Carb Cleaning Suggestions

[ardvark1]

Time to have a go at me SF carbs.
When I first got me bike running it would'nt tick over and only run at high revs. Verious members suggested the carbs need cleaning. I've got a spare set of incomlete set of carbs which I took apart according to the manuals I have. Some of the jets were a right pain to get out. What I'm asking is how far do I go as far as stripping the carbs down on me bike? What concerns me is the idea of breaking off the head of a jet when is no need to strip it to cure my problem. Can I use WD40 on the internals of the carbs as a releasing agent? If not any suggestions? Would it be better to buy a new set of jets or would it be a false economy to clean and use the existing ones? Any suggestion would be greatfully recieved as well as any writen instructions from the net.

Al

[ccogswel]

If you want a good clean set of carbs then yes it would be better to remove all the jets. The only jets you will have to worry about breaking are the tips on air fuel jets. But that happens when someone thightens them up. I then would say the only other thing you would have any trouble with would be the slow pilot jet. The heads have a slot for a flat blade screw driver, if you use a screw driver that doesn't fit all that well it could strip the head making removal really hard. If you get all the jets out and none of the holes are messed up then you should be able to clean and reuse them. Oh also when you take the emulsion tubes out be carefull removing them as sometimes they can be stuborn and you don't want to mess up the threads for the main pilot jet. When you get it all back together you need to make sure you synch the carbs as this might be why your bike revs at high rpms. Hope I was a little help.

Good Luck!

[DiverRay]

Al,
Use a good solvent (carb cleaner) to loosen the parts. You DO want to remove ALL the jets, and use a spray cleaner to be sure ALL ports and passages are clean and open. Don't forget the VERY SMALL, non removable jet in the bottom of the bowl.
Do NOT soak the carb body in a cleaner!! you will swell the seals on the butterfly shafts, and have problems. You should be able to clean the carbs with the spray, and maybe a brush with liquid cleaner.
Ray

[prometheus578]

Ccogswel pretty much covered it all.
To help start the emulsion tubes moving, I usually back off the main jet a few threads, and tap down on it. sometimes those things can be pretty well stcuk, which is a fairly good indicator that they have gunk on them plugging the holes. Pilot jet, and various small passages an be unclogged using the thinnest guage of guitar string. (I know, some people say that scratches and enlarges the jet, But I consider that extremely minor. You're not gouging a bigger hole, just trying to push a crud-plug out)
Pay attention to the small jet and pasage in the float bowl for the enrichener circuit.
You need to understand where each circuit get's it's fuel from, what it feeds, and where it comes out.
Carb spray sprayed in an airjet(air cleaner side) must come out the jet tower, but also come out somewhere else.
Do not dip them in cleaner buckets unless you've disassembled the whole thing and taken all rubber and plastic off., but I consider this too much work and seldom have found it neccesary.

[prometheus578]

Hey Ray... let me finish typing before you post and make me look like an idiot! (His computer must be faster)

[Ken Talbot]

Thorough cleaning should do the trick for you, but you must remove every jet to get to the areas that need cleaned. You don't need to remove the individual carbs from the rack.

Before you fight with stubborn, stuck jets, you should also pick up an impact driver. With the right screwdriver bit, an impact driver will remove those stubborn, soft brass bits without tearing them apart.

Carb cleaner will work better for loosening and cleaning than WD40.

One more time for emphasis - you do need to remove every jet and removable part. If you don't do it this time, you will do it next time.

[xswilly]

Remove the floats and diaphrams,
and have them cleaned ultrasonicly

[HobbyMan]

Yes, be really careful when removing those emulsion tubes. If you get them down and they still don't move out, use something flat/ blunt that will not touch the threads at all. No, flat bladed scew drivers don't work(don't ask me how I know) Remove your idle mixture screws and clean the passages below, just make sure to note how many turns out they are. Spraying cleaner into the idle passages from the inside of the carb on top of the butterfly helps too. I have never found a need to dissasemble the "choke"/enrichiner.

[oseaghdha]

Keep them in order

The middle carbs will have different emulsion tubes compared to the outside. Just keep all the parts grouped according to which carb they came off of.
You really do need to get the idle jets out as that sounds like the major problem you are having.
The idle jets are the most trouble to get out, and those are the ones most likely to get damaged. I buggered one of mine and had to order a new set. The rest of the parts are fairly easy to get out and will cleanup ok for reuse.

[webbcraft2150]

And run 'em thru the dishwasher! Follow with a good rinseing with hot, soapy water. Take your time and you will avoid having to pull em off again.

[ccogswel]

Thanks Prometheus.

I have used a small deep socket that fits inside to help push the emulsion tube out. Also Webbcraft has a good idea. I once boiled a set of tubes and jets in some boiling water. Done a decent job. Soaking in bleach done really good. But I wouldn't leave them in there to long. I don't think anything would happen but I didn't want to take a chance. I had found one thing that works really good. I had this set of small round brushes to clean the tubes on my tattoo guns. Thought one day if I had a set for cleaning my carbs and thought I'll buy a new set and see what I get. The best 8 bucks I spent. You can get these things in some tight places.

Here is a pic. [/IMG]
I use them to clean the inside of the emulsion tubes and the jets and the passage ways on the carbs. The wire is coated and the brushes are made of nylon or something. The smallest one in the set will fit down inside of the choke tube just to give you all an idea. They work great for me.