Even with your most EXCELLENT instructional video accompanying this disassembly and even though this isnt the bike I will be working on, its still intimidating to me man. But maybe it was to you the first time you tore into one too, I dont know. But I really really appreciate you doing this and showing me/us the way to go about it, the tools, the techniques and everything. I will have a shop manual and I will buy the appropriate tools and do my best. Thanks loads.
Oh of course it's intimidating! Even when I did this video I knew much less than I do now. Just know there is a large community to help along with endless resources for information
@@BrickHouseBuilds One of many things you have definitely convinced me of is to buy a GoPro and a tripod and film myself with ALL disassembly so I can replay that sucker and remember each 'Oh yeah, that went there' steps. Thanks and continued success. Reallly happy I found your channel and I'll be buying some merch to display in my shop for inspiration.
Listen, you had me at "get the bowls off", but it was the head-waggle @2:17 beckoning me to coming along with you that hooked me in this episode. Once again... excellent job and info.
Which ones do they have fuel or air? Typically is the adjustment point in by the air filter they are air mixture and if by the cylinder head they are fuel mixture. The cv carbs have fuel mixture screws
Hello, thank you very much for clearing my doubts, thank you, I learned something new, I hope to continue learning from your videos, thank you very much.
So I'm finally getting started working on an old barn find up here in Nebraska after watching your channel for the last couple weeks now. Different bike type, parallel twins, but it's gotten me inspired. Keep up the good work sir.
@@BrickHouseBuilds thanks. I have a channel that I build things, it's been cosplay mech suit stuff, but I'm going to run a series on this build. I have a couple bikes in the works currently. Ones a frame up custom, and then this current barn find freebie.
I have done 3 sets of Honda 750 carbs and found after disassembly for the really small plugged orifices an "E" string guitar wire works perfect. Also if you don't have an ultrasonic cleaner, soak the carbs 24 hrs in Pine Sol. Most time you will find someone else has buggered up the Philips head bowl screws so I just replace them and all other philips head screws with Allen head screws available at Lowes hardware.
I have a large variety of wire and string for such jobs. Also have an ultrasonic. I use baking soda in my sand blaster to do heavy external cleaning combined with multiple U.S. sessions
@@BrickHouseBuilds Yeah I watch your videos, very helpful and informative. Japanese carbs can be frustrating for someones first attempt at restoring them.
Just found your channel, good stuff, gs550l was my first bike, loved that it reved to the moon and the 6 spd! Sold it to finance my wedding 9 years ago. These days I have a couple cb750s and gl1100 that is waiting to be my next project. From what I have viewed so far great videos!
Hey I appreciate you checking them out! There is a constant flow of different bikes through my shop and I try to capture all I can but its tough. I hope I can just offer some good tech and fab tips along with some mild entertainment
For those of us who do bodge and tinker in the shed. Not everything is exciting but has to be done. I am intrigued to see how you fixed that post. I could feel it breaking as you hammered 😨
Awesome video. Tip: I hook up my Dust Collector to my Blaster when I’m using it. Makes the work easier to see in the cabinet and stops my shop looking like it snowed inside😂
Nice one B.J. I really enjoyed the explanations on that one. They came up real nice after the soda. And a great shout on the J.i.s bits, must get me some of them & an impact. 😉🏴🤘🙏
@@BrickHouseBuilds Yeah they is nice alright... Oh they are on the 'to get' list. Ha. After getting some screwdrivers a few months ago, I can imagine the bit & socket method would be awesome!! 😉🤘🙏
Something I want to point out now that I've torn into mine on my 81, HOLY CRAP these have been some of the toughest ones I've done, giving me nothing but problems. 2 of those mixture screws up top have committed self death and stripped out the flat head and one was buried, was really hoping no one had been in there before but with a 56,000 miles bike, was bound to happen, and they are stainless and not brass, spent 8 hours last night doing surgery on them trying to remove them, ended up having to drill them out and now need to clean up the threads a tad so for future reference, and I will update this comment once I find out for sure, but the thread is m6x0.5 if I am right, again, ill update that if I need to, but in my head, its a good idea to gently clean those threads and lubricate well so they are easy next time, at the very least maybe take the old one without the spring and with some anti-seize run the screw in and out over and over till the threads are nice and even. Just my two cents but please ,for the love of basement jesus, take it easy lol
Took me about a week. Broke off a hardened steel drill bit in one of the screws in the process of drilling for an easy out. Carbide dremel tool 1/8 shank bit saved my booty. To confirm, the thread pattern is m6x0.5, I got this one, worked great, and after cleaning up all the threads, even the ones that came out easy, still cleaned up alot of junk, totally worth cleaning them up if you feel like ordering off Amazon. Probably fits multiple carbs and would be a handy addition to a tool cabinet just to flex on your buddies if anyone else ever has an issue. 6mm X 0.5 Metric HSS Right Hand Machine Tap by KMIAN TOOLS.
