mechanical question

Has anyone ever rebuilt thier own carbs using a shop manual? ALso I have a shop manual and have no mechanical experience at all. My qusetion is how hard is it to do yourself? And is it a good idea?

Nick

i have taken a carb apart but not 4 together. that being said i thought 1 carb was pretty easy i'm not so sure about the carbs that are railed together. i would guess it would be moderate to moderately-difficult to do based on how organized you are with it. i suggest finding some sort of container you can use to place parts in respect to each other. i think a manual will only help you so much and might leave you high and dry. The other issue is that railed carbs might be one of those things where you wished you had a third arm to hold it together why you thumb that last screw in. other then that im sure someone will chime in about it.

Buy some cheap thrashed-out carbs on ebay, or get some other salvage ones to practice on. A lot can go wrong the first time you do it... better to mess up on something that doesn't matter.

You'll get to see how to take out stubborn screws and jets and how to remove gaskets without gouging the metal.

Let's see what's available:
carbs

Post edited by: loudhvx, at: 2007/10/29 02:02

Please remember to WEAR EYE PROTECTION especially when spraying with cleaner or compressed air.

It's not that difficult to do. www.buykawasaki.com has exploded view diagrams for everything your bike. Take your time and as long as you don't separate them, you'll be OK. You could send them to Wiredgeorge Carbs, and have him rebuild them for you. All you'd have to do is bolt them on.

Hope this does not scare you but this is how I did mine. Separated each carb mess with welding rod. You really want to keep all carbs in order and parts separated. I'm a mechanic so having everything apart at the same time was not a big deal.

The stuff that Bluemeanie showed in his pic is when the float bowls are removed... if you disassemble the carburetor assembly, there are a few more parts laying around. See our "Rebuild" page for pics at various stages in a rebuild to get an idea of what you will be working with. Of course, if you just take off the float bowls, you will have a lot less parts to deal with but you won't be able to clean adequately on the insides of the carbs nor do anything with the fuel rails which tend to leak if you don't use new orings or refurbish the rubber cladding (depending on carb model).

Nick,

I was for warned by members here, that one often has to go through the process of dismantling, cleaning and re-assembling carburetors two or three times before getting all the crap out of them. So, I was careful the first time. Still had to do them twice. Plan on a re-do.

Also, be careful not to loose any of those tiny parts.
I lost one part which is still available, fortunately.

The final synchronization was easier than I expected.

Now, go for it. It's a great learning experience.

OR

Send them to WG, and he'll handle it.

Regards

thanx guys, might just send them out cause i have no tools.

Nick

Patton wrote:

Please remember to WEAR EYE PROTECTION especially when spraying with cleaner or compressed air.

Good idea!! I can tell you from experience that carb cleaner in your eye is not a fun time!:whistle: :whistle:

Carbs can be tricky, but after you've done it once or twice it gets better. Maybe you could practice on a friends carbs first! :woohoo: :lol: