carburator?

[barnicles]

carburator, i hear about it all the time, about the cleaning and checking,
but how do i get to the carburator to clean it?
I have a kat 600 and still a newby at this.
any help will be gratefully appreciated
thanks.

[Anonymous]

Ask Santa for a belated present of a Haynes Manual. :P

(Welcome to KR)

[md86]

Yeah , a manual would be the best place to start . That way when you forget where stuff goes , it's a little easier to figure out . Carb cleaning isn't really for the faint of heart (or the first-time wrench-turner) . I'm not doubting your skills , as I don't know anything about them or you , but you might want to find someone to help you , or a good shop . You can get the carbs out yourself without too much trouble and just take them to a shop to be cleaned , which I'd seriously consider if you're really new at this ..

[bonstrosity]

I've cleaned a few carbs, one thing I'll recamend is do it right and all the way the first time. I know people who have pulled them out and put them back in a few times before it was all clean and worked. Make sure you pay attention where everything goes. If they are really bad I'd recamend soaking them in mineral spirits for a day or so to loosen things up. Having an air compressor on hand it also handy to blow out little areas and tubes. I've got a question, What do most people use for cleaning out the little holes in the jets? I use torch head cleaners but I was wondering what other people use.

[md86]

I've got a question, What do most people use for cleaning out the little holes in the jets?

Carb cleaner or brake cleaner and ONE wire from a wire brush (pluck out a wire with pliers) .

[Wingspan]

Given your lack of experience I'd suggest not messing with your carbs (plural, you have 4) unless you are having a problem and are confident in what you're doing. In my experience, a great many bikes that run poorly do so because someone messed with the carbs and didn't know what they were doing.

[bonstrosity]

I've got a question, What do most people use for cleaning out the little holes in the jets?

Carb cleaner or brake cleaner and ONE wire from a wire brush (pluck out a wire with pliers) .

Thats A lot like what I use, torch head cleaners are about the size of one wire on a wire brush but are textured in different ways so they seem to scrape the crap out of there a lot easier.

[rotary13b]

Why would u want to clean them? Is there a problem with the bike? If the bike is running good don't mess with them. If u gonna store the bike put some stabilizer in a full tank of gas run it for about 10 min., and then drain the carbs. You should have no problem in the spring.

[The CyberPoet]

Re: carburator?

carburator, i hear about it all the time, about the cleaning and checking,
but how do i get to the carburator to clean it?
I have a kat 600 and still a newby at this.
any help will be gratefully appreciated
thanks.

Here's the scoop.
Your carbs shouldn't need to be cleaned via disassembly unless your fuel filter didn't do it's job and/or the fuel was bad (or left to sit way-way too long). Simple cleaning of passages can be done simply by running a high quality fuel system cleaner through with your gas (I recommend Techron in the black bottle -- 1/3rd of the smaller bottle per tankful of gas). This will eliminate varnishes, dried gas remains, sulfer build-up. It won't, however, eliminate particles that are clogging the carbs unless they will pass through as soon as the varnish holding them in place is liquified.

To clean the carbs properly, get a factory or aftermarket service manual. It's not brain surgery, but it is significantly complex that removing the wrong bolts will cause you greif (such as the long bolts which hold the carb stack together -- don't disassemble the carbs from each other unless you absolutely have to). To get at the carbs, you removing the fairings, gas tank, metal bracket behind the airbox and the airbox itself. To get the carbs out, you have to disconnect the TPS (98+ Kats), and the cables going to the carbs (throttle cables, choke cable). One of the best pieces of advice I can give you is to consider buying a spare set of carbs on eBay and then disassembling them instead -- this will give you a source of spare parts if you desperately need them later, and then permit you to simply swap carbs instead of having to remove/clean/reassemble all in one step.
As for cleaning the smaller jet passages -- nylon bristles (because you want to use something that is softer than the brass jets that are in there, so you can't scratch it), and compressed air or a can of spray carb cleaner.

TIP: Remember, any time you disassemble your carbs for any reason, you really should resync them after reinstallation.

Cheers
=-= The CyberPoet