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Carburetor kits.

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Gateway

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I rebuilt the carbs on my GS 550E - 1980. I used K & L kits. It fired right up and after synchronizing and mixture adjustments it is one sweet running old bike.Just curious because I see on this sight a lot of negative about aftermarket carb kits especially K&L. Did I just get lucky? What other brands of kits are available? I need to do my sons GS 450 and just wondering what's out there. Does Suzuki offer a kit or just individual parts?

Thanks,

Brian
 
Oh, they work, but how accurate are the parts? Your main jets are supposed to be 92.5. It's hard to measure, but yours could just as easily be 91s or 94s, even though they are marked 92.5. That is where we have problems with them.

As far as the 450, you have to know what year you are looking for as the carbs changed drastically in '83, I believe. Parts are not interchangeable between the two models.

Most of the time, all you will need to "rebuild" your carbs is a set of o-rings from cycleorings.com. The guy that runs that site is a member here, he provides o-ring kits for our GS carbs ONLY. When you get your o-rings, be sure to also get the o-rings for the intake boots, along with the stainless bolts that hold the boots to the head. You should probably also get a set of o-rings for your 550 boots, too, since they don't come in those EXPENSIVE "rebuild" kits. You also did not get any o-rings in those kits that go on the fuel transfer tubes between the carbs or the vent tubes, did you? All part of the cycleorings kit, and it's all cheaper than the price of ONE K&L kit. :eek:

.
 
I use the K&L kits without problems also. Never had issues with the jet sizes either. The K&L kits come with the bowl gaskets too where the oring kits dont. Ray.
 
The 450 is an 81 GS 450 L. No the K & L kits were lacking w/ O-Rings. My dealer had those. Does the o ring guy have complete kits or just the o-rings ? I'd like to find a 1 stop shopping kit. One that includes all required parts. The K&L kits were only 23 bucks. To be fair, they did not have the little rubber plug over the pilot jet. Had to go to the dealer 4 that too. I come from the VMX world. I have rebuilt and restored many vintage dirt bikes. I have moved on to vintage street bikes because my kids are gown up now and want to ride on the street

Thanks,

Brian
 
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It's been proven here countless times that the brass jets do not wear out with use and can be recycled. These parts are built to close tolerances and are an exact match for your bike. If someone would rather replace the original equipment Mikuni parts with aftermarket then knock yourself out. Understand up front though, that many times the aftermarket parts are not a perfect match to the original parts.

My current bike came with aftermarket carb kits installed, K&L I believe, and they are fine. I don't recommend them though unless the stock parts are damaged since this provides no benefit. Also, as mentioned already, aftermarket carb kits do not come with all the needed O-rings so you are going to be scrambling for these parts if you choose to go this way.

Pay your money and make your choice. It's not that big a deal either way.
 
I've recently cleaned and rebuilt the carbs on my 1978 GS750, following Paul Musser's tutorial and using new rings from cycleorings. (My rebuild project is coming slow... have to post some pics.)

The pilot fuel screws on carbs 2, 3 &4 are significantly shorter than in carb 1. It does not look like the tips broke off of 2-4, they are just shorter. As far as I know, all the pilot fuel screws are OEM, but they could have been changed at some point. They look old.

Is this expected? Would I be better off getting four new K & L pilot fuel screws, or sticking with the old ones?
 
Ledyard said:
I've recently cleaned and rebuilt the carbs on my 1978 GS750, following Paul Musser's tutorial and using new rings from cycleorings. (My rebuild project is coming slow... have to post some pics.)

The pilot fuel screws on carbs 2, 3 &4 are significantly shorter than in carb 1. It does not look like the tips broke off of 2-4, they are just shorter. As far as I know, all the pilot fuel screws are OEM, but they could have been changed at some point. They look old.

Is this expected? Would I be better off getting four new K & L pilot fuel screws, or sticking with the old ones?
Click to expand...

The screw points have gotten broken off. Z1 Enterprises sells replacements.
 
OK.... so in relooking at my "shortened" pilot screw, it is clear that the tip of the old screw is actually stuck in the body of the carb. I can even feel the tip of it poking through on the inside of the barrel end.

So I need to know, is my carb body totally screwed?
 
Awesome, Basscliff. So, the little puncture hole in the carb body is not a problem after the tip is removed? (And thanks for your great website, by the way.)
 
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