For removing the jets you may look into hollow ground flathead screw drivers they’re less likely to strip them out, in the gun world they’re imperative for the same reason. You can buy kits that have different widths and slot thicknesses.
Still getting psyched for that lockset bolt (~reverse drill bit, vise grips and maybe a 2/4 with light pressure from below may get it to move. yada yada) But now thinking that the carburetors have not been out in a long long long time I am "Assuming" that I need to get them out and clean them. (not gonna spend $1000.00 at the dealer for this.). I know you have a vid about the 750 carburetors I'll check for that too. Aaand I did find the Motorcyclemd guy who has lots of stuff about carburetors too. If I watch any video I try to say thank you. So here I am again. Thank you! Thank you, Thank you, Thank you. 〰✨👍✨〰
The only way to fix float towers, is to put the hammer back in the bottom drawer, and get the really thin, sharp side cutter out. grab the head of the float pin, and squeexe it between the post and the head. Two drops of phosphoric acid will free up the corrosion. Flush well afterwards! The most incredible thing here, is that You kept pounding away on those poor towers - even after You've already broken one. These kinds of mistakes, were something we did in the eighties - before RU-vid landed. nowadays, there's no excuse for doing what you did.
@qivarebil2149 How dare I learn a lesson. I don't do it this was any longer as yes, it wasn't the right way to do it. What is interesting is that by having a video out in the world, people expect nothing but perfection and often don't allow room for mistakes.
HELP! HELP NEEDED! I started to disassemble my GS550E carb as in the video. When I got fuel/ air needle jets I found someone had taken of the factory plugs. Two of the jets came out with no problems but jet # 2&3 are stuck it there. Someone must have cranked down the needles all the way down. I tried to tap them with a small hammer and a screwdriver, sprayed lubricant and let them sit over night ( the lubricant didn’t even go down the threads, I tried a heat gun and lube .. nothing seems to work. I’m thinking try to drill them out but I know it will ruin the threads but I can always retread them. Any suggestions? Thanks!
Hey, awesome video.. a question...what do you think that cause my throttle stuck open (im refering to mins 2.42). the carb still attached to the engine btw.
YOu will need to see if the sticking is in the carbs, cable, or throttle housing. You can remove the cable from the carbs and see how much resistance it has as well as testing the carbs at the same time
Massively helpful video, thanks for posting. One question though - how did you replace the mixture screw caps as they were drilled off and I don't seem to be able to find replacements anywhere.
I have a pristine totally stock 1981 Suzuki GS650L. According to the repair manual it has Mikuni BS32SS carburetors. I have cleaned and reassembled the carburetors. It runs very strong from about 1/4 throttle up. But rough idle. I suspect the pilot jets need to be replaced. Are the carburetors on your GS550 the BS32SS as well? If so where did you get your new pilot jets from? I know you said Mikuni but the only place I found those was from Great Britain. Is there a supplier you found in the states?
Hey, not sure if you have the time to read this. I understand if you don’t respond but I’m having an issue with my bike. It’s an 81 CM400C. It’s misfiring on one cylinder. Running pretty rough as you probably know. I’ve cleaned the carbs, replaced the floats and float needles. Re-jetted it. They’re immaculate inside! I’ve put on two different sets of coils and wires, currently have a performance coil and wires on with new NGK Iridium plugs and STILL! having the same problem on the same cylinder. I have 150 compression on both cylinders. Spark is excellent! Even installed a new CDI. What am I missing, man??
First, stop replacing parts. That is very important. You must first diagnose the problem before replacing things as you only get further from the answer. Are the carbs vacuum synced? Valves adjusted? Mixture setting correct? Were the carbs ultrasonically cleaned? Did you remove the pilots? You need to confirm the basics first.
