Which is easier to repair? A or B? (Carb clean)

[Taliesin]

So when I got my 1980 GS550L, it came with two sets of carbs. I don't know why, and the PO I bought the bike from didn't know either. I suspect that a PO before the guy I bought it from decided he was going to clean and rebuild them.

In set A, which were on the bike, I have a broken float post in carb #2, which was "repaired" with epoxy or something. When I tapped out the pin, the top of the tower came with it. So I figured I'd use carb body #2 from set B.

In set B, the mixture screws had never been touched, and I know this because the plug was still on there. I drilled out the plug without damaging the mixture screw under it, but when I tried to unscrew the mixture screw, I was having a heck of a time. I sprayed some carb cleaner in there and let it soak. I eventually managed to strip this stupid thing without even using much force. The screwdriver fit snugly, but went into the slot, and it was the same driver I used to get the other mixture screws off.

So....which is easier to fix? Which carb body should I use?

[Big T]

Set B is still your best option

Strip everything off the carb that you can and heat the carb body in an oven

Then use some penetrating oil around the screw, not carb cleaner

If you have totally stripped out the screw top, use a tiny drill bit to start a hole and work your way up until you have the hole about 1/2 the diameter of the screw.

Then use an ez out to get the screw out. You may want to heat it up again when you thry to remove the screw

Do not try to drill the entire screw out - there's lots of precision aluminum in there

[Nessism]

You made me cringe while reading this because you didn't take your time and stripped that mixture screw. You need a very tight fitting screwdriver and NEVER force it. I took an old screwdriver and ground it down on a bench grinder until it was a tight fit and covered 100% of the slot in the screw. If the screws are stuck use heat on the carb body and a proper penetrating lube like PB Blaster. Now that it's stripped the easiest fix is to cut the top of the tower off over the screw and then take a dremmel cut off tool and cut a new slot in the screw. Fixing float towers is more effort and the fix sometimes fails so I'd concentrate on getting that screw out.

EDIT: Big T posted while I was typing. I strongly advise against an easy out - they love to break off in the carb body. If you decide to try anyway you need to be very careful and judge when the force is too high and stop before you snap off the extractor.

[Taliesin]

Thank you both for your suggestions, and I apologize profusely for my delay in responding.

I was using a great fitting screwdriver, actually. I went out and bought a set of straight-shaft screwdrivers, and love it. It's been a Godsend when working with all these jets and screws. However, I did force it, which was my bad. I didn't have any PB Blaster when I was initially doing this...I do now. (I'm a VERY new mechanic, since I bought my GS a month or so ago. I've had to buy many tools and things that most mechanics have in their shops as a matter of course.)

This brings me to where I am now. Since I have the second carb body waiting in the wings, I decided to take the easy way out and JB Weld the float tower, contrary to the advice given. Cutting the top of the tower off over the screw was not something I could do with the equipment I have available, and seems far more involved than trying to fix the float tower. I've read reports of people fixing these towers with JB weld, and it definitely seemed the easier way. If it didn't work, or if it ended up being a lot more involved than I thought it would be, I figured I could always fall back on that second carb body.

I epoxied the top of the tower back on, and it worked perfectly. I had a tad of epoxy in the hole area, but was able to fine it down with a small drill bit. The pin fit in the float snugly, and I was able to get it in without breaking the epoxy. It's really quite solid.

Thank you both tremendously for your advice, and God Bless.

[hlrembe]

skip the "ez-out" they are all junk use a torx bit instead. drill the pilot hole just large enough so that you can drive the bit into it so that much like a broach it will cut the side of the hole and have a very tight fit. The brass screw will not be expanded making it tighter which is often the case with "ez-outs". if you don't have a torx bit long enough a regular hex bit will work almost as well in either case soak the screw with a good pentrating oil such as "PB-Blaster"