There she blows!

[DestinationDrumming]

Thanks for all of your help my GS550E 1980 is now running much better :-D. A friend helped me strip and clean the carbs (so next time I can do it myself) and the next two jobs are balancing the carbs (question below) and replacing the wiring loom which looks like it has a couple of bedside lamp cords connecting the coils amongst the acres of insulation tape and solder!

My friends vacuum gauges have no adapters to fit the threaded holes in the carb/block rubber boots. I've measured them at 4mm but can't seem to find adapters at 4mm. Lots at 5 or 6 but no 4mm. Can you suggest anywhere I could get some or an innovaive solution?

The other question I have is that I could buy a set of slide carbs for £50 ($100) to replace my diaphragm carbs. Do you think this is a good use of the money in the long term or not?

Thanks again for the advice
Kevin

[Killer2600]

Thanks for all of your help my GS550E 1980 is now running much better :-D. A friend helped me strip and clean the carbs (so next time I can do it myself) and the next two jobs are balancing the carbs (question below) and replacing the wiring loom which looks like it has a couple of bedside lamp cords connecting the coils amongst the acres of insulation tape and solder!

My friends vacuum gauges have no adapters to fit the threaded holes in the carb/block rubber boots. I've measured them at 4mm but can't seem to find adapters at 4mm. Lots at 5 or 6 but no 4mm. Can you suggest anywhere I could get some or an innovaive solution?

The other question I have is that I could buy a set of slide carbs for £50 ($100) to replace my diaphragm carbs. Do you think this is a good use of the money in the long term or not?

Thanks again for the advice
Kevin

Never heard of 4mm adapters, I don't have your bike but my '82 GS750E uses 5mm adapters--which I myself need to buy or fabricate. The bolt that came out of the carb sync holes on my bike measures at 4.89mm, with a digital caliper, which rounds up to be a 5mm bolt.

[earlfor]

You can buy the 5mm adapters at www.crc2onlinecatalog.com
Look for them under tools on the sidebar.

Earl

[DestinationDrumming]

Thanks guys. Like my old woodwork teacher said " measure twice and cut once". When I rechecked it was 5mm and I've now ordered the adapters

[Suzuki mad]

If you can't get adaptors but have access to car brake pipe and 4 allen/torx headed bolts of the right size you could drill out the centres and solder short peices of pipe on to make some. (My Dad did that for my GS550E 28 years ago!)

I would stick with the CV carbs rather than waste money of VM's and all the hassle of getting them to fit to the bike! Spend the money on a new loom.

Suzuki mad

[SPARKSS]

Thanks guys. Like my old woodwork teacher said " measure twice and cut once". When I rechecked it was 5mm and I've now ordered the adapters

Had to laugh......in the Clymers manual for my GS1000, it says to remove the 4mm screws and screw in the adapters..........these screws are indeed 5mm, though they take a 4mm hex bit.....Hmmmmmmmm - little editing problem there eh!

[Killer2600]

Had to laugh......in the Clymers manual for my GS1000, it says to remove the 4mm screws and screw in the adapters..........these screws are indeed 5mm, though they take a 4mm hex bit.....Hmmmmmmmm - little editing problem there eh!

No editing problem, repair manuals tell you what size head the bolt is that you need to remove not the thread size. Like if it says "remove the two 10mm bolts", you'd get your 10mm wrench and remove the two bolts that fit it.

[SPARKSS]

No editing problem, repair manuals tell you what size head the bolt is that you need to remove not the thread size. Like if it says "remove the two 10mm bolts", you'd get your 10mm wrench and remove the two bolts that fit it.

That sort of description of fasteners is indeed in error and is not a standard (certainly no fault of yours, unless you're the editor).

[txironhead]

There was someone here who took four 5mm (bolt size, not head size) bolts, drilled them out and epoxied vacuum fittings in the hole to make his own adapters. It's what I'm planning on doing since anything plastic in my toolbox almost always gets demolished.