GS550L Carbs - What The Heck Are These? PICS INCLUDED

[Anonymous]

I really need to take some pics, but maybe I can 'splain it to ya.

I've got an '83 GS550L with the two barrel Mikuni's. With the bike, I got two extra sets of carbs (bonus? Trojan horse?) :roll: The PO had put a set from a 550E on the bike and couldn't get it to run right. I decided that I'd restore the original carbs and see what happened.

When I got to taking the carbs apart, I noticed that the 550E carbs had little copper extension tubes where the pilot jets screw in. These copper tubes keep the pilot jets from being removed What the heck is the function of these things, how the heck do I get them out to remove the pilot jets, and why don't the other two sets of 550L carbs have them?

Thanks! I couldn't find this info in the search feature.

[Anonymous]

:? Hello? Anybody home?

[focus frenzy]

yes you need to take pictures as I don't understand.

[Anonymous]

Edited pictures.

Ok, here goes. I've never posted pictures here before, so I hope this works.

Here's the two different carbs.

The one on the left is from the 550E. See the little copper tubes? No? Look at this one:

and compare it to this one of my '83 550L carb:

See the difference? Now the question is, what the hell is the function of these dudes and how are you supposed to remove them to get at the jet? I could probably crush them with a pair of channel locks and get them out, but then where will that leave me?

A little help please?

[SqDancerLynn1]

Try saving them to a jpg file, works better. If yours are like the BS carbs the plug that covers the mixture needle needs to be drilled out

[Anonymous]

:? Damn it. I didn't notice that they saved as .bmp. :roll:

That looks better. A little big maybe

[Anonymous]

Did I mention that that's where the pilot jets are on this model? It's a pretty slick set up, really.

Thanks!

[Anonymous]

ttt

[skreemer]

Hell I have a 550 E and an ES from 83 and heither of them have the copper tubes...

being the way they are makes em dang easy to synch... sorry I can't help you with the copper bits though...

(oh yeah and I just bought a dyno jet stage 3 kit for both my bikes... neither of them came with copper tubes...

[Anonymous]

Hell I have a 550 E and an ES from 83 and heither of them have the copper tubes...

Hmm. Well, this is interesting. Thanks for getting back to me, skreemer. I was beginning to think that I wouldn't get ANY responses.

The previous owner said he thought the carbs were from an 84/85 550E and that they would possibly help keep the engine from being starved in a high speed situation. Not really sure I'd buy that theory, unless the float level was incorrectly set...

[Anonymous]

:? One more time, then I give up. ttt

I'd really like to know what the function of these might be and if I'd be making a big mistake to remove them.

[KennyJ]

If I were a guessing man....well heck, I am a guessing man...I would say someone striped the threads out of the jets, and the tubes are holding thim in place. Definitly do not look stock. They could be extensions to run the fuel lower in the bowl (you would gain that much more volume with the same float height) if it was constantly held open (like road racing).

I would heat the aluminum around the tubes with a propane torch, and then try to pull the tubes.

Kenny

[Anonymous]

Thanks, Kenny. I might just have to give that a try.

[Anonymous]

Ok, here's a wack idea. You could find a drill bit that's close, chuck it up and sand it down until it's a perfect fit. With that inserted in the tubes, you can grab them with channelocks or whatever, and not distort the inside shape.

Just a thought.

[Anonymous]

That could work, too.
On closer examination to test out the possibility of inserting something to
keep from crushing the tubes, I've noticed that one tube seems to have a
smaller ID than the other. :? Perhaps this was someone's idea of a
performance mod afterall. :roll: Maybe I'll just say "screw it", rip out
the tubes, and clean
these up as a back-up set for my 550L. Or, you might just see them soon
on the "parts" forum...