Assistence requested, either carb cleaning or Ducati taking-apart

Bike: '79 Suzuki GS850

Kinda got myself into a bind here, I'm now running very low on road-legal, working vehicles, and think that all I need to do for the Suzuki is to clean the carbs. Hoping to do that tonight, however I've never actually opened up carbs to clean them.

I'm going to go ahead and dive into them regardless, but if someone in the San Antonio area were willing to come over to my garage and give me a hand, I'd be thrilled, and more than happy to throw in a dinner, beer, or something like that.

Mainly this is because while adjusting the valves on my ST3, I dropped one of the little clips that holds the opening rocker arms in place down, and have to figure out how to get the rocker arm shaft out to reach in there.

So if you are willing to help out with that, I'd be very appreciative as well!

Again, sorry to sound so desperate, but I've managed to get myself in a situation were multiple vehicles either aren't working, or aren't registered!

I can't check PM's here at work, but I am able to browse the site, and see responses. So if you post something, I'll be able to get to a phone, or a computer where I am able (comfortable) logging in here, and go from there.



(Might have to remove the camshaft as well on the Duck)

Again, if I can just get the Suzuki working, I'll be happy. Any bets on cleaning a set of 4 carbs in one night? Doesn't have to be pretty, doesn't need to be synced well, just functioning. I'll just overdose it with seafoam/stabil while running it.

One other thing about the Suzuki is that the revs drop really slow. Symptom of sticking slides, hence the cleaning?

Breath in, breath out.

Carbs aren't as hard as you would think if I wasnt in Dallas I'd help you with it. Count the turns as you screw in your air/ fuel mixture screw write it down put it back where it was. Usually 1 1/2 turns out from screwed all the way in Is a good starting point. Remove the jets and clean them or soak them in Berrymans carb cleaner. Clean them without taking to much apart. Remove your float bowls, floats, and jets. The jets have very tiny holes that sometimes take a little work to get clean or multiple dippings. Theirs a special tool for it but becareful to not enlarge your jets.

If it runs and idle is just falling slowly you could try removing your airbox and spraying berrymans on the slides to lossen them up. Once the airbox is off you can stick your finger in their and push up on them and compare each one. If they are sticking you'll feel it.

Well, my buddy stopped by to check on his bike, turns out his battery went dead in 2 months of sitting, and Walmart doesn't carry the battery for the Ninja 250R. Not terribly surprised by the battery, though, as it is probably the OEM battery, and as such is 3 years old, and has been powering a gps tracker the whole time.

So he's going to find one tomorrow, and come by to charge it/drop it in while he changes his truck's oil, and maybe he can finally be happy and take it for a spin here in TX.

Bottom line is I didn't do much other than determine that if I spritz the intakes of the carbs with starting fluid, they start up beautifully, but die pretty quickly no matter the choke. I'm not sure if there might be fuel problems with the petcock, however I doubt it, as it poured out on prime.

Going to tear into the carbs and see what I can do with minimal dismantling. Hopefully I'll be riding tomorrow!!

Then it's a time to show him the hill country right outside our back door.

if it wont run at all they will need to be taken apart and cleaned throughly. just spritzing them is only gonna waste carb cleaner.

pick up duck turn upside down and shake clip out!!

the evil goo gas turns into when it breaks down and the volatile components evaporate loves brass and will be thickest inside the brass jets. assorted sizes of fine wire (cutting torch cleaner works great) are needed to clean them out completely. tip cleaner

Hey Steve,

Did you get the Suzy straightened out?

This is digging WAY back in the old memory banks, but as I remember the 850 used the old CV Mickey Rooneys. If they are the same ones I am thinking about they were pretty bad about sucking past the o-rings on the jet stack and also the gasket on the top of the carb.

I don't think I would do anything more than pop the float bowls and the pilot jet without having at least those parts sitting on the bench ready to pop in.

You might try member Fourplay too. He owned a Suzy dealership around that time, so he might remember better than me.

Love those old GS shafties - the '72 Olds Vista Cruiser of bikes.

Yeah, I saw the o-rings destroyed, which makes me think I can't do anything more until I get the o-rings.

I'm now looking at the Duck, which should be straightforward. (Theoretically)

Though I'm calling a dealer to see if they have o-ring kits. (Yeah, right! )

They should be available almost anywhere. That jet assy was used on almost every carb they built for decades. Not sure about the top gaskets though.

The only prob I remember with the petcocks was a 3 or 4 hole rubber piece that would get chewed up. It was VERY apparent when that happened though - it would puke all of your gas out on the pavement one drop at a time.

Very late to this, but you can't get a magnet down in the dark, dank recesses to pull the clip out of the Duc?

Not that I see, I'm going to make another pass of the auto shops for a smaller magnet than the one I have, but it's pretty tight in there.

About the o-rings, I picked up a small assortment of two types of them for the time being, one made of HNBR, one of VITON, either one worth a shot?

xcgates said:

Not that I see, I'm going to make another pass of the auto shops for a smaller magnet than the one I have, but it's pretty tight in there.

About the o-rings, I picked up a small assortment of two types of them for the time being, one made of HNBR, one of VITON, either one worth a shot?

Click to expand...

Take a strong magnet and stick it to the blade of a screwdriver, bent coat hangar, etc to make a 'custom' magnet. It should be strong enough to pick up a small clip.

O-rings have so many variations - OD, ID, density, material (fuel resistance for instance) - that it is hard to say over the interwebs. But a VITON of the same size is usually the best bet.

VERY quick Google search came up with this:
http://cycleorings.com/VMkit.html
http://www.partsnmore.com/parts/suzuki/gs850/?filters[category]=carb&filters[fitting]=custom
http://www.oldbikebarn.com/Suzuki-GS850-G-GL-80-83-Carb-Kit

Good luck and get one of these things back running.

I'm planning on the cycleorings.com kit, that's the one that has been commonly referenced as being the most complete.