Nasty carbs, a few Q's

[xs11bobber]

Tore them down.

1. Butterflies were siezed up. Pinpointed snag to be in 3 & 4 carbs. PB Blaster worked wonders. Anything I should be leary of having this problem?

2. What I believe is a broken pilot jet plug. Not sure if I can get it out. Head is gone and metal looks almost eaten away.

3. I have no locator ball and spring. Choke function can't work correctly without them, right?

4. Should I replace diaphragms? Were old and dirty when removed. 1 not even installed correctly in the groove.

I have several pics of the process on my website. All your help is greatly appreciated.

-Josh

[mro]

The pilot jet screw is of pretty good size so if you can not cut a slot in it for a screw driver you can drill it and remove with an easy-out (carefully).

Enricher circut will return to "off" without the springs/balls installed. Could just hold it open till it warms up though

diaphragms?
If no holes and still plyable they should be fine.

mro

[xs11bobber]

haha, alright. Now what about the throttle shaft being stuck?

[newc4]

When I soaked my carbs in carb cleaner I got some on the butterfly seals which swelled up inhibiting throttle movement. I put some brake fluid on a qtip and dabbed around the throttle shaft and the seals went back down.

They've worked fine so far.

Darrell

[xs11bobber]

I haven't gotten any carb cleaner on the bodies at all. I've just taken off the bowls, diaphragm caps, diaphragms, pilot screws. I'm not exactly sure what caused the stick, but PB seemed to do its job. That would make me assume it was a metal to metal surface causing the stick. I don't remember reading anything about PB being bad for rubber. So I should be safe???

[mro]

"So I should be safe??? "

Where's the fun in that???

If they move freely... should be ok.

Check the return springs between the carbs.
Can be cleaned with a tooth brush and carb cleaner.
(I use a mini wire brush)


mro

[Clerek]

I messed up and dipped the whole carb in carb cleaner! Well not the whole carb, I took off all the jets and floats, I just didn't take off the screws at the top that are for syncing, the mixture screws, and the butterfly valves...The rubber got messed up, but I just took the rubber off the one side and ran it under hot water (to get the cleaner off) and rubbed some brake fluid on it to shrink it back down. It installed fine and now it works well again.

Now back to the original post...

I am going to be boiling each of my carbs individually in lemon juice. I heard this works well, and even though i did just clean the sh*@ out of them, I feel like they are still kinda dirty. I am not totally sure what to not have on when boiling them, but I would think take out the diaphram, and the float/float pin. They say to not really BOIL it, but bring it just to the edge of a boil, and then keep it there. Then dip in for 20-30 minutes, rotating and shaking frequintly.

If anyone has anything to add to this method, please chime in, as I have not done it yet and will be doing this tomorrow...

Cool ****!

-Rick

[xs11bobber]

Lemon Juice!? What the...

81xsproject... ultrasonic $200. Or Northern Tool has an ultrasonic cleaner for $300, but Jessie does much more. Check it out. It's in the parts for sale section under the Forum "Custom parts/service by members."

I think bodies are bodies. I'm cleaning the caps and bowls myself and things look GREAT! so far. Replacing the screws for each with the allen kit from stainlesscycle found for the xs11 on ebay.

[Clerek]

I am working on it now! It is working great. It took all the grime and gum that the carb cleaner dip and spray can cleaner failed to take off. It does turn the brass a green/black color, but it doesn't effect it at all. I am telling you, I went through two cans of carb cleaner, and dipped the carbs in for 20-45 minutes each and brushed with a toothbrush, and it still had crud in there.

I just finished with two carbs(that's all that can fit in my pot) and am finishing up with the other two! I took pictures with my phone, and don't know how they will turn out, but I will post some new pics up here if that would clerify.

This works way better than the carb cleaner, but it does dull the aluminum. I don't care about the color, I just want them to run better!

Hope that helps!

-Rick

[DenyP]

Boiling in Lemon juce works like you wouldn't belive! Do a big time flush with water afterwards and do not delay in the the re-assembly, get her back on line!

deny

[tarzan]

The detent ball is 1'8" diameter IIRC.You should be able to find that at a hardware store.The tiny spring may be a little tougher.You may be able to get the spring at a hardware store also.

[xs11bobber]

The detent ball is 1'8" diameter IIRC.You should be able to find that at a hardware store.The tiny spring may be a little tougher.You may be able to get the spring at a hardware store also.

Would I look in a bearing type section for the ball?

Happened to be 2 springs in a misc parts box my dad got off eBay... score!

[Larrym]

Smaller than a BB...

Ball was missing on my carb "test bank". Used small ball bearing from bicycle pedal. Bicycle shops have them by the hand full. Just get a couple different sizes to be sure you get the right one.

Luckily the spring was still there, in my case.

[Clerek]

I boiled them in water afterwards for a couple minutes...

What ball bearings? I looked at the diagram for my 79 standard carbs, and didn't see where the bearings go. They are supposed to go on the choke right, but where? I had it running (though roughly) before I took them apart but non of them had bearings in the slide...

-Rick

[xs11bobber]

Ball was missing on my carb "test bank". Used small ball bearing from bicycle pedal. Bicycle shops have them by the hand full. Just get a couple different sizes to be sure you get the right one.

Luckily the spring was still there, in my case.

Found the balls and spring on bikebandit for about $8.80 a set just now. I'm sure I can rack up enough odds and ends on there to make it worth the shipping for just a couple of the balls @ $.59 a pop. They're kinda pricey on a lot of stuff though. I think I saw over a $200 price tag on a single carb diaphragm... whew! You buy 4 of those things and it's enough to buy a new set of carbs on motorcyclecarbs.com(when it's working)

The springs and balls being referred to go into factory machined holes in the carb bodies for the choke slide. There are 2. If you look up the carb fiche on bikebandit.com for our bikes you can see it on the SF diagram as #'s 70&71