Picket up 1979 XS1100 Today!

[xs1100newb]

Hello All,
This is my first post to the forum. I just picked up a 1979 XS1100. The bike seems to be in awesome shape. Everything is stock and there is almost now surface rust. The compression was tested 6 months ago and all cylinders were in the 130-140 range. I'll put some pics up tomorrow.

There is definitely tons of work today though.

1) The tank is incredibly rusty on the inside
2) The carbs are the dirtiest I have ever seen

Tell me what you guys think about my plan of attack

For the tank I am going to go the electrolysis route. I have never done it before and I have heard the results are normally great.

For the carbs I am not sure what to do. Like I said, I will post picks tomorrow, but it is really bad. After removing the float bowls I saw that everything is covered in a blackish/green coat.

I do not have access to an ultrasonic cleaner, and my normal method of carb/choke cleaner and an air compressor will definitely not work here.

I was thinking about soaking the carbs in Berryman's Solvent. My only issue with this is that I would have to split the rack of carbs. I have done this on other carburetors and have had serious issues of leaks developing at the fuel joints between carburetors. How likely is that to occur for these carbs? I did not really see too many rubber parts. If I simply remove the slide diaphrams and the o-rings under the needle valve seat, could I soak the carbs in solvent without splitting the rack?

Thanks,
Adam

[SFerinTEXAS]

Is that a standard or special? Where are you?

[yamtom]

I concur, dont split rack

Hi,

I think berrymans is regular carb cleaner , the caustic type, which will ruin any plastic and rubber orings that may remain with your assembly.

I dont know if my carbs were generally as bad as yours, but Ive used yami cleaner, and have also used just plain pinesol, brand name only , to clean carbs with decent results. I bought a smallish plastic tub, rack size, and about five or six quarts of pinesol, it works great used straight. If you go with yami cleaner, its twelve bux a quart, and my dealer says to use it straight, not diluted like the bottle says. If you do use yami, I made one quart work, in a coffee can, soaking two carbs on the rack at a time for a day or so each then rinsing and finishing the way described below.

Ive never split racks, just tear down to the lowest level of assembly, and soak in pinesol or yami cleaner for 24 hours , then rinse with the hottest water you can stand. Then use regular carb spray cans and compressed air to be sure all passages are clear.

Be sure to use some kind of safety glasses anytime spraying.

There is a file here, kats carb cleaning ,,is what I think it is, that should help.

Be super careful to not put excess leverage on the float assembly posts when pulling the float pins, those alu posts break too easily. I use a pair of sidecutters to hold the head of the pin then gently as possible tap the side of the sidecutters with a small hammer to remove the pin, it may be well to soak the setup to loosen that pin first. There is a custom tool to help with this, maybe a search for ,, carb post tool ,, will bring you the file.

Consult with the,, kats carb cleaning ,,file first and you should be fine. There are differences between early and late carbs, and there is a hybrid type of carb on some 80 models that represents a third type.

Georgefix on ebay provides great service for selling kits to rebuild, but I have had generally good luck with reusing parts on up to thirty thousand mile carbs. Its prolly best to change the needles and seats under any circumstances though, definitely if the needles have wear rings around them.

[SFerinTEXAS]

I am also a fan of Yamaha Carb Cleaner. The one that mixes with gasoline. After many other ways I tried,never seen any use for an ultrasonic cleaner. After the first time I used it(last time) it will be my next time.

[crazy steve]

....I was thinking about soaking the carbs in Berryman's Solvent. My only issue with this is that I would have to split the rack of carbs. I have done this on other carburetors and have had serious issues of leaks developing at the fuel joints between carburetors. How likely is that to occur for these carbs? I did not really see too many rubber parts. If I simply remove the slide diaphrams and the o-rings under the needle valve seat, could I soak the carbs in solvent without splitting the rack?...

If you're going to use solvent, you not only have to split the rack but you also have to completely disassemble the carbs. There's rubber 'tees' between the carbs the solvent will damage, you'll need to remove the enrichener plungers (more rubber), as well as the throttle blades/shafts (rubber shaft seals). If they're super-gummy (sticky throttle shafts), this may be your only choice.

By the way.... Welcome!

[xs1100newb]

I believe it is the standard. I have updated my profile btw, with relevant information.


Just to be clear, you are saying to soak the rack in pure pinesol? Do I need to remove anything? What I am really wanting to do is clean up the carbs enough so that I can simply use carburetor spray cleaner and compressed air.

[SFerinTEXAS]

That's why I'm such a fan of the Yam Carb Cleaner. Tested it on rubber parts for 24 hrs first. I'm a believer. Will not damage the shaft seals .Best cleaning ever . Ultrasonic mulchasonic

[xs1100newb]

How do you compare Yam cleaner to pinesol? Can both be used without dissambling the rack? Which do you consider a better cleaner?

[SFerinTEXAS]

IF i ever did use an ultrasonic I would use Yam Carb Cleaner as a solution.

[SFerinTEXAS]

I use pinesol on my kitchen floors, not as important as my carbs.

Face it . There are no methods you will accept until you try and find right for you. This is my best after many other ways. Tested pinesol, didn't care for the results. I don't endorse the yam product lightly. BUT . Nobody told me what I'm telling you, came to this on my own and from others, mostly not here. Do some research.

[SFerinTEXAS]

As a case in point , this is not your case, on my XJ which has the float valve o-rings. Such a small but important item.Acquired another set of carbs on ebay, had been cleaned, looked pretty good with I don't know what.Carbs on the bike were jam stuck like chuck. That's where I decided to test the Yam Cleaner. The ebay carbs are still in the box they came in.Never even pulled the float seats, but did test before install. Those o rings cost more than the cleaner.

[xs1100newb]

The Yam Carb cleaner does sound pretty good. I can't easily get to a Yamaha dealership for another week or so, so I think I am going to go the pinesol route and see what happens. I will put up some pictures when everything is done. If it does not work, then I'll try the Yam cleaner.

Thanks,
Adam

[SFerinTEXAS]

New Dude, that's the right attitude for success. Try and learn. It never ends. Good luck

I cannot say this is true but I think it is.

It took Thomas Edison over 1000 attempts to make the light bulb. When asked why he he keep trying he answered, I didn't fail but only found 1000 ways it wouldn't work.

Somebody in a basement in Colorado will certainly take me to task on that semi quote.

[natemoen]

Like someone said, splitting the rack is the ONLY way to get all the parts out. It's not going to hurt anything if you take it apart and its only going to make things easier. plus this way you need less pinsol cause you only need to cover one carb.

[TECHLINETOM]

Used a harbor freight HEATED ultrasonic on mine w/ vinegar and wateron mine.
I would recommend splitting the rack gentlyand soaking the whole shebang in pine-sol beforehand sounds like a good idea.

I didn't want to stain the carb bodies otherwise I would have used Dawn.( silly me I painted them anyway).

I took forever but they are clean.

BTW without heat the ultrasonic cleaner is WORTHLESS!

I cleaned a Holley metering block w/ carb cleaner and compressed air and then I used the ultrasonic and got a whole bunch of junk out.

I think the one I have is about a one quart capacity.
It was about $65.

The ultrasonic cleaner concentrate from wal-mart works really well but I don't
know if it will stain the carbs.

DON'T use ANYTHING CAUSTIC!!
Like the purple stuff or lye or stuff like that.
It'll clean them up super fast but if they are left in the stuff your carbs will disolve! Real clean though!

It boils down to do what you are comfortable with.

The smallest tip on my torch tip cleaner just fits the tiny hole in the bowl for inrichment. That is the only hard part. that and be nice to the diaphragms as they are fragile.

Hope it helps,