carb rebuild questions

[C.V.]

*1979 gs850 g VM carbs all stock - currently runs OK(ish), also needs valve adjustment, which will occur at the same time*

Hi kids, getting ready to rebuild carbs and have a few questions before I start. I have read the VM rebuild guide several times. o rings and gaskets on the way.

heres the questions...
1) the guide seems out of sequence, it has you clean the carb bodies before removing all the jets, then says to remove and clean the jets. That seems wrong to me...shouldn't the carb bodies be fully stripped before dipping?

2) Is it neccesary to remove the tops and the slide before dipping? Or at all? If these are clean and functioning is it acceptable to focus solely on the jets and passageways? If i can avoid any extra dissasembly, that would be a good thing. *I realize this kind of contradicts the first question, but being that that are no fuel passages and no rubber parts up there, it seems that it would just be extra work for little or no purpose, am I wrong?*

I'm sure I will have more questions soon!

Thanks guys!

[hampshirehog]

Best way I think is to strip everything down till you're just left with the individual bits and clean every part separately. Slow old job but it pays to be meticulous.

[mike-s]

got to agree with that, im sure there'll be airpockets left in there if some parts aren't removed that should be taken out. I had all kinda of horrible gunk on my emulsion tubes that had the aeration area totally blocked (also explains why it was near impossible to remove the emulsion tubes without resorting to brute force) that would have had no chance at being fully exposed to carby cleaner if i had tried soaking the carb with them still located in the carb body. Same can be said for the Pilot fuel jets.

[Nessism]

As the others have said, pull the carbs down all the way. You can leave the needles and such in the slides but you need to remove the slides before you soak the bodies.

One caution with doing VM's, I suggest you remove the pilot fuel screws instead of trying to seat them and count how many turns they are open. The tips love to break off in the carb body which happens when you snug down the screw to see how far open they are. If the carbs are cruddy, or have the original white paint on the screws, the screws will be hard to turn which will fool you into thinking the screw is not seated yet, thus encouraging you to over tighten them and embed the tip in the body...as me how I know.

[trippivot]

if the slides move there are no passages that are obstructed by them.

leave them in if you like!! the most important passages are the pilot and bypass fuel holes. and the air bleed passages that go thru the carb body.

[Nessism]

if the slides move there are no passages that are obstructed by them.

leave them in if you like!! the most important passages are the pilot and bypass fuel holes. and the air bleed passages that go thru the carb body.

Soaking the carbs in carb dip with the slides installed? Why? The throttle shaft will have to be removed to seperate carbs, which requires removing the top carb cover, so it's 10 seconds extra to pull out the slides.

[C.V.]

Soaking the carbs in carb dip with the slides installed? Why? The throttle shaft will have to be removed to seperate carbs, which requires removing the top carb cover, so it's 10 seconds extra to pull out the slides.

I realize this now, I was looking at the VM rebuild guide, and its just a little confusing. I have actually pulled everything apart now and it all makes sense at this point.
Carb #1 is bathing as we speak. Sorry for the silly question...