Thanks for the reply! I have not vacuum synced the carbs yet. I’m lacking the tool for that. And the only place that looks like they sell one that’ll work is Dime City Cycles. I don’t have a clear shot at the adjuster screw when the carbs are on the bike though and the tool is a long screwdriver and a hollowed out socket. It looks like I need something angled. I could be wrong though and just not seeing how to do it. Valves are adjusted to spec in the Clymer manual. Fuel mixture screws are 2 turns out. I tried 1-2 turns and got a change in the idle but didn’t fix the problem. Just got them out of the ultrasonic cleaner two days ago and put back on the bike with zero change in the way it was running. HOWEVER! when I drained the ultrasonic cleaner today I saw a square brass fitting and a tiny spring in there. Must have worked it’s way out of one of the carbs somehow. Not sure where that goes 😐 I removed the pilots and cleaner all the fuel and air holes I could find. Jets are clear and the carbs look immaculate inside. Just need to find out where that tiny square brass fitting and spring go and then fire it up again. Any ideas where that thing goes and what I may have done wrong when cleaning them in the ultrasonic?
@zackfebus7844 you are correct on the accelerator pump cover. Good catch on that. For syncing it is just a bit challenging to do. Check my Amazon Storefront for a basic vacuum sync tool kit.
You didn’t want to replace the o-rings between each carb? You do need to break apart the rack to replace them. There is a guy who sells them on the GS forum
I've used that kit from cycleorings.com and really like them. On these I chose not to split the carb bank apart and the orings never leaked so the decision worked well. Most of the time the carbs go all the way down.
That’s good to know because I have not yet installed mine. Any tips you can give about breaking the carbs apart? I know some people strongly advise against it, but I figured I might as well replace those orings while I got them apart
@@jbo872 hmm, I'm not sure how much info I can really give in a response here. There are many areas to take care with just in regards to splitting them making sure things align and aren't binding when completed. For some carbs you have to disassemble the choke assembly and remove the blades to get the shafts out....the issue is the stalked screws holding them in. You run the risk of damage when removing and they can't(shouldn't) be reused with risk of getting consumed by the engine. The best advice is to take a million detailed photos and visually inspect how all linkages are assembled and how all it all operates. Just pay attention, go slow, use lubricant on the orings, and be methodical
hello on a suzuki gs 550 with mikuni vacuum carburetor, changing the filters and putting the cone ones by how much I have to increase the jets of the minimum and maximum. originals has 92.5 max and 40 minimum. thank you very much.
There is no exact science on that but likely 1 step on the pilots and 2 steps on the main jets to get in the ballpark. Do not buy cheap Amazon pods. Look for a quality UNI, K&N, or DNA
I too just broke off the flange that holds the float pin. Will try JB Weld. I also am having a hard time finding the really small clip that holds the float needle in place. Of course, without it, the needle valve falls out!. Do some of these carbs use a "C" clip in lieu of the very small clip? Mine is a '79 GS550E, but it has the later square top covers over the slide valve. Can't figure this one out. Thanks for yur series of videos and any help you might throw my way!
Be sure to use JB marine weld and not regular. Many needles have no clip at all as they are held in place by the pressure of the float. There is a tiny plunger within the float needle that helps maintain that pressure as fuel level changes
@@BrickHouseBuilds Thanks for the help. It is the first time I have seen anything other than the float itself to hold the needle in place. The issue of different carbs on the bike has baffled me. I might have a late year bike with newer 1980 parts. Thanks again, keep up the good work.
@@BrickHouseBuilds quick question my friend, do you have any video on how to replace/repair the see through oil engine level glass. I have a 2019 Suzuki burgman 400 that is resuming a little bit of oil in that area !! Thank you in advance. Best regards..✌
When I get a key~ I was thinking about checking the gas tank, look around on the carburetors and see if I could start the engine w/o all of this. Any wisdom from you around just starting it up? Can I put something in the gas? I know there are a few things out there I just have never gone there. (95 750 Honda nighthawk 30k miles). Thank you! 〰✨👍✨〰
You will want to try to drain the carbs if they haven't been already via the single screw on the float bowl. With the tank off you can hook a fuel line up to an aux tank. Before adding fuel its a good move to put fresh oil in and rotate the engine off the starter for 5 seconds to help get some oil moved around. Then I'd say go for it. If it doesn't start you can start the diag with it being fuel, air, or spark and see which one is missing
I have a 1983 Suzuki GS550E. Gas is leaking out of the bottom of the left 2 carburetors. The bike only has 4.8k miles on it. Any advice on where to look for a
This video is pretty recent actually. I actually have a cheap set of needlenose pliers with ground ends that have a slight bend added to them. You can see me use them during the assembly video of the same carbs.
@Brick House Builds I'm having problems with carbs #2,3,4, #1 was no problem I was thinking it's all in the angle, just if there was a punch that could go through all studs...
Definitely DO NOT try all at once. Take your time, use a bit of heat, penetrating oil, and careful force. I'm pretty sure I show how I remove the pins in this