Cleaning my carbs.....ugh.

[89Fizzer89]

Well I bought by 89 FZR 600 three days ago and on the second day I noticed that it seemed to be running rough. Well today it was running pretty bad, she was lurching bad through the whole powerband and sometimes she had a pretty wicked backfire fit. I called a shop to see what it would run for a clean and they told me to clean and sync would be $320. I don't know if thats a good deal or not but regardless, im not gonna spend that much money on something I could probably do myself. I was searching the internet and found a great how to on the subject. I have done some tinkering on cars but I have never dealt with bikes let alone carburetors. I am showing her to my father in law tomorrow and I absolutely refuse to have her acting like this the first time he meets her.

Well this is my son sitting on Lola, just so you know what she looks like when she isnt naked
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Got the first filter off


The tank and filters removed


EVERYTHING was going so smooth until I met these guys.... I had no idea how to disconnect them from the carbs


So refusing to show my father in law by bike with it sounding like its choking to death..... I was forced to improvise.



With almost all the hoses and cords still attached moving this thing around was a PAIN. I was spilling fuel everywhere because I didnt think about turning off the fuel and running the bowls empty. So now almost everything is clean except for the jets and im waiting for my wife to get home so I can have some fishing line to finish it all up and re assemble. This is where im at now.


Ill be hopefully doing a test ride around midnight to see if it helps it any. If it still doesn't run right at least I can say I did the absolute best I could haha. Ill post up an update probably tomorrow morning[ish] letting you all know if it was a success or if my bike is currently a pile of ash. Oh and this is also my first post so if I have done anything wrong please let me know, hopefully this is all in order and straight.

[JasonRDfan]

Man, I wished I lived close I could have helped you. It really could have been so much easier Awesome job trying to do the work yourself. That's how you learn. Books can only teach so much, you need to wrench to truly understand and get the hang of it. Also thanks for sharing Those throttle cables have a couple of nuts, loosen them up and pull them out of the bracket. Did you check the pilot adjustment screws? They are under little brass covers. The covers need to be drilled carefully, insert a screw pull the cap off. The pilot adjustment screws are underneath. Someone might have pulled the covers off prior.

[JasonRDfan]

I see in the picture you had the throttle cable unbolted. You just had to slide them out of the pulley sideways. Give yourself some slack in the push cable by twisting the throttle grip.

[89Fizzer89]

Man, I wished I lived close I could have helped you. It really could have been so much easier Awesome job trying to do the work yourself. That's how you learn. Books can only teach so much, you need to wrench to truly understand and get the hang of it. Also thanks for sharing Those throttle cables have a couple of nuts, loosen them up and pull them out of the bracket. Did you check the pilot adjustment screws? They are under little brass covers. The covers need to be drilled carefully, insert a screw pull the cap off. The pilot adjustment screws are underneath. Someone might have pulled the covers off prior.

Thanks, its definitely been a learning experience. At about 2am last night though I snapped the screw that holds down the jet assembly needless to say I was a happy camper... I'm gonna try and take off the carb and take it into the shop, hopefully they have one in stock. I'm still determined to have it running good before I show it to my father in law . Yeah the covers were off prior, I screwed them in all the way and there were a couple that were a 1/2 turn off. I screwed them back out 3 full turns. Thanks for you advice!

[89Fizzer89]

I see in the picture you had the throttle cable unbolted. You just had to slide them out of the pulley sideways. Give yourself some slack in the push cable by twisting the throttle grip.

Awesome, thank you. Between both of your guys advice I got the carb sittin on my makeshift table

[89Fizzer89]

I can't get the floats to set right though. it doesnt seem like the o-ring will seat right in the hole.

[89Fizzer89]

Well its kind of a blurry picture but there is the culprit


She is gonna be down until thursday, its supposed to be in the mid 70's all week Oh well, I guess it gives me time to just clean more and replace those flimsy ass screws on the bowl covers that always strip with some steel allen heads.

[DonTZ125]

Be EXTREMELY careful when tightening Allen screws. Phillips screws were designed with the express purpose of being 'torque fuses', that would strip out before damaging the threads of the item being assembled. The use of brass screws reduces the limit even more.

Steel Allen screws will tear the threads out of the carb bodies with rather little effort.

[89Fizzer89]

Be EXTREMELY careful when tightening Allen screws. Phillips screws were designed with the express purpose of being 'torque fuses', that would strip out before damaging the threads of the item being assembled. The use of brass screws reduces the limit even more.

Steel Allen screws will tear the threads out of the carb bodies with rather little effort.

Thanks for the info, I didn't even think of that. It would probably be a better idea if I just replaced them with new phillips but put some never-seez on them so It's easier to back them out in the future.

[89Fizzer89]

Well time for a quick update. The screw arrived last thursday but a few days before that I walked into my garage to see my son and 6 of his friends in there. After I asked them to get out I walked through it a short time after and found out one of them broke a bowl gasket So now im waiting for the new gaskets to get in, should hopefully be on wednesday. Since I had so much time to kill I decided to check the plugs while everything was apart. All of them needed replacement, luckily that is just an autoparts visit and done. I'm also going to replace my fuel line since it is just a little frayed and I would rather be safe than sorry. So now I am just waiting a few more days to get all my parts together so I can finally get her up and running again.

[JasonRDfan]

Lol, kids! Well, it could have been worse right? By the way, I love motion pro Tygon fuel line. My personal favorite. I always order large amounts from HVC cycle they sell it by the foot. Best price I could find so far.

[89Fizzer89]

Lol, kids! Well, it could have been worse right? By the way, I love motion pro Tygon fuel line. My personal favorite. I always order large amounts from HVC cycle they sell it by the foot. Best price I could find so far.

haha yeah it could have been considerably worse. At least my bike was still rubber side down. Tygon? I'll definitely have to look into that. Thanks for the input

[JasonRDfan]

Tygon, that stuff lasts Forever, I actually restore and work on motorcycles, I try and keep things real low key. Anyway, I use that stuff on my customers bikes, collectors who want the best, and want it to last. Lol, luckily I get to use the scrap pieces for my own bikes. Haha, I sound like an advertisement!

[Redoliander]

Sorry to hear about the kids messing stuff up. But at least that's all that happened. Question for you guys that use the tygon, have you used it on the rear master? What's the ID for it? Wanting to get some but not sure what size.