stupid carb question, but...

[torque87]

Ok, I am trying to rebuild by carburetors on my 82 gs650gl. I got my rebuilt kits and everything else has come apart very well, however the pilot jets are being little &*%&*$(^% and will not budge at all. So my question is there anything I am missing here or are they really just supposed to simply screw out and they are just locked in there. I have already kinda of messed up one of them by breaking an easy out off in there, so I am gonna turn that one over to my friend in Machine shop and see if he can salvage it. I am now doing research before I even think of touching the other 3 instead of flying by the seat of my pants. Any help or advice is most welcome. Thanks

[Don-lo]

Yes, the pilot jets can be very difficult to break free, and the screwdriver slot will not take much abuse. Using a tight fitting screwdriver is a must! If they are absolutely stuck, then they can be cleaned in place (if you haven't destroyed them with an ez out ). I soak them with dip and then run through them with fine copper wire strands. I just had to do this last week with a set of Bandit 600 carbs.

[bwringer]

Take the rebuild kits, pull out the float bowl gaskets for use, and hide the rest of that shoddy junk safely in a drawer.

Get an o-ring kit from Robert Barr and re-use the stock jets and such.

[1_v8_merc]

There's a screw driver they sell at Lowes for about $3.00, it's a Clear Blue handle with Red stripes, and it's very slim and long, and it fits PERFECT in the pilot jet!(it's a cheap Kobalt screw driver)

Here's what I did, I actually ran into such a hard time getting a perfect screw driver for my pilots, so I just took my Carbs into lowes, and tried out all of the screw drivers until one fit in perfect and snug,

I recommend doing the same thing, but atleast buy the screw driver afterwords,lol.

Believe me when I say this, it's all about the perfect snug fit!
I was running into the problem where the screw drivers I had, the Tip appeared a perfect fit, but the side portions of the screwdriver tip just wouldn't clear the sidewalls. Then I tried some really small screw drivers that cleared the sidewalls, but the tip was TOO SMALL.....
You have to get a perfect screwdriver, it's kind of stupid and annoying, but it's worth it, otherwise you will flat out strip your pilots.
I had screwdrivers that I "thought" fit the jet nicely, but had just a little bit of "play", so all I did was strip the **** out of the jets....
I went to Lowes and popped that Kobalt screwdriver in, and BAM, it came loose with ZERO EFFORT....

[Nessism]

Heating the carb body up with a heat gun, and soaking in PB blaster, will help loosen the pilot jets.

[chef1366]

Heating the carb body up with a heat gun, and soaking in PB blaster, will help loosen the pilot jets.

Bingo
I use a propane torch.