Carb redo on the cheap.

[FlyingAnvil]

Well the CycleBarn did not have any kits or gaskets for my carbs only jets and I didn't feel that I needed those with the stock air boxes. My electric starter is not working so it's kick start only right now and that's why I felt a carb redo was in order to make it start easier and because it idled at 3000 rpm and it was a bastard to start before.
Long story short, someone had been in there before and used locktite on the carbs, not kidding, I broke quite a few screws taking them apart. Had to use vise grips on the screws to get them out. I didn't worry to much about it as I had 4 Mikunis for parts that I got at the swap meet for 20 bucks. Anyway all I did was pull the carbs apart as carefull as I could, and saved the gaskets and got me a Harbor Freight ultrasonic cleaner gave everything a good cleaning and put everything back together as it was. Got the bike back together and gave it a shot of ether (starting fluid) and two kicks in it fired right up and has been running pretty damn good since. I put around 25 miles on it and it will usually fire on one kick.

 

[Charles]

Good job!

 

[drewpy]

nice one

 

[xschris]

The bottom connection bar came with a locktite sort of stuff from the factory. I have had a lot of these apart and they are all the same.

 

[FlyingAnvil]

I was wondering if it could be factory, but wow I broke like 5 pieces and stripped the heads out of a few as well. I really like how easy these things are to work on as a whole, my other bikes (a Honda cb500 and a Kawi GPz750) are a little more over engineered.

 

[xs400neophite]

The Haynes Manual warned me about those damn things on the brace accross the two carbs. Used the right sized (#3) screw driver with a 'T' type driver and pushed as I turned 'til those little mothers gave.After the cleaning I tightened them up but had to get in there again and the the little mothers were frozen again! WTF?...Epic battle there with the screws Flying Anvil..even broke out the mexican speed wrench (visegrips) on those mothers!

 

[FlyingAnvil]

For sure, and I should really invest in a manual. That would have helped knowing that.

 

[bcware]

There are a few available for download on this site. I bought a Haynes just because I have an affinity for paper.

 

[XSLeo]

Down loads are fine, but having a book right there in your hands just somehow feels right.
Leo

 

[FlyingAnvil]

Got me an old Haynes manual, and it even smells old. Gotta love that paper.

 

[Travis]

I use a manual impact driver on those brace screws then replace them with bolts when I'm putting them back together. If the screws for the tops are messed up, I replace them with allen head fasteners. JIS drivers go a long way toward not messing up the heads of those screws when breaking down Japanese carburetors.