Pulled the carbs off the 81 850G today.

[Guest]

Finally feeling better after pulling a muscle in my left leg last Sunday. I took the tank off and am working on it. Petcock and fuel level sender, and decided it was a perfect time to pull the carbs. I usually work on Honda and Kawasaki and I have to say that this Suzuki is the easiest bike I've seen to remove the carbs. The air box slides right out and you have all kinds of room to work. Honda and Kawasaki won't let you pull the airbox with the carbs installed. No push cable so only one throttle and one choke cable!

After I got the rack out I noticed that all 4 slides are stuck but the carb bodies and bowls look surprisingly clean. I wonder is someone hadn't rebuilt them in the distant past then didn't ride it much. Virtually no road grime on the bodies. I didn't start dis-assembly yet as I stopped for dinner and the night. I do have to mention that yesterday I squirted silicon spray all over the rubber parts, insulators and boots. That usually contributes a lot when removing carbs.

I'll post some pictures of the carbs tomorrow when I get into them more. For now I just sprayed carb cleaner on the slides and letting them soak a bit. I never like to force them to move. If they aren't moving tomorrow I'll pull the caps off and check the condition of the diaphragms. If they are still flexible I'll lift them and try squirting carb cleaner in from the top on those slides.

[Nessism]

Carb rebuild tutorial linked in my signature and on basscliff's website. Short cuts are long cuts so consider this your warning.

To get the slides loose use a heat gun on the carb body. Don't use carb spray or the diaphragms can become damaged.

[chuck hahn]

And dont pry the slides with a screw driver. Take and old tooth brush and grind it down to fit under the slides. This way you can give them a little help without gouging things up.

[jdvorchak]

Carb rebuild tutorial linked in my signature and on basscliff's website. Short cuts are long cuts so consider this your warning.

To get the slides loose use a heat gun on the carb body. I'll try that first thing. Don't use carb spray or the diaphragms can become damaged.

Thank you. I never heard of using a heat gun. I've always just soaked them and used thumb pressure or a piece of wooden dowel. I'll try the heat gun first. Never use a metal object. Never had a diaphragm fail with carb or brake cleaner. As a matter of fact when I have an O-ring or gasket that has swelled in the presence or fuel or oil, I hose it down with brake cleaner and set it aside to dry. Always seems to shrink back down to normal size.

[WolfworksCustoms]

Brake cleaner on rubber usually destroys it.....better off using Kerosene for stuff like that....takes longer, but safer......I also always coat any carb rubber parts with mineral oil (all pharmacies have it, its low bucks.....mineral oil wint damage any ruvver seals or diaphragms....brake Cleaner is mostly carbontetrachloride (dry cleaning fluid)....its a nasty carcinogen ad also dries the snot outta anything rubber/vinyl/composites....

[chuck hahn]

Heat gun will soften the laqeured gas and oil round the slides and allow them to be pushed out.

[WolfworksCustoms]

Agreed.....but never or at least try to avoid any solvents on rubber parts in a carb......else you'll need to replace....white vinegar is a better option.

Want a lil science ?....have a guy ya hate that has a sweet acrylic windcreen ?....spray a lil laquer thinner on it.....it IMMEDIATELY spiderwebs the whole screen abd renders it useless...

I used to dabble quite a bit with chemistry in college....we made the greatest acid too !.....well, i didnt....was the other guy....

[jdvorchak]

All great suggestions and thank you. I will take heed.
Ya lean something new every day.

As for kerosene I used diesel fuel in my parts washer and the carbs have been in there all night. It is my understanding that diesel is kerosene or the chemical equivalent to kerosene. Also use diesel in my kerosene heater and have for years with no ill effects. The heater is still working.

[jdvorchak]

Heat gun worked great. Only took a couple of minutes to free them all.

got the carbs partially dis-assembled and while I've seen worse, the two left carbs are pretty nasty inside.
Here is my carb work station with Steve McQueen offering inspiration:






the float pivot pins are all stuck of course but before I do something stupid I have a couple of questions.
Are those pins staked in or supposed to be floating?
Before I hit them with a nail and small hammer is there a trick to getting them to move? These are the first I've seen where that pivot pin looks like a nail with a head on one side. Usually it's just a pin and I can tap from either side to break them free. Absolutely don't want to break the casting. That would suck.

[portdave]

For proper pin removal look at page 42 on Nessism's rebuild pdf. His link in his signature is not working but here is the link from BikeCliff.

http://zeus.mtsac.edu/~cliff/storage/gs/Mikuni_BS-CV_Carburetor_Rebuild_Tutorial.pdf

[jdvorchak]

Thank you portdave.

Do you know if those rubber plugs over the pilot jets are still available? I checked Bikebandit and they are listed but wanted to know if there is a better site? I've used Bikebandit a lot and am pleased with their service just don't like the extra shipping charges. You know $13 parts and $8 shipping...

[Nessism]

Z1 Enterprises is one of the forum favorite sources for parts. They are having issues with their website right now though so consider calling them after you find out what you need.

Another option...http://www.ebay.com/itm/suzuki-gs110...tV9iSK&vxp=mtr

[jdvorchak]

I checked Z1 and noticed that their site was down. I didn't want to cause anyone any work that I can do, So thank you so much for looking for me. I was just looking for suggestions on a good place to look for parts. Right now I know I'm going to tear up those plugs getting them out. They are very soft and spongy and will need replaced even if I don't pull them apart.
Once again thank you for your efforts. It is greatly appreciated. I hope that soon I can start contributing and helping others here. If you look on the NGW (Naked Gold Wing) site you'll see I'm very active on forums with over 2k posts there. Same screen name on NGW, DOHC Honda etc.

[Nessism]

Be sure to bust those carbs down. Don't be tempted to try to clean them while they are ganged together. The interconnection tube O-rings are most likely hard and brittle and need to be updated anyway, and you can't do that with the carbs ganged together.

BTW, I've fixed the carb tutorial link in my signature. Didn't know it was broken until reading it here...

[jdvorchak]

Thank you nessism. The tutorial on youtube eluded to supporting the post with a socket but your pic shows how. When I bought this bike it came with lots of parts and those O-rings between the carbs were included. I'll split the rack tomorrow and get those pins out. Also having trouble removing the main jet "tube". Got the jets out ok but that tube is pretty stuck. I figured when I get the floats off I can use my heat gun to heat up body around that tube and maybe it will loosen.

One question. When I replace that float pivot pin do I need to take any precautions or just tap it in? After cleaning of course.