New member, 79 gs550e resto

[Crowley1027]

Hi everyone. I'm Nate, from southern Rhode Island. I came across a 1979 gs550 for 75 dollars, and had to have it.

Bike is rusty, and the biggest problem is the missing carb set.

Already ordered a set of carbs, but I'm having trouble figuring something out. Partzilla has two "carburetor" categories. They are listed as such:

CARBURETOR (GS550B.C.EC)
CARBURETOR (GS550C.EC.N.EN)

My guess would be different versions of the same carb? I need to figure that out first.

Because it had no carbs, I kept it in neutral and covered the ports. Going to try to vacuum behind the valves if I can... Not sure about the cylinders with open valves.

Pictures here Gs550 https://imgur.com/gallery/ouSuW

 

[Crowley1027]

Seems 1979 model number was N. So I got that straightened out... My parts are "en"

 

[roeme]

Older members will know for certain; but I bet it had VM22SS carbs (as mine do).

 

[Crowley1027]

These are what I'm getting shipped to me. http://www.ebay.com/itm/291990433568

 

[steve murdoch]

Welcome to the site, Nate.
A bike sitting with the carbs off is a bad recipe. Is the engine stuck?
Where did you order carbs from?
I would think there is someone on this site with GS550 carb parts.

 

[sam000lee]

Those look right to me and seem to be in decent shape. When you get them check the jet sizing. This sheet will tell you what should be in there (assuming you are using stock airbox)

http://members.dslextreme.com/users/bikecliff/images/carbspec_float_height.html

If the jets are the stock size, then they'll be good to go after a good cleaning and a new set of Orings from cycleorings.com

From your pictures it looks like you definitely need intake boots, too.

Good luck!

 

[Crowley1027]

Hopefully the person from whom I bought it is truthful and they've only been off a year. Bike ran well before carbs were taken out.

 

[Crowley1027]

Pulled apart the carbs a little bit. Took the floors out, and the air screws out, and they seem mangled. Can't find them on any parts lists.

So, 24mm for the float bowls. 80 and 50 for the Jets. 2 turns out for my mangled air screws. Need to check on idle screw setting.

 

[Crowley1027]

For clarification, these are the screws under the float bowl. These aren't the screws seated by the carb throat (mixture screws?)

I can only upload one picture per post, so this picture is not the screw in question.

 

[Crowley1027]

Here are the mystery screws

 

[steve murdoch]

In the last pic your finger is pointing to the pilot fuel screw. 1 turn out according to the chart.
Also from the chart i see pilot jet at 15, not 50.
Have a look at the carb cleaning tutorial. Page 3 identifies all the bits for you.
http://members.dslextreme.com/users/bikecliff/images/vm_carb_rebuild.pdf

 

[Crowley1027]

So I need new pilot fuel screws.

Someone please reassure me that I've only damaged the brass parts, and that the aluminum is alright........

Anyone know where I can find those fuel screws? I'm going to check around online.