How hard is it REALLY?

[gonzo]

So much great advice. . . where to begin?

Sorry about the long delay in responding, I was out all weekend at my National Guard weekend drill.

NOW

I'm not sure what kind of air filters I have for my Mikuni carbs, unfortunately 2 of them are K&N, the other 2 are some kind of knockoff. I'll have to replace those anyway.

The bike smokes for a brief minute, but only when I start it up, and you wont see it unless you're really looking for it. It'll smoke longer if its been sitting a long time though.

Im pretty sure the exhaust is stock, it doesnt look special or anything.

The bike was originally purchased, and driven about 23K miles in about 3 years. It was sold to the person I bought it from, and he rode it for about 8K miles before he bought a Harley. He put the bike in his garage, and plain old forgot about it. It sat there about 15 years or so until I bought it in 2004. He sold his house, and when he was cleaning out his garage. . . "oh wow, I have a bike here." As a coworker, he knew I was wanting to buy one to have a second mode of transportation. He cleaned it up, re did the gas tank and flushed the fuel system . . . and it WORKED! I rode it to my house, and it died about 2 weeks later from the stator - sound familiar anybody? I put some money into it, the carbs were cleaned - tuned, and the stator was replaced.

Now the carbs are acting up again.

I have no center stand, only a side stand. I read on another post that the center stand can help some times if it sits for a while.

I love my bike, its my first and I dont EVER want to get rid of it. Now, it has about 34K miles on it.

[bradleymaynar]

With your last post, I strongly suggest a complete rebuild of the carbs. As has already been stated, remove all plastic and rubber parts, and dip each body as shown in the rebuild section found on the GSR homepage. And just t0 ease your mind a bit, I followed the same instructions when rebuilding my 1100's carbs. It's a not as intimidating as it seems. A great piece of advice is to disassemble one carb at a time. As you put one back together, take the next one apart.

You can do it!:-D

Brad bt

[KEITH KRAUSE]

Re-jetting isn't that hard. But it may take some work.
You can always go back to a stock airbox if you're happy with the stock performance.
You should decide what you want, the stock box or buy two more K&N filters. If you keep the pods, don't mix them. All four must be K&N's.
One thing that will possibly complicate the re-jet is that if you run pods with what you say is the stock exhaust, then there's no jet kit for you. A stage 1 kit isn't for use with pods and a stage 3 kit isn't for use with a stock pipe. So we'd have to guess and buy separate Mikuni mains, possibly pilot jets and possibly adjust the stock jet needles position. It can be guessed at first try, but may take a few. If the jet needles need further adjustments, then you have to pull the throttle shaft and re-position the jet needle e-clips, then bench and vacuum synch again. The mains and pilots are easy to change by just removing the bowls, carbs on the bike.
I have some jetting suggestions if you want to run pods. Include your elevation. Be prepared for some tinkering.
If you decide on the stock airbox, then just verify with us what size mains you have (should be #95) and inspect and let us know what position (groove) the jet needle e-clip is at, counting down/from the top of the jet needle. The stock position is the 3rd groove down (middle). The two plastic factory jet needle spacers need to be in correct order too. The thicker spacer goes directly on top the e-clip, the thinner goes directly under the clip. The pilot jets should be #15. Set floats at .94". Then initially set the pilot fuel screws (underneath) to approx' 3/4 to 1 full turn from LIGHTLY seated and set the side air screws to 1 3/4 turns out. Bench synch must be followed by a vacuum synch. At that time, you'll fine tune the side air screws and fine tune the pilot fuel screws with some road testing. Remember the ignition timing must be correct and if you have points, they must be in good condition and their dwell set before the vacuum synch. Valve clearances should be set too before the vacuum synch (more work/not trying to discourage you). If the bike is in otherwise good tune, the above jetting info will be good and the only possible tinkering will be the screws.
As others have suggested, clean/rebuild your VM's and buy Robert Barrs o-ring kit. Then buy some new bowl and top cover gaskets. I also suggest new manifold o-rings (installed with a coating of hi-temp bearing grease) and be sure the manifolds are in good condition. The manifold o-rings are cheap and it's a mistake to ignore them when you already have the carbs out. At this time, replace any stock Phillips manifold screws with Allens so you can correctly torque the manifold to 6 ft/lb. More work and $ I know, but trust us on this.
Only other issue is that leaking carb you have. It could be just some dirt particle interfering with the float valve tip. It could also be the float not operating correctly. It could be the float valve seat needs a new fiber gasket. It could be the valve itself. If the valve is worn around its tip or the spring is weak, it must be replaced. Let us know what you find.
Follow that VM carb series exactly. Read all the info before you start the job and review as you go along. It's very good info and the author allowed me to review it before it was completed. If something worries you, ask first before doing something you don't feel right about.

[nabrams]

You're a newbie, so do yourself a huge favor and get a stock airbox/filter and avoid MANY hours of frustration trying to get the jetting right. Use stock everything and make sure there are NO air leaks anywhere.
All the above advice about thoroughly cleaning the carbs is right-on.

[GKLENNY]

Fuel Problems

HI,GONZO ,I USED TO HAVE A 79 850G WITH SIMULAR PROBLEMS,IT'S TRUE ABOUT THE PETROL TAP REPAIR KIT GET ANOTHER, MY LEAKING TAP WAS NOT LEAKING EXTERNALY BUT DRIPPING INTO THE CARSBS SO FLOODING ONE OR TWO OF THE CARBS THE CARBS FLOOD BECAUSE OF INCORRECT FLOAT LEVELS (or punctured floats) AND ALSO THE NEEDLE JET DEVELOPS WEAR IN THE FORM OF A GROOVE WHERE IT'S BEEN SEATING, I PUT AN IN-LINE SMALL TAP AFTER THE PETROL TAP (i had to keep remembering to turn it back on) THIS HELPS A LITTLE ESPECIALLY UNTILL YOU CAN SORT IT OUT PROPERLY.THE NEEDLE.MY BIKE HAD DIFFERENT CARBS TO THE ONES FEATURE IN THE CARB CLEAN UP . I'VE FOLLOWED THIS AS I'M WORKING ON MY GK1100.

[ShirleySerious]

I was having carb issues as well. If you're impatient like me, and you have a Suzuki dealer nearby, save yourself the hassle and get your parts there. Chances are they have the part in stock, and although it might cost a little more, there's no shipping charge, so it should even out. Plus you don't have to wait a week for it to get to your house.

[mortation]

I was having carb issues as well. If you're impatient like me, and you have a Suzuki dealer nearby, save yourself the hassle and get your parts there. Chances are they have the part in stock, and although it might cost a little more, there's no shipping charge, so it should even out. Plus you don't have to wait a week for it to get to your house.

You must be lucky. My local dealership never has parts for older bikes in stock