Dumb carb questions, but would really appreciate a little advice, please

[Teek]

I got my carbs out by myself, hubby took over and cracked the screws fine, we apparently have a screwdriver that fits these guys, so will put it in a safe place. Carbs look really clean, maybe the low miles and the steady supply of Seafoam.

But I swear I can't read the exploded diagram well enough to be totally sure what's what.    There are the two bosses shown here on the bottom side, one short and solid, one taller with a brass screw on each carb, these look like air adjustment screws? Because looky this, I am missing one! I caught it right away, my husband missed it. That may be why one plug is running darker than the other, I'm thinking. Can someone please verify what the heck this is for me? I suppose I'll take the whole thing in to the dealer tomorrow and get a new carb screw, but I'd like to call first and be able to see if he has it.

Also I am assuming that those two brass plugs are the ones I drill, but then what are the two that are already there with the one missing?

Pic here:


And I have stock jets in there, so it doesn't look like anyone was in the carbs before. Anyone here have any idea if, after I do the jets (22.5, 65, 147.5) and the K&N (I am SO glad to be rid of the airbox, PO screwed it all up), if I unplug the drilled exhaust, if it will be enough airflow to run the bike safely until I can afford a Yoshi? And any consequences or advantage to removing the CA charcoal cannister and lines? Better? No? More space in the frame, but will I get gas fumes sitting at lights? esp. with the open K&N now? they make me dizzy! Anyone who can point me to a thread on that, please do, cuz I'm not sure what comes off, what needsto be plugged.

Thanks guys, once I do this I will know how to do it again if the jetting needs to be tweaked, but this is the first time I have bit the bullet on carbs ever (well, with the need to actually put them back together well enough that they work!). Shop class in HS doesn't count. My girlfriend and I couldn't get the differential back either, but we had a blast! Anyone with old carbs they don't want, I might want for a small price to experiment with taking apart, putting together for practice. Don't want to mess up the ones on the bike.  Let me know.

OH, and my valve cover gasket WAS defective, the new one fit MUCH better, but it pisses me off, I lost the time and the money plus all the aggravation. This one went on slick. Thanks for the help, and I finally thought to call my uncle who is a moto guru of 40 years, rebuilt Vincents recently for a living, had like 35 motos in the garage, Ducs, Bimmers, Vincents, don't know what all else. He has sold most of them recently, but still has two Ducatis he races. He gave me some good pointers too.

You know it's never too late for an old dog to learn new tricks, don't let anyone tell you otherwise. For you guys, my Mom's fave saying is on oldie but goodie, "Never up, never in..."   

[simon79]

Hmm.
I've never disassambled my carbs so far, but took a look at the pics and diagrams on the Wiki a few days ago to know where the air mixture screws are.
I'd say that the mixture screws are the ones where your red and blue arrows point, someone seems to have already drilled the covering plugs away (California-spec carbs, right?)
And yes, you apparently miss one as far as I can understand.
As for the plugs that the yellow arrows indicate...dunno

Here's a pic (probably by Kerry, and probably taken on an older-model GS) indicating the infamous screws' position:


Anyway, wait for someone else more qualified than me (=carb gurus such as The Buddha) to chime in, before taking further action.
Hope it helps.

Ciao!

[ohgood]

mmm, you have those nice newer carbs. sweet. look, the floats are pretty. coollllll. oh, no yucky blow by all over them either ! woot !

women are usually better at detail oriented assemblies. it's some kinda hardwired thing about details.  ( shrug ) it's what people say.

ya, missing an air mixture screw would make things interesting. they have these really cool mixture screws that resemble your idle screw. it's handy if you happen to be riding with allot of big elevation changes (hello left coasters! )

sorry, don't have a link, but i figured if you're replacing one mixture screw anyway, might as well get the nice ones. (if you were paranoid about them vibrating loose you could drill and wire them too)

good luck, until i get a chance to corrupt a pair of 3 stage carbs, i'm still in teh dark about them

[The Buddha]

Yup airscrew = gone.
If you take the other one out and show a good pic with a ruler next to it, I'll pull a nice shiny one for you for say $5 shipped.
Cool.
Buddha.

[coll0412]

You don't need to drill anything, the caps that cover the idle mixture screws have already been removed.

You do need a new idle mixture screw, o-ring and spring to  replace the one that has come out.

[Teek]

Awesome guys, thanks so much.   

Simon79, yep, Cali carbs, thanks! That's what I thought it was, that's why I asked about the other brass plugs with the green arrows. (What the heck are those?) It's the only thing that made sense on the carb diagrams, but I can't seem to find one that shows 3 jets? They all show 2, even in my manual (a Clymer, but what do those Brits know anyway?  ) So I wanted to be sure.

ohgood, I also was so tickled to see them so clean. Maybe that can of Seafoam, adding just the right amount with every fillup for a few hundred miles. Plus it's still just under 8k.  And yeah, my guy misses more details that I do. He thinks right brain spatial, I think right and left brain linear. That's why women talk so much, they use both sides of their brain at the same time, guys don't so much. Seriously!     Probably because if they're out hunting mammoths, they need to act fast, not stop to have a discussion about whether or not they're about to be gored to death. 

I was afraid of what I would find, the first PO (likely) did so much screwy stuff to this bike. I dunno why he'd take the plugs to the air adjustment screws out without rejetting? He seemed, from what I've seen, to think the bike needed more AIR, everything he did added more AIR!     He holed the airbox and had a piece of fat tubing sticking out the side, he holed the filter, he did a mufflerectomy then plugged it up.

Explains a lot about the bike though and how it's been running. I'm about at sea level, but we go up about 2,500 feet when we hit the top of the Santa Monicas coming out of a canyon.

Buddha, I'm gonna call my shop first, I want to try to get it back together today if possible. If not, will let you know, and thanks for the offer!     And hey, what's the current status of the Yosh? And if I pull the hex heads out of the stock muffler, will it be okay to run the bike for awhile until I can get an exhaust? I think it would be close, but I'm no expert on that, and I don't want to hurt anything...


coll0412, thanks , that's what I'm gonna get. I hope.