Fattening her up....GS1100G carb bumps...

[psyguy]

if its not too much trouble

tck, i'm having my carbs apart as we speak
i wondered about the needle assembly and the shimming - that you are about to do
it would be great if you could take a pic of what it looks like when you take the circlip out, and what needs to happen with those washers

[Nessism]

tck, i'm having my carbs apart as we speak
i wondered about the needle assembly and the shimming - that you are about to do
it would be great if you could take a pic of what it looks like when you take the circlip out, and what needs to happen with those washers

It's very simple psyguy. Remove the circlip in the slide and pull out the needle assembly. The needle has a small circlip attached - US bike needles only have one groove in the needle, other countries have more than one groove so the needle can be raised by moving the circlip on the needle. For US bikes without adjustable needles, the needle height is controlled by the thickness of the plastic spacer/washer on top of the needle circlip because there is a spring pushing up on the needle. Remove that plastic washer and replace with something thinner - which raises the needle.

Made a world of difference on my 850. Bike only needs choke for a short time now and runs great. Took the bike into the mountains and no richness issues. Great mod for just about any GS since they are jetted so lean from stock.

[PAULYBOY]

Awesome! I have to go do Inventory at work in the AM, but its more or less a half day for me, so I will hit up the radio jack on the way home. You guys know what size (diameter or whatever) you used?

Do you count the chicken wings by the pound or by the piece? LOL

[maro]

I'm bookmarking this Post. Great thread. This is exactly what I want to do on my 650!!!

[TheCafeKid]

K...Needles are shimmed. By the way, RADIO SHACK SUCKS! I went there for the variety pack of washers Bill was talking about. Dude looked at me like i was from Mars. "Variety pack of washers? We dont have washers. Maybe you need a Home Depot or something" I then explained to him what it was i was looking for, how small they were. He says try Parts Express. SO i go there. No dice. Didnt even get passed the counter. So off to the local hardware store. Found what i thought would be the jackpot of lil washers. Got over to Steves, as he had circlip pliars that would work, and was going to give me a hand. The washers were JUST too big. So, he tried different methods of grinding them down. Finally got a enough ground down. They were thick enough that 3 would be the same size as the spacer. So we only put ONE washer in. Got them back in the bike, and the difference is night and day. Wonderful response in the midrange now! Instantly there. No more delay from my hand to the power. Love it. If you havent done this, DO IT!

On a side note, i had an interesting ride home....Writing another thread about that...I'll put a link up in a bit...

[chef1366]

I have a bunch of spare spacers and I tried the sanding method and I couldn't get them even. Gave up and went with the washers. Took them out anyway. Went the wrong way on the spectrum.

[Nessism]

Trick to reduce the OD of the washers is to stack a bunch of them on a small screw and then run a nut down to snug everything tight. Now chuck the screw in your drill or dremel motor and reduce the OD with a file. When you are done all the washers will be uniform.

[Shaughn]

Rat Shack sold out us hobbyists that made it popular a long time ago. It's basically a cellphone kiosk with some other over priced things. Still the place I got to buy resistors, etc, but been a long time since the counterman could help with anything. Like that a lot of places now, when I had to rebuy my impact driver a few weeks ago after picking up this bike, I had the same level of frustration...only to go online and setup in-store pickup at the first store I was at earlier!

Awesome to hear on the needle mod!

[TheCafeKid]

Well if ya want to get rid of those things, lemme know, cos depending on how having only one in there effects my MPG, i may want to put another shim in there...

[Nessism]

Got them back in the bike, and the difference is night and day. Wonderful response in the midrange now! Instantly there. No more delay from my hand to the power. Love it. If you havent done this, DO IT!

Yup, makes a huge difference. Number one bang for the buck upgrade on the 'ol GS.

[TheCafeKid]

BTW...get this crap. So the STOCK needles in MY carbs are 5DL38s. No clip adjustment on them right? SO these VM carbs i picked up off ebay, i knew i would have to take the needles in them out, cos my jetting mods on the cafe are based on the needles that came with the bike, which are different from the later model VMs (my 77s carbs had a few differences) Anyway, i pull the needles out of the 79 VMs i got to put my 77s in them. I look at the needle number. 5DL38. With clip adjustments....HEh.

[psyguy]

It's very simple psyguy. Remove the circlip in the slide and pull out the needle assembly. The needle has a small circlip attached - US bike needles only have one groove in the needle, other countries have more than one groove so the needle can be raised by moving the circlip on the needle.

thanks nessism, never realized i would have adjustable needles...
going into it tomorrow

[jknappsax]

Radio Shack still sells resistors? I didn't think anybody working there actually knew what any electronic components were! I went in to buy cigarette-lighter plugs and sockets, and they didn't know what I meant. They asked me, " What are they for?", like they would have actually understood what I was using them for.

[chef1366]

The washers are kept in a drawers accessible to by patrons. Don't mess with half-wit high school kids that just got back from smoking a joint. Just get them yourself.

[TheCafeKid]

The washers are kept in a drawers accessible to by patrons. Don't mess with half-wit high school kids that just got back from smoking a joint. Just get them yourself.

Yeah i looked in the drawers. I think next time I'll hit up the Radio Shack up by my house, instead of the one by work. Mine is much bigger. I even tried Parts Express too, and they didnt have anything of the like. Ah well, took a lil more work, but its done, and she's responded BEAUTIFULLY to it.