carb cleaning

[slipperysteve]

Hi guys, the promised manual hasn't appeared from my mate and I want to check the jets for grunge, diaphragms for holes and o rings. Where do I start? Do I have to remove carbs? What can I do with them in place. The 86 1200 revs out great but still won't idle and hunts after revving. Can't detect any leaks in inlet, any other steps to take along with above checks?
Cheers, Steve

[aussiefj]

Hi Steve, tops of carbs are easy to remove once tank is off, so you can check diaphragms on the bike, just make sure you keep the parts in order for replacement, if you've got the original cross head screws they can be hard to undo and easy to stuff up so keep plenty of downward pressure on them or use an impact driver, replacing them with socket heads is a good idea. To get to the jets it's probably easiest to remove the carbs, hardest part is getting the airbox out of the way if you have the original set up, removing the top bolts on the rear sub-frame will allow it to be pulled back to give you more room to get it out. Then it's just a case of loosening the the four clamps that hold the carbs to the manifolds and they will pull straight out with a bit of jiggling, remove the throttle cables, mark which is open and which is closed, they can be a pain to reconnect, it's easier to reconnect them before you remount the carbs and easier if you disconnect them at the twist grip first to give you more free cable to play with. Hope this helps get you started anyway.

Cheers, John