1979 GL1000 - Carburetor Cleaning

[nickbiddle]

What better what to kick the weekend off than wrestling the carburetors out of the GL1000?

We all know how they come off, so I'll spare you the photo album of my gingerly wrestling them out of their home and into the basement. I flipped through the shop manual the previous owner provided and found the receipt from Pistol Pete dated March of 2012, and the exterior condition reflects a fairly recent once-over.

At this point I was getting a little worried that I was on the wrong track. This is not my first $500 motorcycle rodeo, and generally they're more disgusting than this.

After cracking open the first bowl, my worries melted away. Well, it actually looks like they evaporated and crystallized, but whatever:

So is this old petrol? Some kind of oxidation? How do you think I should proceed? My thought was to soak them in some kind of mild detergent and give them a go with a soft brush before breaking them down, tossing them in the carb cleaner bucket, and then finishing up in the ultrasonic cleaner with a 1:1 Pinesol water solution.

 

[Steve83]

I rebuilt a set of 1000 carbs that were really disgusting. I didn't need any replacement parts, I just disassembled them and carefully cleaned everything. Carb dip for the aluminum and steel parts, and brake cleaner, sprayed into a small container, for the brass parts. They worked perfectly! Yours should clean up just fine.

1000 Carbs Before & After

• Steve83
• Jun 18, 2013

I just remembered, I built a small parts cleaner using soda bottles, coat hangers, and a VCR servo motor...

viewtopic.php?f=7&t=5990

 

[joedrum]

if the previous owner had ran atf mix in the gas ..to counter act the horrible gas of today ...pistol pete carb job would have been like new inside carbs

 

[nickbiddle]

The work continues. Jets are soaking, carbs are separated and are waiting for the ultrasonic cleaner to arrive.

 

[joedrum]

hmmmm looks like total tear down ....look at all the parts .....looks like your well organized so far....

 

[nickbiddle]

The ultrasonic cleaner did a great job on the carbs. The rebuilt kit is arriving today, so we'll see how it comes back together!

 

[joedrum]

wow that is nice job ....and the carb body looks great....many suffer from age but these look fine for rebuild

 

[nickbiddle]

I found the ultrasonic cleaner on amazon. I was going to go to Harbor Freight to grab the 40$ crap model they have there, but thought better of it after my HF compressor crapped the bed last week.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00J49JK8G/

For $111 shipped I'm super happy.

 

[Ansimp]

Nice job from a great shop addition. :good:

 

[nickbiddle]

UPDATE: Carb one is reassembled. Seemed somewhat easier going back together than it was coming apart, which of course gives me The Fear.

 

[Ansimp]

Clean and new parts are much easier to assemble. As long as you don't have leftover items the carbs should be great again! :yes:

 

[bronko37]

Looks to me like your well on your way and plenty capable of having success. What kit are you using to rebuild? I would stay away from replacing any jets, floats, or needle valves. Only replace the o-rings and other rubber bits IMHO. Odds are many of those rubber bits were probably still good, but Im a fan of just replacing them while your in there.

 

[Steve83]

Lookin' good!

 

[nickbiddle]

Well, got everything back together and fired it up. The bike started right up! It was climbing to a "choke out" appropriate RPM nothing sounded weird. I was overjoyed until I looked behind myself to see a giant cloud of white smoke billowing out of the right hand tailpipe just before it stopped running. Looks like we're back to the head gasket.

 

[desertrefugee]

Run the snot out of that thing for at least two fan cycles (or 15 or 20 minutes) before you indict the head gaskets. Make sure you don't overheat it really blow the head gasket while you're doing that. You may just still have crap in the exhaust that's trying to burn out.

How does the smoke smell? Oil, gas and water all have three distinctly different odors.

 

[nickbiddle]

Unfortunately I couldn't get it to run after the initial 20 seconds of life. The smoke was thick and white, started immediately when the bike fired up.

 

[slabghost]

Did it smell sweet? If so it is coolant. That is if you have anti freeze in the coolant.

 

[bronko37]

Thick white smoke to me sounds like coolant, but hard to tell for sure. When it comes to head gaskets I am a big supporter of getting OEM Honda crap, instead of after market who knows wtf it was made...crap.

If you don't care one way or the other I have a set of head gaskets I can make you a great deal on. They are brand new but I refused to put them in my bike because they are, in my opinion, not OEM gaskets.

PM me if you are interested in them.

My personal opinion about head gaskets. Maybe I'm wrong (Still respect you so Much Joe, lol) it's just my opinion.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gmdGJ_PPZZM

 

[joedrum]

hey my opinion is not for the world just me bronko ...this is what makes classic a great forum ...i respect your opinion and you respect mine ...and the thread gets full of info ...the important thing here is to help our member here get his bike going ...seems he did great on the carbs cleaning ..now a bit of head gasket work .....great offer to sell him gaskets ...he may have to use cheaper gaskets