Coating on cv carb slides - Important?

[first timer]

So I have started rebuilding my 82 Kat 1000 carbs, everything is going smooth, no major road blocks, last carb is soaking now. But the slides on the other hand I am not sure about. There appears to have been some sort of coating applied to these carbs maybe teflon? But either way there isn't much left to the coating, most of it has blistered off from sitting with old gas in the carbs.

So should I strip the rest of the coating off and then just mirror polish them? Any idea how to go about recoating them? Or easier yet anyone have 4 extra GS1100 16v slides in good shape they don't need?

-Ryan

[Nessism]

How about some photos? I can ask some guys at work. My guess is just run them as is or get them recoated. Polishing is not advised since the slides are anodized and polishing will remove it allowing them to corrode.

[first timer]

here you go



The slide on the left has the coat completely removed it just wiped off hardly any force.

the other slides still have the coating in places and i am pretty sure it's a coating and not just gas goop. The areas where the coating is firmly in place is uneffected by carb cleaner. Running a finger on the parts with the coating it feels very simalr to a teflon coating.

[TheCafeKid]

That coating, from what ive read, as ive had the same question, is simply to assist in prevention of corrosion. The slides are made of a different metal than the bodies (i think the bodies are mostly Zinc, and the slides are alu) If youve dipped your carbs before, you may have noticed that there was a chalky, gummy residue sometimes left in the throats. This is basicly a reaction between petroleum based products and the zinc. I had a set of carbs that one of the slides completely LOCKED UP inside. NOTHING got it unstuck, and this was a nearly fresh set of rebuilt carbs that had sat for a week with a bit of carb cleaner sprayed in them. The moisture from dew and what not (i was a fool and had left the tops off of them) basicly caused some sort of metal to metal corrosion, and the spots where that coating had rubbed off FROZE to the throat in the body. I boiled, soaked, heated, tried CLR, a million different things, and it wouldnt come out. I dont think its a big deal for the coating NOT to be there on carbs that are in use on a regular basis, but i would be warry of removing it, and then letting them sit over the winter.

[first timer]

well at least i have the weather in my favor. Living out here in the desert, moisture isn't much of an issue.

[first timer]

Would it help to use a little mothers polish on the slide passages of the carbs to give a little protective buffer between the two metals? and like wise on the slides too? The carb bodies are in really good shape and it would be a shame to get a slide seized in them.

[Nessism]

A design engineer friend of mine said that industrial platters can Teflon impregnate parts like that. Most likely that is what the peeling layer is. It’s customary to apply a type 2 anodize layer on the aluminum parts to protect them from corrosion before Teflon coating them. You might want to take a good look at the slides and if they are plated already, they should be protected from corrosion. If they are bare aluminum, polish will not protect the metal but it may help you remove the remnants of the pealing coating. I’d go easy with abrasive materials on the slides, you don’t want to compromise any anodizing that’s on there. As long as they are anodized, I’d just run the slides as is after knocking off any flaking coating material. Getting the parts recoated is another possibility but you will need to talk to a platter to get more details.