Carb Cleaning Questions

[xj11yamaha]

hey there everyone,
i had a few questions about cleaing my carbs for the xj golf cart project see thread here if you havent see it yet. XJ1100J Golf Cart Project (a work in progress :-) ) Anyways the carbs arent in the greatest condition, well they are in good condition just EXTREMELY DIRTY, well since carb cleaner eats at ruber parts and i really dont feel like tearing the carbs apart (i have no idea what i'd be doing, scared to lose small parts and such ) Anyways my idea was that since engine degreaser wont hurt rubber parts it should be safe to spray on the outside of the carbs, correct? would it harm the brass parts though? hmmm. The inside of the carbs and very clean and just need some air blown thru. What are your views on this? I want to go the Simple route, i'll post a picture of the carbs soon. Thanks!

xs11.com -
so much information it might make you go crazy!

[Ken Talbot]

You could go the simple route by spraying some degreaser on the outside and blowing a bit of air through some of the inside, but your carbs won't be clean. There really is no substitute to taking them totally apart. Many people have found that even taking them apart doesn't work the first two or three times through until you finally get into every little orifice. Then agin, you might get lucky and get it right with just the simple cleaning... or not...

[xj11yamaha]

so you dont think some regular engine degreaser wouldn harm the carbs sensitive parts?

[sixtysix]

Regular degreaser (like Gunk) should be OK to clean the outside. You really need to look at all the info available here and just tear them down, if you want them to run better.

[xj11yamaha]

well i just torn the carb bank apart. WOW that was easy! it only took like 15 minutes. i did dremel in notch on the screw becuase the larger ones on the bottom of the carbs were gorrila tight. Those japanese really know how to tighten down screws probably just from sitting for 15 years they just froze up. so i dremeled a slot into each of them that wouldnt budge and PRESTO thay came out with a little persuasion Anywyas iv'e got them completey apart well at least seperated. iv'e read a lot of the XS cabr teardowns but what about the XJ is it basically the same. also what cleaners should i use for the carb cleaing, i dont want to ruin the rubber parts so what diferent products should i use for the different parts? Thanks JR

[Dennyz]

I found kerosene works for getting the grime off and Simple Green is good for getting the kerosene off. I did this before painting my carbs black.

[xj11yamaha]

Why you painted the carbs what did you tape off? i am thinking about painting mine as well. Thanks

[wildbill]

What I used for cleaning the insides of the carbs was spray type carb cleaner{comes in a spray can}.You can get it at most auto parts stores.Make sure to work on them in bright light{so you can see good}and take your time.Do one at a time.Hope this helps.

[prometheus578]

Before you put the carbs back on the bike, stick your finger through the air cleaner side and make sure that the slides move up and down. Sometimes when putting the top on, the spring slides offa the bump on the cover, and lodges sideways, blocking the movement of the slide. Old slide diaphrams also either shrink with age, or expand, making getting them to lie flat in their grooves quite a treat. The cover must lie flat on the carb before putting the screws in. If one side is up a little, the diaphram may have jumped out of the groove and is pinched. One way to keep them flat while placing the cap in position is to place two thin feeler gauges on top of it, then place the cap on top of them. Work the feeler gauges across and out, while holding the cap down. Then put in the screws.

[Dennyz]

The only things I taped off were the inlet and outlets.

Why you painted the carbs what did you tape off?

[xj11yamaha]

sorry for the spelling mistakes, i haven't been proofreading lately. Thanks for the tips! Still not sure what color i want to paint them though. Any ideas?