What does it cost ?

[jforce11]

Does anyone have any idea of what it would cost to have all 4 carbs on a 1980 GS850G complety rebuilt at a Suzuki dealer? I have never done much carb work and I don't think I want to tackle it.

I'm a contractor not a machanic if it was made of wood I could fix it no problem.

[Steve]

No idea what a dealer would charge, but, to do it right will take at least 6 hours of labor after the carbs are off the bike.

I seem to remember somebody that has been mentioned in the forum that does them professionally, but I can't remember who it is.

If you can't find anyone else, ship them to me, I will do them for you at a reasonable charge.


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[bwringer]

It will cost you your sanity.

Seriously. They will never get it right. Remember this one rule -- NEVER, NEVER, NEVER let the stoner monkeys at a bike shop touch your GS. Never. I'm not kidding.

The carb cleanup series makes this quite easy -- just take your time and follow the directions. All you have to do is follow the purty pitchers and do exactly as you're told. Don't be afraid -- it really is easier than it seems.

http://thegsresources.com/gs_carbrebuild.htm

All you need is a $12 set of o-rings from our friend Robert Barr:

http://cycleorings.com/

You might also need four float bowl gaskets, maybe $4 each from several sources such as CRC2:

http://www.crc2onlinecatalog.com/

Do NOT waste your money on the low-quality, worse than useless, expensive JUNK found in carb kits. Clean and re-use all your carb parts as directed in the Carb Cleanup Series.

If you have more money than time, or if you're still hesitant, wiredgeorge, who I believe is a forum member, will do a fantastic job. Sure, it costs, but the price is more than fair.

http://www.wgcarbs.com

[bwringer]

I'm a contractor not a mechanic if it was made of wood I could fix it no problem.

Don't feel bad. I have the exact opposite problem -- anything mechanical is no problem to me, but wood utterly defies my will. If you ever visit my house, please don't look at the edges of my floor where the floor should disappear neatly under the baseboard...

[koolaid_kid]

If you are not comfortable doing the work, just pull them and contact wired george. He has an excellent reputation on several motorcycle forums that I belong to.

[bwringer]

Don't feel bad. I have the exact opposite problem -- anything mechanical is no problem to me, but wood utterly defies my will. If you ever visit my house, please don't look at the edges of my floor where the floor should disappear neatly under the baseboard...

Maybe I should start trading mechanical work for carpentry. Too bad you don't live closer to Indy. We could make a deal... :-D

[txironhead]

Just for kicks I asked what the going shop rate was at the local dealership a while back, they told me it had recently increased to $62 an hour. Figure six hours as previously mentioned, and that's not counting the extra hour or two if they have to remove and reinstall the carbs, and you're looking at $372. Also figure retail on the carb rebuild kits that they will insist on installing, around $40-60 PER CARB, plus any other tidbits they can charge for like new fuel line, filter, intake manifolds, etc.

Now consider $20 for a decent Wal-Mart tool kit, about $10-15 for some decent screwdrivers (must have for carb work), $35 for a manual (little more for the highly recommended and coveted factory shop manuals, wish I had one), the o-rings and gaskets previously mentioned, $8 worth of carb cleaner, a printout of the carb rebuild section here on the site (worth reading even if you don't do it yourself) and some clean sections of workbench. While you're at it splurge a bit and replace the philips screws on the bowls and vacuum caps with allen head so you don't have to worry about it anymore. $10 at any decent hardware store.

That's basically how I got started wrenching on my first bike, a Honda Shadow that had sat under a tree for years, and by the time I finally got rid of it (still kicking myself) it looked, ran and sounded better than it did factory new. It's intimidating at first, but you're in the right place for help and advice on your GS.

If you do decide to go ahead and have someone else rebuild them for you, keep in mind that to properly tune the bike they have to be balanced ON THE BIKE. Easy to do if you have a balancer ($50) and you read up on the procedure here. And with gas prices the way they are, the balancer and aforementioned tools will pay for themselves within a year.

Either way, good luck!