Clutch repaired, but carburetors- Uggggghhh!

[ManagerMike]

I got my carb kits from partsnmore along with manual petcocks to eliminate the vacuum jobs that I found offensive and problematic (I cut my motorcycle teeth in the dirt when I was a kid and turning the fuel on and off is just normal for me).
The kit(s) come with the needle and seat and new gasket that I did not need to trim for float clearance.
The manual petcocks have filters built in, with a reserve position that leaves one gallon in the tank (tested this on purpose) but the rubber gasket they came with liked to squash out, so I made some from cork/rubber gasket material, never a problem since.

[James England]

I've sung Georgefix's praises here before. His full kits cost less than some kits which contain only a float needle and housing and a gasket. IMO, if you're going to take the carbs off again, I'd replace everything using Georgefix's kits. Doing thingss piecemeal is never effective, I've found, and replacing the jets etc really isn't difficult. I did mine and it made an instant difference.

One thing that's worth doing.... once you've rebuilt the carbs, sit them upright (of course) on a low toolbox or something. Then put your fuel tank nearby but higher and connect the tank up to the carbs. If you arrange the boxes correctly, you won't even need extended pipes. That way, you can see that the carb floats work properly and cut the fuel supply off when the bowls are full. I did this after rebuilding mine as I didn't want the frustration of finding them overflowing after putting them back on the bike. With new kits and clean carbs, I'd be surprised if they overflow. On a duff set I received from a carb 'specialist', I connected them up off the bike and watched the fuel come out of the holes under the carb mouths......

[ThrottleJunky]

This may seem naive, but can I use water to do the test instead of gasoline? It's much cleaner in case of spills, etc. It doesn't seem like water would really hurt, and I would use some carb cleaner on them before reinstalling.

Also, everything in the carbs looks perfect with the exception of one seat which looks a tad out of round, though the needle went in and out perfectly. The o-rings around the seats look old, and I can easily replace them. I would like some new rubber block-offs, and I don't think those come with the kits. I've seen them at $8 a piece, and if I did that along with carb kits, I'm looking at more than $100. I'm going to take it apart, put some new o-rings on the seats, and test the carbs like you guys said.

PS- Those rubber block-offs could be the culprit as the rubber is degrading, and could be clogging up the seat, making it impossible for the needle to close.

[DiverRay]

If you get the kits from georgefix, you WILL have everything you need. You can send him a Pm on ebay, tell him exactly what you have, and he will even send larger main jets if you need them! For the money, you can't go wrong, IMHO. Last time I bought a set from him, it was about $80, and had EVERYTHING I needed to do a proper job on a 1980 MNS. (not mine, another members)

[cywelchjr]

This may seem naive, but can I use water to do the test instead of gasoline? It's much cleaner in case of spills, etc. It doesn't seem like water would really hurt, and I would use some carb cleaner on them before reinstalling.

Also, everything in the carbs looks perfect with the exception of one seat which looks a tad out of round, though the needle went in and out perfectly. The o-rings around the seats look old, and I can easily replace them. I would like some new rubber block-offs, and I don't think those come with the kits. I've seen them at $8 a piece, and if I did that along with carb kits, I'm looking at more than $100. I'm going to take it apart, put some new o-rings on the seats, and test the carbs like you guys said.

PS- Those rubber block-offs could be the culprit as the rubber is degrading, and could be clogging up the seat, making it impossible for the needle to close.

No, the rubber block off's can't block the needle valve, they are on the wrong side of them.

As for the water, I wouldn't recommend it, as the fluid dynamics of gas are not quite the same, and it doesn't completely flow the same as water, so it could pass with water and still fail with fas.

[DGXSER]

Gasoline is oil based and slicker than water. It will seep through places water will not. So while water would tell you if you DO have a problem, passing the water test will not prove you do NOT have a problem.

Since you have the "bastardized" 80 carbs, be sure to point out to George that you have this setup of 80 carbs. However, yours and the later 80 and 81 carbs that have the float needle seat held in with a phillips screw and the o-ring are all the same. So his kits will have the new seat with o-ring and the new viton tipped float valve. I believe with his 80 year kits you get new needles as well as new main jets, pilot jets, and mixture screws complete with spring, washer, and little o-ring for those as well.