"6th Time is Magic"

[boyat68]

I am on my 6th clean of the carbs, and at first I had trouble with the float height, and stopping the carbs from over flowing. After several removals and bench testing, the float needles are holding very well. I am on my third day of draining and refilling the bowls on the bench and leaving them overnight and they are still holding tight. Have rocked the carbs vigorously, and all floats are working perfectly. Have emptied them and re-filled, about 6-8 times a day and still holding fast.
I have ordered new seats and needles from mikes and they should be here by the end of the week. I have a mind to try the old needles and seats and just hold the new parts as spares for a later cleaning job.

[81xsproject]

use'em and you won't have to worry about them in the future. JMHO

[Kevin W]

Could you elaborate on what method you used to clean the carbs? And do you have an ultra-sonic cleaner. By method I mean, boil in lemon juice, berrymans, etc.
Wonder why it took 6 times? (Spoken from a guy who's tried a few times himself without success. )

[stoked]

I have the same issue with my carbs. It's not so much how many times I clean them but at what interval. I'm almost possitive it's junk from the tank. But with the PODS I'm using taking the carbs on and off it literally a 10 min job. So cleaning them is not that big of a deal. Usually when I find one starting to leak, I take the bowl off and it looks like charcoal inside it. I'm just gonna keep doing this until they stop getting gunked up.

[BrianB]

Do you have inline fuel filters?

[manshack_one]

Ditto what Brian said. You'd be amazed at what can fly into your gas tank during filling up. I noticed a small spider on my handlebar when riding about a week ago. He sat there for the ride to the gas station and, being a tiny one, didn't bother me. But for some strange reason, as soon as I opened the gas tank he lunged for the hole and was never seen again.

[DiverRay]

I would replace the fuel lines, if you have not done so already. You may be seeing the rubber from the inside of the line getting into the carbs!

[skids]

The spider thing is pretty funny. I was cleaning the Beast's carbs for the first time (years ago) and found a clump of spider web at the tiny screen of the fuel valve/carb inlet! I don't need their help at filtering chronicles from the gas tank!!!

[manshack_one]

Yeah, I thought I'd found a riding buddy. Wonder what drove him to spider suicide?

[DiverRay]

Yeah, I thought I'd found a riding buddy. Wonder what drove him to spider suicide?

Could it be the fast stop, sliding sideways into the station???

[manshack_one]

Well, the spider definitely had more grip than I did during that power slide! Just kidding, I actually ran out of gas about 20 feet from the entrance to the station and just pulled in the clutch and coasted to the first pump I could. Must have looked and sounded like I was running some sort of electric motorcycle since there was no engine running when I pulled up! Got some strange looks from some teenagers in a pickup. Not to worry, all was well after about 3.5 gallons and The Quarter roared back to life (following an embarrasing overflow of gas from the floats hanging down so low they let gas come back into the airbox. But only one guy saw that happening.) I have a windshield on the way and may stuff a riding buddy up behind the windshield to keep me company. Right now my daughter goes on slow speed practice runs in the park with me.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/manshac...7602709032511/

She's going to need her own helmet one of these days.

[boyat68]

Well, I got the new parts from Mike's, and went out to the garage where I had left the carbs hooked to the fuel on prime. I noticed that they had lasted another night and almost a full day without any fuel overflow. I decided to empty and refill another time. You would think that they knew new parts were coming, because # 1 carb held for a few seconds and then turned loose. Three days soaking and no mishaps untill now. The new parts go on.
In answer to the query, new fuel lines were on, but they were automative type, so I had ordered new lines, the thin type along with new inline filters. I had inline filters on the old setup. I had cleaned the tank and all fuel was new fuel and was going through the fuel lines and coming out the clear bowl lines as clear gas. Also I have gotten use to removing the carbs from the standard setup and it is a 15 min job off and a 45 min job on. I am convinced that the needles have harden ( the Viton Tips) and movement eventually un seats them.
To answer the query about how I cleaned them, I used mild choke/carburetor cleaner, toothbrush, Q-tips. drill press tooth picks . At first I did not clean the pilot jets as I was afraid after reading about the air/fuel screws which I mixed up after reading the horror storys on the site, but once I got that straight I cleaned them but left them 1-1/2 turn above a soft bottom, which was an error. In short a lot of elbow grease. I also set up my version of the off bike float check pioneered by Ken Talbot