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in the past I had alway's given good review's and recommendation's for old school carb's/rick west... over the last 3yr's or so he had did 2 set's of 900 carbs for me.. never had a complaint... sent him a 3rd set around January of this yr.. when I got the 3rd set back they looked great!!! installed them on my 76 kz that was restored over the past 2yr's.. turned the gas on to fire it up and gas was pouring everywhere!! took the carb's off and the bowl screw's were barely hand snug.... so I snugged them down good and reinstalled... slowed the down pour to a small leak overnite that puddled on the starter cover... called rick andhe said send them back and he would fix them...
a wk or so later took the carb's off and decided to take the bowl's off and check the gasket's myself... was amazed to see how cheap and thin the gaskets were!!! they almost looked homemade??? plus the replacement allen head screws he was using are actually about 2mm to short!!! which does make a difference when you start snugging them up!! so I ordered some oem bowl gasket's off ebay 30.00 for the set... ordered the correct length bowl screw's also with lock washer's for 15.00. had to buy a larger quantity of screw's... which will come in handy so I can change out the 2nd set he did for me..
installing oem quality gaskets with correct length screw's eliminated the leaking carb problem...
sent rick an email letting him know I corrected the problem myself with better gaskets and correct screw's.. he took offense being called out on the cheap gasket's and shorter screw's... never once offered to reimburse any of my cost.... just said I paid to much for the part's! and should have sent them back... but did admit to changing gasket supplier!! so apparently there's been more problem's than mine.. in my opinion they should have been checked for leak's when they were originally rebuilt??? he didn't seem to appreciate customer feedback very much.. maybe my experience will help some member's on here

has anyone else had similar experience's with him????

Most carb rebuilders will not test for leaks as you can't ship something that smells like gasoline.

If you've had two good experiences and this most recent not-so-good experience, yet he's volunteered to rebuild them, I'd say that's a pretty decent overall experience. As far as not checking the tightness on the floatbowls - I always do that before hooking up the gas.

Try Wired George or do it yourself?

if he would have used good quality gaskets in the first place... which he admitted he had to change gasket supplier... so apparently there were problems elsewhere... and as I said the replacement allen head screws he was using were to short.... seemed to be offended when made aware of these issue's..
should I need another set rebuilt there's a place in Utah I believe.. spyder cycle works.... most likely would give them a try... I believe a person or business that provide's a service should use quality and correct part's to help eliminate issue's... or they won't be in business long... I was never offered any refund on any part of my expenses for gasket's or the bowl screw's...

hate to bring an old subject up... but I have an update on my carbs that old school carbs had rebuilt or attempted to rebuild... last post I had installed new gasket's and correct screws for the bowl's... still just enough seeping to be annoying plus seemed way to easy to foul the plug's... decided the darn float's must be set to high???? took them apart and wow were they set high!!! plus I noticed the float valve 's and seat seemed to be sticking... so took all the float valve assemblie's out.. and they had not been changed when they were rebuilt??? I assume new float valve assemblie's should have been part of a complete rebuild.... so I put in new float valve assemblie's and a set of diffent floats from another set of carbs at a lower height. and to my amazement no leak's whatsoever and really sounded good running... hope these carb's do not come off again for a very long time!!!! but in my opinion those float valve assemblie's should have been changed out as part of a complete rebuild service... so I guess i'm even more disappointed now with old school carb's.. so potential customer's be warned of this business

Yeah that guy sounds a little "cheesy". There's an old trick, Before you reuse the old gasket on the float bowl, smear a little grease on the gasket. More often than not, it will seal fine and come off without tearing. Helpful if you have to change jetting for altitude changes and such.
Just saying
Steve

I would say the problem was cheap gaskets, 2mm difference in length will not make the bowls leak.
Carbs should always be leaked tested after a rebuild ..the fluid doesn't have to be gasoline
Float valve assemblies not replaced??? Not a rebuild as far as I'm concerned... These kind of things is why I do my own work......

ezrider714 wrote: ......... These kind of things is why I do my own work......

+1000 ! Ed

My friend Donny I talked about on other posts with his Honda Davidson had Del Orto adjustable venturies. You could dial them in to a knat's ass. His CB 750 bored to 1015, 4/1, cammed, 16" rear end, springer front end with a inverted progressive shock was almost unbeatable. He had to have the barrels built up the stop weeping and that 5 gal. HD tank with the Speedo, pissed off the HD guys. Those were the days.
Steve