Project: 1985 GS550ES

Fighting with the carbs!

So apparently removing the carbs is a bit more involved than "...pull carbs and airbox toward the rear of the bike as far as possible and remove carbs from engine flanges."

Turns out that the airbox moves back abot 1" and I seem to need another inch or two to clear the engine flanges. I've been fighting with this thing all afternoon/evening and I'm about to do some damage! Which, of course, I don't want to do. That's part of the problem. I could just muscle the carbs out, but I'm afraid that I'll damage the flanges on the air box, the engine or both.

Is there a magical method or is this just a blood, sweat and tears process? Advice?

Here's few pics of the situation:

http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t...S/IMG_0976.jpg

http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t...S/IMG_0970.jpg

http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t...S/IMG_0969.jpg

What's not in there are a good solid set of screwdrivers. :-) But you knew that already. Craftsman makes good stuff. I think 3/4 of my tools are sears branded. Anything that isn't, I consider disposable.

Correct. I couldn't find anything under $300 dolloars that included screwdrivers, so I had picked up a 10 piece Craftsman screw driver set last week as most of mine are "misc" makers and pretty well chewed up. In addition, I already have a set of what I call "micro screw drivers" (for really tiny stuff, like watches, etc) by Stanley.

[Nerobro]

What's not in there are a good solid set of screwdrivers. :-) But you knew that already. Craftsman makes good stuff. I think 3/4 of my tools are sears branded. Anything that isn't, I consider disposable.

Tool! Tools! I have Tools!

Ahhhhaaaahhhahahahaah! \\/ Now I can return to the laboratory and properly restore the beast! :twisted: :-D

550ERAT: The manual has no settings for the Pilot screws. 2.5 turns out IIRC for these carbs.

I'd hope for a few more complete sentances and a better story of what you've done before we go about the diagnosis path. :-) Just off the top of my head, have you replaced the carb boot o-rings?[/quote]

No I haven't. Plugs changed, air filter changed....I will get a complete parts list up in a day or two to let you know exactly what I changed....thx

I'm gettin jipped on my 699CC 700...

Nice bike as previously stated, I really like the look of the 550's boy 122mph, must be something wrong with my bike...

Here is something to look forward to.
VROOMMMMmmmm...... http://s135.photobucket.com/albums/q...t=MVI_4504.flv

Anyway, am enjoying reading about your project, keep it up and don't start to lose steam! ...

Yeah, I was very lucky to get this bike in pretty decent shape and it's a style that I happen to like quite a bit.

No steam lost. Just continuing to wait on my new tools to arrive so that I can do the job right (and not round off anything that's not supposed to be rounded off!). In fact, the more that I have to wait, the more I'm raring to get back at it!

Thanks for the virtual ride down the local rip-strip. I hope to be able to at least trail that in the near future.

MetalGod: My joke goes a little deeper than that. the 77-82 GS550's have 549cc blocks. The GS650 block has a 673cc block..that just so happens to fit on a GS550 bottom end if you're kinky enough. So my 1980 GS550 has 673 cc's...

That's about what I figured, although I'm not intimately familiar with all the various engines. And you're telling me to go stock... [-X

I'm gettin jipped on my 699CC 700...

Nice bike as previously stated, I really like the look of the 550's boy 122mph, must be something wrong with my bike...

Here is something to look forward to.
VROOMMMMmmmm...... http://s135.photobucket.com/albums/q...t=MVI_4504.flv

Anyway, am enjoying reading about your project, keep it up and don't start to lose steam!

I agree, you need to pull your carbs and clean them, its really easy to do, and the longer you wait the more time the jets have to fuse themselves into the bodies.:shock:

Good Luck!
Nick

[Nerobro]

MetalGod: My joke goes a little deeper than that. the 77-82 GS550's have 549cc blocks. The GS650 block has a 673cc block..that just so happens to fit on a GS550 bottom end if you're kinky enough. So my 1980 GS550 has 673 cc's...

550ERAT: The manual has no settings for the Pilot screws. 2.5 turns out IIRC for these carbs.

I'd hope for a few more complete sentances and a better story of what you've done before we go about the diagnosis path. :-) Just off the top of my head, have you replaced the carb boot o-rings?

First, Very nice bike you have there. Now, I know this has been addresed many times before, but, since this thread is on going and my problem is on going......thought I'd ask. I have a "83 GS550E....Just rebuilt the carbs...Replaced all the jets, soaked the damn things for a few days. New o-rings where needed and bench sync'd..... Now..The bike starts but idles VERY erratic...It will run, but you cannot stop without the bike stalling....It actually runs pretty good , it just won't idle.....Am I missing something? I thought I read something about a very very small hole in the carb body that needs to be cleaned out for these to carbs to work right. (something to d with the idle circuit i think)....I know there are a few of you out there that have rebuilt these things several times over so any help would be great. I am thinking about a disassemble and clean again....Oh yeah, all the settings have been done per the manual (haynes) and no matter what I do with the air screws, it does not change anything. Thanks......

The GS650 is really 673cc. Did I mention my 1980 GS550 is a 550.. I swear... ;-) If you take a good close look at the block it's stamped 673cc. I guess I put the wrong block on there.

If you're looking for the best fuel economy. (something in the low 40's..) you'll want to setup the bike as stock as you can. Stock exhaust, stock intake, stock air filter. I've never seen one of these bikes get better fuel economy after tuning, especially going to a 4-1 or pods. I think Skreemer is getting in the low 30's.

I realize that they generally round off the displacement #'s. I just wanted a reason to include the pic.

Guess I'll be going as stock as possible if that's where the fuel economy is. Unless, of course, the performance sucks. :twisted:

[Nerobro]

The GS650 is really 673cc. Did I mention my 1980 GS550 is a 550.. I swear... ;-) If you take a good close look at the block it's stamped 673cc. I guess I put the wrong block on there.

If you're looking for the best fuel economy. (something in the low 40's..) you'll want to setup the bike as stock as you can. Stock exhaust, stock intake, stock air filter. I've never seen one of these bikes get better fuel economy after tuning, especially going to a 4-1 or pods. I think Skreemer is getting in the low 30's.

572cc's

Make's you feel like your getting jipped out of 22cc's, huh? Maybe I should repaint mine to say GS572E.

Just waiting on my tools to come in...

:-\"

Haven't touched the bike in a few days now while I wait for my tools to arrive...

In the meantime, I've figured out EXACTLY what the diplacement of the engine is (see thumbnail pic). ;-)

Nerobro,

Thanks for the upgrade info. I definitely prefer fast and quiet to anything loud (I don't want to invest in ear plugs as "riding gear"), so I guess I'll keep what I've got.

122 mph is just fine, and, unless I get to a track, that'll be nothing more than head room for my riding. Fastest I've ever been is about 90 on a bike and that was two up on my 83 Nighthawk about 20 years ago. Here in the DC Metro area I'm pretty sure the cops wouldn't leave their speed traps for a moment even if they saw Osama on the other side of the street.

All said and done, I'm not looking for the fastest setup. I'd rather tune for the best overall performance, reliability and gas mileage. However, for track day I'd be interested in your "slightly richer" setup with the K&N stuff. :twisted: