Carb cleaning - an easier teardown...?

[philosopheriam]

Hi,

I recently purchased an oring kit and new bowl gaskets for the Mikuni BS carbs on my 1982 GS650.

Do you think it's a good idea to only remove the parts with orings on them (float valves, air screw, etc) and leave the other parts (jets, etc) in the carbs during the dipping/cleaning process? These carbs look relatively clean, but I want to go through the orings just to be sure. Not all of the small parts have orings on them, so, I'm just trying to make my life easier when I tear down the carbs.

Thoughts?

[7981GS]

You do want your carbs to be CLEAN, right? Tear them apart.

Daniel

[spyug]

Nope. You need to pull everything off for a proper cleaning job. Some of the holes in the jets will get plugged and you will need to take a tiny wire to them.

Sorry but there are no shortcuts if you want to do a good job. It may take a little longer but the outcome will be better. Trust me, been there, tried that, had to do it all over again. No fun.

Good luck with it.
Cheers,
Spyug

[rapidray]

If you want them done correctly send them to me & I will put them in my ultrasonic cleaner. That is the BEST way I have ever found yet to clean carbs! That aside, you also need to separate the carbs from each other & replace the orings on the fuel transfer tubes between each carb. You won't be very happy if you go through all this work & they leak there if you didn't change them! Ray.

[tom203]

Nope. You need to pull everything off for a proper cleaning job. Some of the holes in the jets will get plugged and you will need to take a tiny wire to them.

Sorry but there are no shortcuts if you want to do a good job. It may take a little longer but the outcome will be better. Trust me, been there, tried that, had to do it all over again. No fun.

Good luck with it.
Cheers,
Spyug

Yep, no shortcuts - heed this advice. Do it right or suffer the consequences.

[SqDancerLynn1]

After taking them apart two or three times, you will wish that you had listened and done it right the first time, including rebuilding the air box.....

[Runningdog]

Honestly, a complete teardown is the only way to go. The first carb will be slow, as you get to know how everything goes together and comes apart, but the next three will be easy.

Even without a sonic cleaner (sigh, love to have one), you can do a bang-up job if you take your time and be methodical. Don't do a bit at a time on any one carb though, go through one carb at one sitting.

A real "Whoop" moment when you put them back on the bike and it fires right up.....

[philosopheriam]

Okay, looks like the verdict is in - complete carb teardown :-)

How many turns out do you have your air screws set - I know they are pre-set from the factory, but I figured that people on the forum may have tinkered with this to make starting easier, etc.

Thanks!!!

[Larry D]

Okay, looks like the verdict is in - complete carb teardown :-)

How many turns out do you have your air screws set - I know they are pre-set from the factory, but I figured that people on the forum may have tinkered with this to make starting easier, etc.

Thanks!!!

About 2 1/2 - 3 turns out from lightly seated. Don't crank down on the screws to hard when finding the "lightly seated", the tip of the screw can break off.

[Steve]

Do you think it's a good idea to only remove the parts with orings on them (float valves, air screw, etc) and leave the other parts (jets, etc) in the carbs during the dipping/cleaning process?

No.

These carbs look relatively clean, but I want to go through the orings just to be sure.

Commendable, but the parts that get gummed up are not visible.

Yes, the removeable parts can and do get gummed up, but it's the small passages inside the carb body that are affected the most.
Especially the passage that feeds the idle mixture adjustment screw.

Not all of the small parts have orings on them, so, I'm just trying to make my life easier when I tear down the carbs.?

By the time you remove ONLY the parts with o-rings, you will find that all you have left to remove is the main jet, the needle jet, the pilot fuel jet and the pilot air jet. You will want to remove them anyway, so you can poke a strand of copper wire through the holes to make sure they are open.

As the others have mentioned (and you have already relented), if you really want to make your life easier, take the extra two minutes per carb, take EVERYTING out, soak each body and all the brass pieces in Berryman's Carb Cleaner Dip, then re-assemble with your new o-rings and gaskets.

NOTE: The length of time to leave them in the dip is also important. The can says to leave them in there for 15 to 30 minutes. The first set of carbs I did, I left them in there a full 30 minutes. PUt the carbs together, noticed NO improvement. I decided to go overboard and soak them for TWO FULL HOURS , then re-assembled. Again, no improvement. Only after soaking each carb for a full day did I notice that they were finally working correctly.

Bottom line: if you know the bike has been working reasonably correctly and are just doing a "touch-up" and o-ring replacement, soaking for a couple of hours might be enough. If you have no idea about the history of the bike, just do each one for a full day and do it just once. The carbs I did for my wife's bike 5 1/2 years ago are still working well and have only been off the bike once, and that was for access to the cam chain tensioner. (Every set of carbs I have done since then has had the full-day soak, I have never had to repeat a set of carbs due to lack of cleaning.)

.

[gert du prez]

Hi Steve,

there is no carb dip cleaner soaker available here in Belgium, and berryman's do not ship...do you think that a 'cold degreaser' (that's how I translated it) would work sufficiently for the carbs ?

or do I switch to a carb cleaner spray then ?

[Do Little]

If your mechanically inclined, tearing apart your carbs isn't all that hard. It's just very tedious and time consuming.

[hampshirehog]

Hi Steve,

there is no carb dip cleaner soaker available here in Belgium, and berryman's do not ship...do you think that a 'cold degreaser' (that's how I translated it) would work sufficiently for the carbs ?

or do I switch to a carb cleaner spray then ?

Can you still get cellulose thinners over there? That works pretty well. Either that or boiling in water to which you have added a drop of washing up liquid (don't add more than a drop or you'll fill the room with suds).

[gert du prez]

yep,

both cellulose thinner as washing up liquid can be easily purchased...
hot water on the other hand...

thanks

gert

[Octain]

If your mechanically inclined, tearing apart your carbs isn't all that hard. It's just very tedious and time consuming.

What consumes the majority of the time is soaking em for a day or two. Once ya have one out of the way the others go quick providing everything comes apart easily.

gert du prez, be VERY sure to use screwdrivers that fit correctly. Test fit to make sure. If you mock up the heads on any of those brass jets you'll be hating life.
Go slow.. Doing these carbs reminds me of building model cars/planes as a youngster.
Sit down, turn on some tunes and have at it. Its really kinda fun.

Can you get charcoal lighter fluid where you life?