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Ok so I see alot of questions on leaking carbs, i.e engine flooding when left for a while or hard starts when first start of the day etc..
So heres a write up to help people dismantle their carbs and rebuild them.
note: When removing the carbs try to drain them with the float bowls facing down, This means remove them from the bike but dont tip them over or around to much.
I found its alot easier to leave the throttle cable on the carbs but detach the choke cable from the carbs.
First things first lets get a pic of the carbs so you know what to remove
And my carbs with the k&n air filters
Next we need to know the tools for the job
A standard phillips and a flat head with a smaller flat head and I just like to use a razor whenever I can cause it makes it all that much more dangerous.
Now lets crack into these bad boys.
Start by removing the tops of the carbs, there are two screw holding each top
Pull the entire top with the spring out, now remove the slide with the needle.
Is this what you have?
Good, lets move on.
Remove all 4 and set them aside
IMPORTANT note to remove the o-ring located to the bottom right of the screw hole in the picture, these may have stuck to your "top caps" we removed earlier. So search them down and set them aside.
Now lets move along to the bottoms
Remove the 2 screws from each float bowl.
tip: if the screws are stripped or really stuck good you can use a dremel with a small cut off wheel to cut a slot in the screw that will allow you to use a flat head screw driver.
Replace any screws you cut.
Remove the gasket from the float bowl
Man look at all that crud
Remove the float assembly, shown in brown plastic
Inspect O-rings where my forefinger and thumb are pointing, these are often said to be the problem when your kat carbs are leaking fuel but I say its usally just dirty needles or damaged/worn needles.
Remove float needle pictured in front of my middle finger
This pic shows the float halves and float needle.
Look at all the debris that came out of there, WOW
Remove main jets
Ok time to clean, cleaning weapons of choice
To clean start on the outside of the carbs and get them real good then rinse and go to the inside pay extra attention to the inside of the float bowls.
Next clean the bowls themselves real good inside and out, try to get ALL of the brown rust colored crap out.
Clean the top caps and lightly clean the fuel needles, main jets, and float assemblies.
When you clean the slides pay extra attention to the shafts, alot of gunk can get built up on them cause them to slide slower and get hung up, this kills performance and response.
Ok now clean the float needles, after your clean them leave them soaked in gas until reassembly to keep them from drying out.
If you REALLY REALLY want some clean carbs you can throw the carbs disassembled and float bowls into the dishwasher after a good sink scrub down.
Use standard dish washer soap and fill the extra little spot with some more soap.
I usally spray them down with some fast orange then some liquid soap over the bad areas.
Load them with the ENGINE side of the carbs facing down, this would mean the INTAKE or AIR FILTER side is facing up, run one cycle then flip over with INTAKE side facing down and run again.
When using any orange type cleaner remember that it has alot of citris acid in it which means it will cause the aluminum to corrode VERY QUICKLY, so you must wash all of the orange cleaner off with soapy water directly after using it or you will have alot of white looking fuzz on your carbs and thats NO GOOD.
Now let it all set overnight disassembled to ensure everything is fully dried out.
note: when setting to dry overnight face carbs with intake/air filter side DOWN and engine side UP.
Now spray all linkages and throttle linkage springs with wd40, spray inside each barrel with wd40 covering entire butterfly valve.
~~ POLISHING ~~
Ok so heres my carbs all setup and ready to be reassembled but hold the phone, why not polish em up a lil since there sitting right here?
Look at how clean them springs are
So lets do it.
Polishing weapons of choice
Mothers Mag & Aluminum Polish works great IMO
We can only really do the bowls since the carbs are casted and are pitted badly. If you can sand them down smooth then you could polish them as well.
For now we can do the float bowls though.
Start by applying the polish on a paper towl and rubbing into the metal until it turns from white to black.
Then remove the black residue with clean paper towel and repeat until desired results are achieved.
Reassemble
Start by reasembling the tops. Insert the needle into the slide then install the slide and finally the cap and screws, just do one at a time.
Heres the order of the needle spacers in case you forgot
It goes small plastic spacer, e-clip, big plastic spacer, bottom to top.
Flip over and install your main jets.
Reassmble the float assemblies
Install float assemblies
Reinstall gaskets on float bowls
Reinstall float bowls and marvell at your hard work
Now go put em back on and get out there and tear up some pavement
So heres a write up to help people dismantle their carbs and rebuild them.
note: When removing the carbs try to drain them with the float bowls facing down, This means remove them from the bike but dont tip them over or around to much.
