VM carb identification

[Charlie G]

I have a set of VM carbs which were given to me and I was told they were off a 78-79 550e. Recently someone on the forum told me they were VM26's and I measured the inside bore of the engine side and they do measure 26mm. I'd like to part this set,at little or no cost to either of us, to members who need parts, but I want to be sure that I have them identified corectly. Can the collective mind here help out and decern which carbs they are. I saw the 550 that they were supossed to come off of, but this was a spare set and I'm not even certian they are for a Suzuki.








Thanks for your help.

cg

[Guest]

They appear to be correct

[Agemax]

sure look like VM26SS's to me, if they measure 26mm then i'm pretty sure you are correct Charlie......

[cowboyup3371]

Isn't there someone already asking about VM26s? I need to go find the thread.

[Charlie G]

Isn't there someone already asking about VM26s? I need to go find the thread.

I just read a thread where doona in England needed some parts, which is what prompted this thread.

This set is frozen. Is it possible to get them a part without breaking something? I've never taken apart this type of carb.


cg

[tkent02]

Easy. Remove the choke and throttle rod, remove the mounting plate screws, pull each carb off. Then figure out why there are two fuel Ts, Kawasaki fuel screws and no air screws.

[Guest]

Pretty easy to disassemble Charlie. Maybe spray some carb cleaner or WD40 in there to get the slides moving first. Can't really damage anything doing that. It would probably be easier to try and get the slides moving first before you disassemble as you don't have any leverage once you pull them apart. Just so you know someone has but the carb bodies in the wrong order. The air mixture screws are all supposed to point outwards so you can get at them. Same with the float bowl drain screws. What's probably happened is they've tried to make two number 1 carbs and two number 2 carbs work as a whole rack of carbs, something like that anyways. You'll have to have a good look at them once they are all apart to tell what carb bodies you have. You can tell by looking at which way the air mixture screw is pointing and also if the carb body fuel inlet goes all the way through it or stops on one side, if that makes any sense.

[Charlie G]

Easy. Remove the choke and throttle rod, remove the mounting plate screws, pull each carb off. Then figure out why there are two fuel Ts, Kawasaki fuel screws and no air screws.

The 78 and 79 parts fisce shows only one tee and two nipples as you said. I'll pull them appart and see if I can blindly make rhyme or reason on what is happening here. I have too many parts for bikes I don't have.

cg

[Charlie G]

Pretty easy to disassemble Charlie. Maybe spray some carb cleaner or WD40 in there to get the slides moving first. Can't really damage anything doing that. It would probably be easier to try and get the slides moving first before you disassemble as you don't have any leverage once you pull them apart.

Years ago I think I remember someone writing that they broke needles off that were corroded together in the carb. This is why I asked.

cg

[tkent02]

The fuel screw tips tend to break off if someone screwed them in all the way. Never seen corrosion cause it, they just go in and get stuck. The slides get stuck too sometimes. If they do, leave them in and throw the whole thing in the dip.

[Guest]

Years ago I think I remember someone writing that they broke needles off that were corroded together in the carb. This is why I asked.

cg

The were probably talking about the fuel needles, the tips are pretty fine. Also once you get into the underneath of the carbs the pilot jets have a very small straight slot to them and you can easily strip them (and then you're buggered) if they are stuck in there, but usually spraying them overnight with something is more than enough to loosen things up first.

[Big T]

Charley

Before you even put a screw driver to them, set them on the bench and hit them with pentrating oil on every screw and in the slides

Repeat for a few days

Then strip the chokes, the tops, the slides, the bowls and everything on the bottom. Then, separate them from the rack last and into the dip they go

A JIS screwdriver is helpful and an impact driver for the rack bolts

[chuck hahn]

AND......DO NOT pry the slides up with a screwdriver!!!!! Use something like the plastic handle of a paintbrush if you need to pry them to break them loose. Up and down a little each time and add more penetrating oil as you go.

[TheCafeKid]

You may find that they're toast. I had a set that the slides froze in after I stupidly left them on the back porch over night to get rained on (and in) and when I finally fetched them a few days later the slides were locked up like no ones business. I tried everything I could think of to break them loose. Soaked them for literal days in dip, soaked them in un-diluted CLR, boiled them, tried marvel mystery oil, and finally I actually broke a screwdriver trying to pry them loose (I'd at this point decided that they weren't worth saving but didn't want to be defeated haha)

There's something with those VM carbs, I dunno what sort of alloy they are, but even after dipping them, and rinsing them I find I usually have to take some fine sandpaper to the slide bores and the choke plunger bore to clean out the metalic residue or the slides will stick. The CVs don't have that problem.

Btw those certainly look like 26s to me too. If they'd been 22s from a 550 the bodies would have rings around them going down the outside of the slide bore towers. Some of the 22s (I don't think they were used on GS models however) that I've seen also had accelerator pumps.

[chuck hahn]

Josh...Did ya try some propane heat on the slide towers and then some oil soaked in? The heat usually expands the aluminum just enough to get them oiled well and moving.

I use a new green dish scrubbie to scrub the towers nice and shiney too. Like you said, theres something about the alloy and a good cleaning keeps the slides very free moving.