Bonneville America Forums Forums Technical Forums General Tech Damn carb screws

Spray away, if it's a carb cleaning product, you should do no harm.

Get the carbs completely cleaned and overhaul them, don't skip on anything and do the job right and do it ONCE. lube everything that can corrode/ seize and only tighten enough to seal things, not so tight you go through this situation again. That is how we kept Nuclear plants online and even though we're picky buggers us machinists ain't no dummies.

Those worn float needle tips are definately one of your carb problems, they must be replaced to stop the fuel leak. New float bowl gaskets are also recommended if they have flattened out over time.. As Ryk stated, any carb cleaner will do. FWIW, I cleaned my carbs with Wd-40 & Pb blaster, again using q- tips with a drill/dremel. Be prepared to use alot of q-tips. Make sure to use the "Q-tip" brand only. Don't use cheap ones, as they may leave fiber residue in your carbs. If you have any questions about carb cleaning, feel free to ask.

mcfcinusa's advice is great advice also.

I just paid $50 for 2 float needles. I can't afford the overhaul kit. I'm broke right now. There's a good chance the floats got knocked outta whack when I crashed, because once they were opened up everything looked ok. In fact I am pretty surprised at how clean they are for not having been opened in 13 yrs.

Completely rebuilding the carbs would be the right thing to do. But as I said, I'm broke. I am of the opinion that these carbs do not need an overhaul at this point, even though it would be best seeing as I have them opened up already. I'm not afraid to take them out again and rebuild when needed. But honestly I have too many bills, the taxman is breathing down my neck and I would like to go for a ride!

There's a pretty long story behind my move to CA and the crash I had last year. I'll share it some day once I get the bike back on the road.

Make sure the floats are level/at the same height when swinging on the pivot pin. adjust/ bend the float arms till they are level (within 1mm) at the most. you can use anti seize (sparingly) on any threaded part and if you have any rubber "o" rings you can use DOW 55 which is an "o" ring lubricant/ conditioner and slightly swells the rubber for a better fit. I've used it on flattened "o" rings and they "magically" swell up and seal again. I use DOW 55 on the float bowl gaskets and the petcock gasket on my 1982 Yamaha Seca Turbo and these elastomers (rubber gaskets and "o" rings) are still in good shape as old as they are. Dow 55 is cheap at approx $6 tube and will last you 20 yrs. Even rubber parts not touched by fuel can be smeared with it and it soaks into the rubber.

Deep creep is good stuff. It was a gunk issue.

Question: I've marked the throttle cables to go back correctly, but is there a trick to reattaching them properly? If I get the carbs back on today she might start!

Slack off all the adjuster barrels and be patient, it usually takes a couple of tries to get everything seated just right.