Pilot Jet question

Cleaning up the carbs on my '82 Spectre. When I remove the pilot jet it has a small hole right where the slot is for the screwdriver. I don't know if this is an opening for fuel or not. There's a little plastic plug that covers the jet when it's in place. I tried to spray cleaner and air through the hole in question and even used a high e string from a guitar to run through it. I think it's sealed up. Just asking if it's supposed to be open or not. Hope this makes sense. I can post a picture if I'm being unclear.

Thanks!

That plastic cap/plug should be there. You need it. Your carbs are a little different to mine but to the best of my knowledge the pilot jet should be straight through. If you can remove it then you should be able to look in one end and out the other. It is basically a narrow tube.

The plastic plug is busted off and it barely fits in there. It's so loose it wants to fall out. I think a carb rebuild kit might be in order.

My pilot jet is for sure sealed up tight. I can't see any light from one end to the other longwise. I can see through the three small holes on the side. It was all gummed up before I cleaned it. I don't think there would be a hole drilled there if it wasn't supposed to be open. Hopefully opening it up will fix a few issues. I'm running strong on 3 & 4, but 1 seems weak (low temp) and 2 isn't firing at all. I've cleaned the carbs, but I must have missed something. There's plenty of fuel in the bowls, but I don't think it's getting to the motor. I can see carb cleaner spraying cleanly through the main nozzle and where the needle jet/holder is. I'm going to go through it again tomorrow. The only thing I haven't removed is the mixture screw. It's under a sealed plug and I never pulled it. I'm going to take out the mixture screw and clean its passage. We'll see what happens after a second cleaning.

Could I remove the airbox and physically look into the throttle body while it was running to confirm if I see fuel spraying? Is there any good ways to test if there's fuel getting to the cylinder?

Spectre1982 wrote: The plastic plug is busted off and it barely fits in there. It's so loose it wants to fall out. I think a carb rebuild kit might be in order.... any good ways to test if there's fuel getting to the cylinder?

The plug might not be included in a carb kit.

Am uncertain, but seem to recall someone reporting that the Suzuki plug also fits:
www.z1enterprises.com/detail.aspx?ID=1962

Or perhaps one of these others:
www.z1enterprises.com/searchresult.aspx?All=True&KeyWords=plug

Could inquire of Z1E to learn for sure.

This illustration might not depict the exact carb at hand, but shows that the spray route of the pilot circuit must exit into the carb bore.

Wear goggles when spraying carb cleaner, because the spray always backfires. Always.



Good Fortune!

Those plugs are a bit different, but would definitely work. Looks like the carbs are coming off again.....

Hope I do a better job on the second cleaning!!

Spectre1982 wrote: Those plugs are a bit different, but would definitely work. Looks like the carbs are coming off again.....

Hope I do a better job on the second cleaning!!

I can't offer any insight on the plug you're referring to but I'll attest to taking your time on the cleaning. I didn't do as good a job as I thought on the first cleaning attempt so I'll be pulling the carbs off and cleaning again myself. Thanks to the contributor history here I think I've figured out where I went wrong the first time. I got fooled by surprisingly clean looking carbs and didn't methodically go through everything as I should have. As a result, I have two cylinders starving and two that appear to be normal. Better luck this time around for both of us.