Normal Cost To Rebuild/Clean Carbs?

Well over a year and a half ago I was "that guy" who didn't know anything and trusted area motorcycle shops.  I had torn down my '77 KZ-1000 and knew I should have the carbs rebuilt so I asked around a bit and discovered none of the Kawasaki dealerships wanted to mess with the job.  No surprise there I guess.  So on a lark I did some internet searching and found a shop in Milwaukee that listed themselves as doing vintage motorcycle repair.  AHAAA!  Just what I needed.  So I took a ride over to the place with my carbs to check them out.  I found it was a small shop with a few older motorcycles lined up for, or being worked on.  I asked the owner about rebuilding my carbs and he said no problem they can handle it.  I asked for a rough estimate and he told me $300.00 to $400.00 depending on parts costs.  I thought that wasn't too bad a price as I knew nothing about rebuilding old motorcycle carbs and going thru the un-ganging process so I let them do the job.  About three weeks later I get a call that the carbs are finished and I go to pick them up.  I was handed a bill for over $600.00 and almost fell over!

Needless to say I was a bit overwhelmed with this bill and when I asked why so high I was told the parts turned out to be much more expensive than they originally thought.  I was P.O.'d but what could I do?  I paid the bill and left with my carbs but it was a very long drive home.  It always is when you think you have been taken to the cleaners.  One consolation was thinking for the price it must have been a really good job with quality parts and that everything that could be replaced was replaced.  Nope, not even close.  The bike ran like crap when I installed the carbs and I could not get them dialed in no matter what I did.  Eventually I bought another set of supposedly rebuilt carbs that were reportedly test run on a bike and put them on my bike.  Well they were better but had choke issues.  I should point out that neither set of carbs had been stripped and dipped to get the junk off them.  My second set of carbs, which by the way were $600.00, had some serious choke issues that were only rectified after I bought and installed new choke plungers from a member on this forum, but they too had other issues.

So now I had $1,200.00 into two sets of rebuilt carbs that still didn't seem right to me when installed on the bike.  I finally sat down and read all I could about rebuilding these carbs and obtained high quality rebuilding kits and set about re-rebuilding my original carbs including a strip and drip along with vapor blasting assorted pieces.  Not surprisingly when I took the carbs apart I discovered a couple of passages were plugged and needed some elbow grease to clean out.  There were a few other issues, but you get the picture.  I installed the first set and the results were much better.  I re-rebuilt the second set which also had issues and they are sitting on the shelf as a backup set if I ever need them.  The second set came from a well known source, but will remain nameless.  So at this point I have roughly $1,400.00 into two sets of carbs that I no doubt didn't need to spend that kind of money on.  In the end I fell into the old trap about trusting others to do what I can do for myself.  I kick myself every time I think about this experience and wonder how many others get bit in the ass like I did.  Rebuilding these carbs is really straightforward and just takes a little time and willingness do the job the right way.  I also need to express my thanks to many forum members here that gave me help when I asked for it.  Without their assistance I would probably still have the carbs lying on my workbench in pieces.  Don't be "that guy"!!

Rick H.

It is a crying shame that there are so many stories like this. Every year, there are fewer shops willing to work on classic bikes, and it too often seems that the good ones disappear more often than the bad ones.
I think we all should make an extra effort to support those remaining shops and individuals who are honest supporters of our hobby.

I have no experience with the BS series carbs. I have rebuilt several sets of the Mikuni VM carbs. As described they are all similar and pretty straightforward. I’d assume the OP has vm 24’s which are very simple to rebuild. Get 4 plastic containers large enough to hold an entire carb body. Ungang the set. Take lots of photos. Breakdown the individual carbs, again lots of photos, Number the containers and put everything from #1 carb into #1 container. Get some Berrymans dip and do each body and related parts independently. As you get more experienced you find that some parts that are not carb number specific can be done in batches. Brake cleaner, compressed air, small brushes (paint gun cleaning type) and a clean place to reassemble, and some Molykote111to assembly the Orings. I have found if they have corrosion that isn’t removed in the Berrymans and your not worried about a concourse restoration, a short soak in CLR removes the corrosion. It will thought make the bodies slightly dull and chalking looking. I have found the oem finish returns some back after some time. Or a rubdown with a Wd40 soaked rag will help remove the chalky finish. 

 

I wholeheartedly concur with the others encouraging rebuilding yourself.  The key things are 1) ungang and fully break down the carbs (VM carb slide assembles excluded), 2) soak the carb bodies and jets in carb dip until clean, 3) reuse the original Mikuni brand jets unless damaged, 4) use new O-rings and float bowl gaskets.

A couple of cautions...
If the carbs use pilot fuel screws, the ones by the float bowl, do NOT turn these in to count how many turns open they are.  Simply turn them out.  Reason being that if you turn in the screws and jamb the tip into the small orifice in the carb body the tip will break off and make your life much more difficult since you will then have to extract the tips and buy new screws.

Keep the float needle and float seat together as a set.

The choke passages like to varnish up.  Put the carb spray straw into the small hole in the bottom of the carb bodies choke plunger bore and shoot.  You should see spray coming out of the choke pickup tube on the bottom of the carb, both from the tip and sideways spray at the base of the carb.  Now put the spray straw into the passage in the float bowl there the choke pickup tube fits and spray again.  The spray should shoot out the small hole in the float bowl which feeds fuel into that passage.

If for some reason you get confused regarding reassembly or what have you, post some photos here and someone will help.  It's hard to go wrong when there is so much knowledge available to help guidance.

thanks for all the responses! you wont believe what i found the other day! when i was just overlooking everything on the bike just in case something was cut off, blocked, unplugged, etc., i found out that one of my spark plugs had come off and that was causing the problem! im not sure how it came off as it ran fine before i went in somewhere and then suddenly running rough after coming back. my friends and i are thinking that i someone had messed with the bike while i was gone. nonetheless its fixed! Its insane how I cant find anything on google but you guys know everything on here haha.

I wanted to ask, I still have a slight rough/hesitation on idle and trying to accelerate from stop at the lower rpms. then around 3k or so it clears right up. what issue would that be cause by? maybe a pilot jet?

As for the Pingel petcock, where can I just buy o-ring and how do i rebuild it? im only seeing the $90+ rebuild kits...

Dealers choice. Could be anything. 

Does anyone know if there are rebuild kits for the Pingle petcocks, or is it more DIY  ?

Pingel website says they will rebuild your Pingel for $18.00

www.pingelonline.com/content/fuel-valve-rebuild.asp

www.pingelonline.com/pc_product_detail.a...497FBC6093B2DBBC82A7

You may have to check the inside of the fuel tank for cleanliness.

I run a Pingel. They can flow a lot of fuel. Just remember to turn it off.
 

thank you all for the great responses and information! i might just have to set a time to empty, clean, and send the Pingle in for service rebuild. 

I'm a little late to the game here, I realize. I agree with most here:
--> carb rebuild isn't difficult - it's just hard getting the carbs back on. If it's been sitting, new boots will save you hours of hassle or hours of labor if your paying for it. 
--> all about the Pingle Petcock. Well worth it. If the tank has been altered to fit it, the OEM probably won't fit anymore anyway. When you install it, you are supposed to wrap teflon tape around the base. If that is where it's leaking, you may just need more tape. 

Something you may also want to inspect is the electrical: ignition pick up coils, if the carb cleaning doesn't solve the problems,  losing cylinders could be electrical.