78 GS550E - Where to find Carbs?

[Guest]

I can locally buy a 78 GS550E, 16,500 miles, garage kept, seems to be in good shape except it doesn't have any carbs. Seller asking $400.

How hard are carbs to come by? Do I have to get the specific GS550E carbs or can I use generic Mikuni VM22's and find the mounting/cable hardware?

I haven't been able to find a good set other than the one on ebay right now: https://www.ebay.com/itm/1979-Suzuki...IAAOSwVMlbnyfz

This will be a cafe racer project for me, my first one. I am a novice but I learned basic carb maintenance on my ninja 250.

[LAB3]

If you went with new ones you'd have two choices. Make your own linkages, hoses etc then deal with getting them set up right or piece them together one part at a time, you'd pay a fortune in the end. Getting a complete set seems to make the most sense. I've never bought a rack of four carbs but it seems to me you might be able shop around a bit more before spending as much as the set you linked. Try checking out the parts for sale section or make a post in parts wanted.

[steveb922]

That is silly money for a grubby set of carbs. What LAB3 said is right re getting a complete set. Any 77-79 GS 550 will do. Post a notice in the parts wanted here, phone your local breakers, keep watching Ebay etc.

[WMurphy]

I have a set of carbs and rebuild kits off a 78 GS550 that I'm not going to use. They're disassembled and 3 have been soaked to remove the extreme varnish that was inside them.
Shoot me a quick email and let's talk.