Need some (simple) help please - carb/hose attachment

[82 750e]

Hello all,

Preface: I have ridden motorcycles for 20 years, never had much experience working on them. Have always had Harleys & financial messes led me to pick up my 82 750E, and it has been a VERY pleasant surprise. Unfortunately, I live in the middle of nowhere & Honda country at that, so I'd have to go 60 miles to find someone who would work on my bike.

Bike ran like hell today, quick look showed the inner two hoses connecting the carbs to the heads had come off at the carb end, an unintended side effect of the 5y/o yanking on the air pods yesterday...

At any rate, since I could not get at the clamps, I figured it'd be a good time to take the pods off so the carb rack would move more freely (they needed cleaned anyway) - & to my surprise, once the pods were off, the whole blasted carb assembly then came away from the heads & dropped down. Seriously, the whole rack of carbs is held in place SOLELY by the rubber hoses???

So I connect the hoses to the heads & tighten the clamps down on the head side, then pick up the carb rack & try to press them into place & it just seems impossible to get all 4 hoses lined up & pressed in properly, let alone start to tighten down the hose clamps on the carb side (& how on earth do you get at the ones in the middle?).

What's the trick to doing this? - it seems insanely simple, yet in practice impossible.

On a potentially related note - is the tank really held on only by one screw at the rear of the tank? I was going to take the tank off then realized that all the guts of the electronic ignition & coils are up under the tank & other cables (like the throttle cable) are connected up there, so no easy tank pull-off.

Thanks for any help you can give!

Chris

[80GS750]

well, for starters....

i would look up mr robert barr on here and order some intake book O rings from him... tak e off those old ones cause i know they are probably cracked and letting air in through them....

then... i put my carbs on like this...

i push the #4 carb on first, then use it as leverage and shove the #1 along with the other three all into place...

yea, its a real pain, but its doable....

once they are on... align the middle two band clamps so you can get a screwdriver at them from the bottom side, then tighten them down first, then move onto the outer carbs...

one bolt holds the tank on... take it out then the tank slides up and back at the same time and will come off fairly easily...

[cmart45]

Easy to get to carb clamps

All easy to do with a little patience.
A 6" or longer philip head driver for the carb clamps.
One fuel hose and clamp,fuel gauge wires (bullet connectors) and one vacume tank hose and one or two bolts is all to remove to get the tank off. All simple task.

[Steve]

Anybody else notice the contradiction in his opening statement? :shock:

I have ridden motorcycles for 20 years, never had much experience working on them. Have always had Harleys ...

Carbs: If you have pods on the carbs, yes, the carbs are only attached to the engine with the four rubber boots, but there should be a clamp around each one of them. There is a good chance, based on the difficulties that you are having, that the intake boots are very hard. That makes it very difficult to re-insert the carbs. They are not cheap, but the difference will be worth the approx. $80 that it will cost to replace them. Once you have pliable intake tubes, they really are very easy to do.

Tank removal: Yes, there is just one bolt holding it on. Remove the bolt, lift the back of the tank a couple of inches. You will see the two wires for the fuel gauge, disconnect them. There are also two hoses connecting the carbs to the petcock. Make sure the petcock is NOT in the Prime position, remove the hoses. Now you will be able to lift the tank off by sliding it a bit to the rear as you lift it off. The coils and all that other stuff are under the tank, but they are connected to the frame, not the tank, and willl not be bothered by tank removal.

.

[80GS750]

if youve had harleys for 20 years and never worked on one, than i feel sorry for you cause i know theres some mechanics out there that made some serious cash!!!

lol

jk
gotta give you some flak here on the GSR

[82 750e]

Yes, you all are quite correct, that my not having to wrench much on my Harleys was not related to them remaining in flawless mechanical condition the whole time... Gotta love warranty service!

So now my comparatively broke ass has to figure a few things out if I'm going to stay in the wind.

I'm glad to hear there's not a bracket or something missing in there.

The two inner hoses (my model doesn't have the o-rings I've read about - just a rubber hose with clamps) both seem quite supple and intact. The two outer ones have been replaced by someone in the past with what appears to be pieces of matching OD car radiator hose cut to size. Interestingly, those were firmly in place & not causing problems when this all started.

Does anyone here sell those hoses? Figure might as well replace at least the "radiator hose" ones...

Thanks for all your help! I'll see if I can get these on tomorrow.

[BassCliff]

Hee Haw Howdy!

Hi Mr. 82 750e,

I hope this gets you started on your way to happy wrenching. It's your very own mega-welcome! \\/

Dear fellow GS rider,

Let it be known that on this day you are cordially and formally welcomed to the GSR Forum as a Junior Member in good standing with all the rights and privileges thereof. Further let it be known that your good standing can be improved with pictures (not you, your bike)!

Perhaps you've already seen these, but I like to remind all the new members. In addition to the carb rebuild series, I recommend visiting the In The Garage section via the GSR Homepage and check out the Stator Papers. There's also a lot of great information in the Old Q&A section. I have some documentation on my little BikeCliff website to help get you familiar with doing routine maintenance tasks (note that it is 850G-specific but many tasks are common to all GS bikes). Other "user contributed" informational sites include those of Mr. bwringer, Mr. tfb and Mr. robertbarr. And if your bike uses shims for valve adjustments, send an email to Mr. Steve requesting a copy of his Excel spreadsheet that helps you keep track of clearances, shim sizes and other service work.

These are some edited quotes from one of our dear beloved gurus, Mr. bwringer, with ideas on basic needs (depending on initial condition), parts, and accessories.
***********Quoted from Mr. bwringer************
Carburetor maintenance:

Replace the intake boot o-rings, and possibly the intake boots. Here's the procedure:

http://bwringer.com/gs/intakeorings.html

Here's an overview of what happens with this particular problem:

http://cycleorings.com/intake.html

You'll also want to examine the boots between the carbs and the airbox. There's a good chance these are OK, but check them over.
And finally, if things still aren't exactly right, you'll want to order a set of o-rings for BS carbs from the GS owner's best friend, Robert Barr:
http://cycleorings.com
Once you receive these rare rings of delight, then you'll want to thoroughly clean and rebuild your carburetors. Here are step-by-step instructions that make this simple:

http://thegsresources.com/gs_carbrebuild.htm

***********************************
Every GS850 has (or had) a set of well-known issues that MUST be addressed before you have a solid baseline for further troubleshooting. It's a vintage bike, and it's quite common (as in, every single GS850 I have had contact with) that there are multiple problems that have crept up and slowly gotten worse over the years. It's not like a newer vehicle, where there's generally one problem at a time.

These common issues are:

1. Intake O-rings (install NEW OEM or Viton only - common nitrile O-rings will quickly deteriorate from heat)
2. Intake Boots (install NEW -- these cannot be repaired)
3. Valve clearances (more important than most people think)
4. Carb/airbox boots
5. Airbox sealing
6. Air filter sealing
7. Petcock (install a NEW one)
8. On '79 models, install new points or Dyna electronic ignition (or at least verify that the old points are working correctly)
9. On all models, it's fairly common to have problems with the spark plug caps. These are $3 or $4 each, and often worth replacing if you're keeping the stock coils/wires.
10. Stock exhaust with NO leaks or holes -- good seals at the head and at the junctions underneath.
***************************************
OEM Parts/Online Fiches:

