Vacuum Cap On 2001 Left Carb -- How to Take It Off?

[simon79]

hello folks.
Since I have a carb sync check/adjustment in mind, I put exploration_mode=ON and took the tank off to see where actually the vacuum ports are located.
The vacuum line on my GS is plugged to the right-side carb, it was a pain in the @$$ to take it off but I eventually managed to.
The problem seems to be in the left port. It's pretty unaccessible, I unhooked the choke cable but to no avail, I can't reach the cap (even with needle-nose pliers), let alone its retaining clip.
Any suggestions or hints?
Do I have to take the carbs apart to reach under there, or you managed to do that in some particular way?
If the answer to my take-apart-carbs question is "yes", I suppose I'll back off, since my bike seems to run fine after all.
Thanks in advance for any answer (excluding insults )

[coll0412]

Okay I have not worked on the 2001+ carbs...but... you know the black plastic top piece on the carbs, the nipple is on those facing straight up and down. The little o-ring under there that everybody almost looses, that to seal off the nipple, and the other part of the sealing is the vacuum cap....

[Flywheel]

Why Mikuni chose to relocate the left vacuum port to its current position is a bit of a mystery. Bored engineers? You can try angled needle nose or mini needle nose pliers to grab that tricky wire clip. There's no need to remove the carbs from the bike. Wiggling the cap and clip back on is a whole new contest, though.   

[simon79]

thanks guys
Well, I'll give it another shot as soon as I can.
Another way might be to take the left carb plastic cap off in order to have more room...
I tried to use angled needle-nose pliers, but either mine are too short or too thick, I couldn't even reach the retaining clip covering the port. It's farking turned face-forward.
I might probably try to take off the plate that pulls the two chokes together, to have more room.


EDIT:
http://cgi.stanford.edu/~sanjayd/gs500/Main/2001-2002
The thing that gives me problems is item 40 (cap) and 41 (clip), for sake of clarity.

[coll0412]

Stupid question, maybe, but why don't you just use the vacuum port shown by the vacuum cap at 2 & 10.

[simon79]

>coll0412:
because they are not vacuum caps/ports, or so it seems...differently from the '89->'00 carbs, in which the vac ports are perpendicular and more accessible (IMO), in '01+'s they're located a little bit under at a 45° angle. they're not on the carb caps. The vacuum line that goes to the frame fuel chicken is plugged to the right carb vacuum port (and I cursed a lot to unplug it)
Item 2 and 10 in the picture are simply the carb plastic "big" caps.
Am I wrong?

[coll0412]

No you are probably correct, you may have to remove the airbox, and moves the carbs back a bit to get it off, or maybe take a picture and post it and maybe someone can identify an easier way

[simon79]

^^^^^^
I have no picture of my own carbs available by now, in the meantime you can take a look at this page:
the left vacuum port position is indicated by the left red arrow in the top pic, by the right arrow in the one below.
You cannot see the port itself, but it still gives you an idea.
Thanks a lot for your responses so far.