Are these the right Carbs for my 1979 gs550?

[Cranny]

Hi all, I've just picked up a 1979 gs550 and it's running terribly so I thought I would strip the Carbs down. I'm new to the mechanics of bikes and was wondering if these Carbs are correct as they look different to a video I watched on cleaning the Carbs. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers Jonathon.

[timebombprod]

A picture would help lol, but if they're mikunis, more than likely yes. You're going to want to rebuild them and not clean, somebody will have the tutorial.

[Cranny]

Yes sorry about that I can't seem to upload photos. I've checked out z1 enterprises and it does seem after looking at the kits for the 550 carbs and the 850 I have 850 Carbs on my bike. Is this ok? Or will I need to get ones for the 550?

[timebombprod]

They both run mikuni bs32 carbs, so no you're all good. They probably are the right carbs I dont know if an older model 550 runs the cv instead and you just have a redefined version.

They just need a good cleaning (rebuild) and will need to be synced.

[timebombprod]

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://thexscafedotcom.files.wordpress.com/2014/06/mikuni_bs-cv_carburetor_rebuild_tutorial.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwjZ2ae9yebvAhUDWs0KHZBbAXUQFjAAegQIAxAC&usg=AOvVaw0jwBeN_tZBkku58cJNQu12&cshid=1617607498677

Heres the rebuild tutorial, if you dont want to do it theres a user named GSsteve that will do them for you but they will still need to be synced to your bike.

Honestly though, if you can do the cleaning tutorial on youtube, you can remove the carbs from the fuel rails and lines aswell, just number the carbs and if somehow you find yourself trying to figure out which carb is which, 2 will have the vacuum line for the petcock, 3 will have both sides with an open hole for the fuel line, 1 will have the left side blocked off, and 4 will have the right side blocked off. You will know the fuel line hole when doing this.

You say you're new, so maybe you haven't messed with a carbeurator, so one good thing is have the right size flathead to take off all brass pieces, and do not force them you will strip the head. Also, any parts that have rubber and cannot be removed from the corresponding piece, you can soak in pinesol instead of carb cleaner, use dip not just spray, it will be well worth the wait. All pieces inside the carbs are interchangeable so you don't have to worry about mixing them.

Also diaphragms have a little lip on them, might look like the rubber got squished a bit, dont take it off lol.

Any other questions will be answered surely.

[timebombprod]

Also, if you're REALLY new, never jump a bike with a running car, will overcharge bike and boom, $100-150 down the drain. You can do it with a non running car just fine though

[Cranny]

Wow... Thanks so much Ian for the detailed reply, it makes me feal so much better about what I found 👍

I'm definitely new and very fresh on the mechanical side of things as I've never worked on bikes, or cars for that matter before but I will definitely give things ago. I used the tutorial you posted above this morning to pull the Carbs apart ready for cleaning and that wasn't to hard.

I'm guessing I'll need some new jets as the main ones are 120 and 40 for the for the pilot opposed to 80 and 15 respectively.

Thanks again Ian much appreciated 👍

[timebombprod]

I'm guessing I'll need some new jets as the main ones are 120 and 40 for the for the pilot opposed to 80 and 15 respectively.

Thanks again Ian much appreciated 👍

Does it have a stock exhaust and airbox or are any switched? If so, you might want to leave them alone. I'm personally not knowledgable with tuning the carbs but I do know the bikes did run a bit lean from the factory. Also the jets can be changed after the rebuild so I would just see how the bike runs after the carbs are rebuilt (and also synced properly)

I'll find the link for properly tuning them aswell (if I can), but just get them rebuild first!

Also, you will be asked to do this inevitably, so I'll go ahead and do it, can you put your bike in your signature year/model/submodel and anything else you feel like putting down about it. Can find it in the account settings.

[timebombprod]

http://www.factorypro.com/tech_tuning_procedures/tuning_carbtune,CV,high_rpm_engines.html

link for carb tuning, you will have to do from high speed jets down, so those mains will get solved rather quickly.

[Nessism]

The 1979 GS550 used Mikuni VM22 carbs. The tutorial linked above is for BS CV type carbs which came on bikes 1980 and newer.

Please download a manual for your bike which shows the carbs you have. Also, download the VM series carb tutorial. Both can be found here...

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

Do not waste money on "carb kits" order a VM carb O-ring kit from cycleorings.com and new float bowl gaskets from Z1. Worst case, you will need new float valves, which can be ordered separately.

Lastly, since it appears you are using pods make sure they are not the junky generic cheapies that block off the air ports on the carb inlets. Real deal K&N pods don't cause this problem, but they are not cheap.

[timebombprod]

Oops! My bad!

[Cranny]

I finally got the photos to attach after some editing.

[Cranny]

Another photo

[Cranny]

Another photo. Anyone know what Carbs I have from these photos?

Thanks for all the help and resources fellow riders 👍

[steveb922]

Those are Mikuni BS carbs - also known as CV. They weren't fitted until 1980, which probably means you have a 1980 model which was registered in late 79. Kick-start on the engine?