VM26 pilot cleaning procedure

I'm in that "disassemble them completely" camp.
They are just too easy to take apart and put back together to not do it.
Plus, you can fit a lot of parts in a soaking tub then, including the individual throttle bodies and manipulation is simple when running those small diameter wires through passages with no brass in them.

Added: I've bought those $15.00-$18.00 rebuild kits, with all the brass included and found that many times the brass is wrong or completely for a different carb!!
I've had to reuse the original brass parts after meticulous cleaning, so.....
Just pay the entry fee and buy the brass parts from the real vendors!!

Nessism wrote: Carb kits should be avoided since the brass parts are typically of inferior quality to that of the original Japanese Mikuni parts. Sometimes they are unavoidable though.

This is what he means , the brass is softer the taper is different and the groove for the O-ring is way too shallow :whistle:
the thirty seven year old one is on the top.


Installed 4 years ago




Every O-ring looked like that.
The O-rings on the original screws were intact so I cleaned up the old screws, threw fresh rings on and they went in like butter
I cleaned out the Pilot circuit as per "chconger's" recomendation, thanks for that.

I thought that I read somewhere that on a 78 26mm carb the pilot screw is backed out 1 -3/4 turns :huh:

bluej58 wrote: I thought that I read somewhere that on a 78 26mm carb the pilot screw is backed out 1 -3/4 turns :huh:

Ill check that number.

I think the thing to do regardless is; after cleaning, get the bike running and dial in each of the pilots till the bike stumbles, and then back out till idle is smooth again. Repeat one at a time. Then you would have your idle pilot leaned out.

Go to Mikuni USA. They have the procedure for adjusting the low speed.
Steve