.

Once established it's easy enough to scribe a line at the height you want to cut to. Then it's usually easiest to use a linisher to trim to a straight line back to the original point the cutaway ended. Deburr the edges and you're done.
This is the way to raise the cutaway - making it leaner off idle.

To make it richer, I put the slide in a lathe and trim a little off the flat base at a time - thus lowering the cutaway.

I have to admit that the last few carbs I've done have all required richening in this area as they were intended in their OE use to run with filters - and I wanted to run them open.

[pete]

Cheers Greg, that makes sense although a little tricky for my capabilities.

Definitely thinking of putting those stock carbs in while I figure out what to do with the VM33's, don't really want to give up on them but I also don't want to screw them up.

At least if I have the Kat still running without them installed I can take them apart and see how confident I feel.

[pete]

Well I got the stock carbs dialed in and will send the slides off to Greg... and Greg when I dismantled the VM33's last night I noticed the cutaway was a lot more than 1.5mm and I measured them closer to 2.4mm. A Google showed up that these use the British measurements also rather than metric.

Also, the more I read about the arm stretching with these carbs the more I want to get them right as that's the one big difference I've noticed compared to the stock ones; they just don't have that same pull when the throttle opens.

[pete]

Oh, I also forgot to ask... any way to tell if the jet block gaskets are good or bad and any tips on how to safely remove/replace them? They look a bit old to me but given the recess they're in I've not tried to remove them and check them out just yet. I figure now's the time to replace them if it's necessary though as I've read bad jet block gaskets will cause constant idle issues.