I found its alot easier to leave the throttle cable on the carbs but detach the choke cable from the carbs.
First things first lets get a pic of the carbs so you know what to remove
And my carbs with the k&n air filters
Next we need to know the tools for the job
A standard phillips and a flat head with a smaller flat head and I just like to use a razor whenever I can cause it makes it all that much more dangerous.
Now lets crack into these bad boys.
Start by removing the tops of the carbs, there are two screw holding each top
Pull the entire top with the spring out, now remove the slide with the needle.
Is this what you have?
Good, lets move on.
Remove all 4 and set them aside
IMPORTANT note to remove the o-ring located to the bottom right of the screw hole in the picture, these may have stuck to your "top caps" we removed earlier. So search them down and set them aside.
Now lets move along to the bottoms
Remove the 2 screws from each float bowl.
tip: if the screws are stripped or really stuck good you can use a dremel with a small cut off wheel to cut a slot in the screw that will allow you to use a flat head screw driver.
Replace any screws you cut.
Remove the gasket from the float bowl
Man look at all that crud
Remove the float assembly, shown in brown plastic
Inspect O-rings where my forefinger and thumb are pointing, these are often said to be the problem when your kat carbs are leaking fuel but I say its usally just dirty needles or damaged/worn needles.
Remove float needle pictured in front of my middle finger
This pic shows the float halves and float needle.
Look at all the debris that came out of there, WOW
Remove main jets
Ok time to clean, cleaning weapons of choice
To clean start on the outside of the carbs and get them real good then rinse and go to the inside pay extra attention to the inside of the float bowls.
Next clean the bowls themselves real good inside and out, try to get ALL of the brown rust colored crap out.
Clean the top caps and lightly clean the fuel needles, main jets, and float assemblies.
When you clean the slides pay extra attention to the shafts, alot of gunk can get built up on them cause them to slide slower and get hung up, this kills performance and response.
Ok now clean the float needles, after your clean them leave them soaked in gas until reassembly to keep them from drying out.
If you REALLY REALLY want some clean carbs you can throw the carbs disassembled and float bowls into the dishwasher after a good sink scrub down.
Use standard dish washer soap and fill the extra little spot with some more soap.
I usally spray them down with some fast orange then some liquid soap over the bad areas.
Load them with the ENGINE side of the carbs facing down, this would mean the INTAKE or AIR FILTER side is facing up, run one cycle then flip over with INTAKE side facing down and run again.
When using any orange type cleaner remember that it has alot of citris acid in it which means it will cause the aluminum to corrode VERY QUICKLY, so you must wash all of the orange cleaner off with soapy water directly after using it or you will have alot of white looking fuzz on your carbs and thats NO GOOD.
Now let it all set overnight disassembled to ensure everything is fully dried out.
note: when setting to dry overnight face carbs with intake/air filter side DOWN and engine side UP.
Now spray all linkages and throttle linkage springs with wd40, spray inside each barrel with wd40 covering entire butterfly valve.
~~ POLISHING ~~
Ok so heres my carbs all setup and ready to be reassembled but hold the phone, why not polish em up a lil since there sitting right here?
Look at how clean them springs are
So lets do it.
Polishing weapons of choice
Mothers Mag & Aluminum Polish works great IMO
We can only really do the bowls since the carbs are casted and are pitted badly. If you can sand them down smooth then you could polish them as well.
For now we can do the float bowls though.
Start by applying the polish on a paper towl and rubbing into the metal until it turns from white to black.
Then remove the black residue with clean paper towel and repeat until desired results are achieved.
Reassemble
Start by reasembling the tops. Insert the needle into the slide then install the slide and finally the cap and screws, just do one at a time.
Heres the order of the needle spacers in case you forgot
It goes small plastic spacer, e-clip, big plastic spacer, bottom to top.
Flip over and install your main jets.
Reassmble the float assemblies
Install float assemblies
Reinstall gaskets on float bowls
Reinstall float bowls and marvell at your hard work
Now go put em back on and get out there and tear up some pavement
I mean it looked like crap. This was true for all four carbs. I have not put them back on yet because I took them apart yesterday and cleaned the hell out of them. Let me just say that I found CLR solution works great. I will be putting the carbs back together tonight and hope I do it right. Do I have to adjust the float bowls to a certain height? Also , could gunked carbs be the problem that had my bike running restricted? Also, today I was cleaning the engine and noticed a loose spark plug cable
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