Bonneville America Forums Forums Technical Forums General Tech Just Thoroughly Cleaned the Carbs - Now What?

It’s been forever since I’ve posted and almost as long since I’ve had the bike running.

Long story short. My 2007 America had been sitting for over two years. I stupidly left the fuel in the carbs over this time. The carbs were a mess - jets clogged, bowls caked in green solids and muck, float valves completely gummed up (couldn’t even get fuel into the carbs). Lessons learned.

I ripped the carbs apart and cleaned everything thoroughly. The ol’ girl fired right up after the cleaning!

So, now what? Do I sync the carbs, should I mess with the pilot screws, what would you do? Oh, and to add to the story, I knocked the baffles out and removed the snorkel years ago but never messed with the carbs.

Any thoughts and links to older posts are greatly appreciated. I’m looking forward to getting in the road again but don’t want to rush the process.

Thanks in advance!

Stock air box in place? If you never did so you may need to increase the pilot size and main size. You should sync and adjust the pilot screws at the very least. Disconnect one plug and ground the wire. Increase your idle a little si it idles on one cylinder. Then turn the idle screw in until it runs rough then back out until it runs rough. The correct setting is 1/2 way between the 2 points. You can make a manometer to balance.