I would definitely double and triple the recommendations to use Cycle Recycle II and Z1 Enterprises as much as possible. These guys are priceless resources. Z1 tends to have slightly better prices, CRC2 has a wider range of goodies available. If you're near Indy and can bring in an old part to match, CRC2 has a vast inventory of used parts.
http://denniskirk.com - Put in your bike model and see what they have.
http://oldbikebarn.com - seems to be slowly regaining a decent reputation, but it's still caveat emptor. They don't have anything you can't get elsewhere at a better price anyway.
http://www.babbittsonline.com/ - Decent parts prices. Spendy shipping. Don't give you part numbers at all. Useful cross-reference if you obtain a part number elsewhere. Efficient service.
http://bikebandit.com - Fastest. Middlin' prices. Uses their own parts numbering system to obfuscate price comparisons -- can be very confusing for large orders. Cheapest shipping, so total cost usually isn't too bad.
http://flatoutmotorcycles.com - Slow. Cheapest parts prices, crazy shipping costs. Don't expect progress updates or much communication. Real Suzuki part numbers.
http://alpha-sports.com - Exorbitant parts prices. Different type of fiche interface that's quite useful at times, especially with superceded part numbers. Real parts numbers. Shipping cost and speed unknown due to insane, unholy pricing.

Stainless Bolts, Viton o-rings, metric taps, dies, assorted hard-to-find supplies and materials, etc:

http://mcmaster.com - Fast, cheap shipping, good prices. No order minimum, but many items like bolts come in packs of 25 or 50. Excellent resource.
http://motorcycleseatcovers.com - Great quality, perfect fit (on original seat foam), and available for pretty much every bike ever made. Avoid the textured vinyl -- it's perforated.
http://newenough.com - You DO have riding gear, don't you? Great clearances, always outstanding prices and impeccable service.
***************End Quote**********************
Additional parts/info links:

GSR Forum member Mr. duaneage has great used upgraded Honda regulator/rectifiers for our bikes. Send him a PM.
New electrical parts:
http://stores.ebay.com/RMSTATOR or http://www.rmstator.com/

http://www.ricksmotorsportelectrics.com/index.php

http://www.electrosport.com/

For valve cover and breather cover gaskets, I recommend Real Gaskets (reusable silicon):
http://www.realgaskets.com
The Rice Paddy (salvage/used)
http://www.ricepaddymotorcycles.com
Carolina Cycle
http://www.carolinacycle.com
Ron Ayers Motorsports
http://www.ronayers.com
MR Cycles
http://www.mrcycles.com
Moto Grid
http://www.motogrid.com
If all else fails, try this:
http://www.used-motorcycle-parts.org/
Used bike buying checklists:

http://www.amadirectlink.com/roadride/Riderresc/checklist.asp

http://www.clarity.net/~adam/buying-bike.html
Lots of good info/pictures here:
http://www.suzukicycles.org

http://www.cyclechaos.com/wiki/Motorcycle_Wiki

Thanks for joining us. Keep us informed of your progress. There's lots of good folk with good experience here.

Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff
(The unofficial GSR greeter)

[Texas]

clamps

My clamps are snug but it seems like you would want to have them real tight to keep out any air. My clamps are as tight as they go. Is his normal? Boots are good shape.

[Larry D]

I would agree that new boots are in order. This is what mine looked like...





The bigger ones are new. They are well worth the price. Makes putting them on and off an easy(ier) task. Although, in your case, with pods, it should be a breeze...Put the new boots on the engine and take a straight edge and line them up so they are even. The boots are angled slightly in different directions. Ensure you have the left two on the left (as you're sitting on the bike) and right two on the right. They are labeled. It makes a difference. Get new clamps when you order the boots, tighten them up as far as possilble and off you go......

[Texas]

clamps

My boots are in very good shape, clamps are snug but I think they could be tighter. Carb go into boots just fine. Should I try to find a smaller clamp? Could I make some shims ? Should I ignor it?

[Larry D]

My boots are in very good shape, clamps are snug but I think they could be tighter. Carb go into boots just fine. Should I try to find a smaller clamp? Could I make some shims ? Should I ignor it?

As long as you don't have an air leak, they're fine. Can you pull them off after you tighten them ? If so, get some new clamps.

[Texas]

clamps

No they won't come off. They are snug. If you push on them hard they will move in the slot on the boot. But you could not pry them off even if you tried.