Looking for help from the Carb Gods

[crag antler]

Please..................................
Here are the basics.
1983 Suzuki GS1100ED
Stock motor, stock carbs/jets, as far as I know.
Clean Air Filter.
41,000 miles
Always stored winter time with high-test and Stabil.
New Coils and wires, plugs are tan and looking fine
Compression was good last year.

Here is the issue.
I had a hesitation off idle and on roll ons.
With synching the carbs the hesitation went away, but in 5th gear rolling into 3-4000 rpm, there is a very slight sputter.
The harder I get on it, the more pronounced it is.
Idle is perfect and through the other ranges no problem.

Here is the question.
Now I am thinking that the carbs will need to be cleaned.
How far do you think I need to get into them??
All the way apart?
Maybe get by with a minor cleaning without having to pull all the jets?
Or just suck it up and do the job right??
And if so, how difficult is it to get the carbs back right, in regards to proper mixtures??

Any ideas are greatly appeciated

[jgordon]

Please..................................
Here are the basics.
1983 Suzuki GS1100ED
Stock motor, stock carbs/jets, as far as I know.
Clean Air Filter.
41,000 miles
Always stored winter time with high-test and Stabil.
New Coils and wires, plugs are tan and looking fine
Compression was good last year.

Here is the issue.
I had a hesitation off idle and on roll ons.
With synching the carbs the hesitation went away, but in 5th gear rolling into 3-4000 rpm, there is a very slight sputter.
The harder I get on it, the more pronounced it is.
Idle is perfect and through the other ranges no problem.

Here is the question.
Now I am thinking that the carbs will need to be cleaned.
How far do you think I need to get into them??
All the way apart?
Maybe get by with a minor cleaning without having to pull all the jets?
Or just suck it up and do the job right??
And if so, how difficult is it to get the carbs back right, in regards to proper mixtures??

Any ideas are greatly appeciated

Probably a slide issue but I would take them apart and clean and go through everthing. Install new o-rings and the like and make sure that the diaphragms are not cracked or stiff. Then have fun getting the stock airbox on...its a mess (-:

[crag antler]

I have had the carbs off before and found that by sitting on the bike, minus the seat , you can get everything on and off fairly easy.

[BRycraft]

Carb Cleaning

You could invest about $15 in a container of carb cleaner with the dip tank available at any auto store, spend another $80-$100 in carb rebuild kits, order a o-ring kit that is secific for your carbs, also thru this site and rebuild them using the carb cleaning breakdown series on this site and hope you didn't miss anything or come across a jet that refuses to come out and then gets ruined in the extraction process, or there is a nice guy in Texas who rebuilds them for about $200-$225. He specializes in CV carbs, says he does a couple hundred a year, has a shop all set up for it. his name is George Lesho and he can be contacted at lesho@truevine.net
He will send you a form to fill out, its all on the up and up, he is very professional and goes out of his way to make sure everything is perfect.
There are small screens in each of the carbs that filter out the gas prior to going in the bowls, mine were gone and he replaced them as well as other parts for no additional cost. I had originally rebuilt mine, the screens i had found were rotted so i didn't replace them as I couldn't locate the parts, spent over $100 and about a week of my time. I had finished it and the bike was running but surging, idling up and down. I knew i had problems with 1 of the carbs jets the threads were messed up and I had a feeling some of my trouble was from that, which was the case. I finally gave up and shipped them to him and in about 3 weeks I got them back. I installed them and the bike ran near perfect before i even balanced them. I finally balanced them and it is without a doubt as smooth as glass. He did a tremendous job rebuilding them. Now I am no slug when it comes to mechanical ability as I totally rebuilt my bike, made a new wiring harness, from rolling frame to running bike which I am going to submit pics here soon for bike of the month. But when it comes to the carbs I would recommend just having a professional do it, you will spend more in the long run but it is so worth having someone who knows them inside out do it and know then you didn't miss anything. Just my opinion but he was well worth the money...
Good Luck
Bill

[rluzinski]

I just bought a 1982 GS550L that barely runs (not drivable). A Milwaukee shop told me they would rebuild the carbs for $400. Am I getting ripped off or is that at least in the realm of reasonable?

[t3rmin]

$400 sounds insanely high to me. Especially when you can get an o-ring kit from cycleorings.com for $12 and a set of float bowl gaskets from z1enterprises.com for about the same. Then buy four cans of carb cleaner at $3 each, a dip bucket for $15-20, and you've got a nice cheap rebuild. No need to buy expensive rebuild kits which replace stuff that doesn't wear out in the first place (jets and screws).

[brveagle]

I just bought a 1982 GS550L that barely runs (not drivable). A Milwaukee shop told me they would rebuild the carbs for $400. Am I getting ripped off or is that at least in the realm of reasonable?

Send them to me and i'll do it for 1/3 the cost. I'm serious

[Dunkin]

Just a thought, but before egaging in an all out assault on your carbs, try backing off the fuel/air screw a little bit. Since as you say the bike runs fine at other rpms it may just be a small adjustment. I've had the same problem and it drove me nuts. But, fiddling around with the air screw adjustment did wonders and I avoided fixing a lot of things which did'nt need fixing.