Carb Rebuild - to do myself or send away?

[waffey]

Hi,

I thought I might have a go at the carbs whilst its damp and it's a job I can do while waiting on other parts and more cash.

My first question is do I send them away as an easy option and get them back looking like new and who might do that?

Should I do it myself  (I've never done this before)? I think I can rebuild them and have started but already the first carb has the float pin stuck I dont want to end up damaging them). The bike was sat from 1997 so I guessing lots of 'stuck' parts may await me.
and....not sure if I should strip them down to every single component or part strip before getting cleaned in a friends ultrasonic cleaner.

Thanks in advance again

[K2-K6]

It's so very easy to snap those post supporting the float pins, and not really a competent repair other than another carb body.

For sending out,  Gerben (search forum for contact) is a very well regarded route to refurbishment on here.

If you want to get initial grime etc off them,  and may free up some stuck parts, you could try a steam wallpaper stripper with a nozzle fitted to dissolve any buildup.  It's gentle and generally removes without heavy scrubbing.

[Nurse Julie]

Definitely do them yourself. I sell complete Viton O ring kits as all yours will need replacing. Use the existing brass ware. There are guides in tricks and tips on the forum of how to bench sync and set float heights, there are vids on Facebook and we are all here to help with advice. You can send the to Gerben for a full recondition / overhaul but it's not cheap. Have a go, you have nothing to loose.

[Bryanj]

Be gentle and careful, a small amount of heat can help but not a lot as they are not ally but something called potmetal (otherwise know as shiteite). You can go to a paint supplier and get a gallon of gunwash to soak them in but in as closed can, not as volatile as it used to be but still a loish flashpoint

[McCabe-Thiele (Ted)]

I did mine a few months ago - as said with patience it can be done.

To give you an idea of how bad mine were the throttle slides were jammed solid after 12 years of standing on a 40 year old bike.

My main method to free them off  was to totally immerse them in Petrol in a sealed big Tupperware type box and fit the lid. Leave for a day or two then sprayed with carb air intake aerosol and gently tried to move them.

This video gave me confidence plus members here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5jsc3eWhVlM

.

[Athame57]

Adding to the answers here. When I first pulled my carbs apart after an early fuel starvation problem I found cobwebs between them and fluff inside them! I did break one of the butterfly springs because I had not returned it properly when I went to put the bowl back on, DSS got a used one for me for £5.oo so look out for that. The tops and the bowls of the carbs are receptive to autosol and come up nice and shiny, the rest of the carb exteriors I used Frosts to clean up and it rejuvenated them very effectively. Then I used carb cleaning spray to finish the job. Eventually I found it made life easier to replace the very aged and hardened  Air box to Carburetor rubbers  too.

[McCabe-Thiele (Ted)]

Sorry I also meant to post this link it was more detailed even though my carbs were slightly different it was detailed enough.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JFTOfYl5BSc

[AshimotoK0]

Definitely have a go yourself but beware that ultrasonic cleaning isn't the 'cure-all' for carbs that's often spouted about.... particularly if they have had water ingress and they are internally corroded. I have a 40 litre industrial one and even that won't remove water ingress corrosion.

Even the top guy at pro-refurbs,  painted the alloy connecting bar on mine, which I think is wrong and on mine, which admittedly, were done quite a while ago, they  had some slightly dodgy looking screws and pattern jets/etc fitted of unknown origin. I think he fits Keihin ones now though. If you are re-zincing anything steel, then yellow chromate passivate is correct for original factory finish.

If your jets etc. are original and Keihin and look reasonable my two-pence worth is to clean and check them and reuse them.

As Julie says .. buy her Viton 'Seal'  kits and also the screws she sells, if she has them in stock, as the screws are the correct original style, unlike some of mine were on the refurbed set I bought..

If you do misplace any small parts in the process,  I do have a few bits. I remember losing one of the shaft springs down the sink in 1986 when I 1st rebuilt a set 

[MrDavo]

I used heat to get a stuck float pin out on my CL450. It worked fine, allowing me to drift out the pin with a fine drill.

Then I noticed that the float had fallen apart, as the solder melted!

[Johnny4428]

I had a couple of stuck float pins on mine, I tapped out with small drift but very careful to support pillars when tapping.

[K2-K6]

Then I noticed that the float had fallen apart, as the solder melted!

That's one advantage of using steam to clear residue from components,  routinely used in chemy labs to clean the glass apparatus as it's pretty effective. 

[K2-K6]

Forgot to add, that steam won't release solder.

Can also be used to steam out a fuel tank if you need to weld it. 

[waffey]

Thanks for all the good information. So.........................started to strip them, got all the pins out finally but founds one carb has had a dodgy repair. Do I stick with it and use something like JB weld or source another carb body (guess might be difficult)

How far do I strip them. I've got them this far (Please pics)

[amx1992]

I had a full set of 400 carbs with broken float posts, I used an m3 grub screw and made some posts on a lathe/mill

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[Grumpyfck]

Definitely do them yourself. I sell complete Viton O ring kits as all yours will need replacing. Use the existing brass ware. There are guides in tricks and tips on the forum of how to bench sync and set float heights, there are vids on Facebook and we are all here to help with advice. You can send the to Gerben for a full recondition / overhaul but it's not cheap. Have a go, you have nothing to loose.
[/quote
Hi Julie,
I have have heard you refer to selling parts, where might I find this? Do you have a website?