Carb ?s, what lube for the diaphragm slides?

[norcalbarney]

Dudes,

I just noticed on the rejetting matrix that I'm supposed to have two washers under my needles for my setup.  I've taken my carbs apart about ten times trying to get the jetting correct, and it's running great now.  The first time I opened the carbs, there was some kind of whitish lube/grease on the slider part of the rubber diaphargm (is that the butterfly???).  Anyway, do I need to lube the slider thingies?  It's plastic on metal, so I'd think not, but I really dunno.  Experts?

Also, I converted to a non-vacuum petcock, which is also working pretty well.  To close the vacuum on the carbs, I just put one piece of 1/4 ID (I think) tubing between both vacuum holes.  Is this a smart thing to do, or am I being stupid?  Seems like I saw a pic of carbs that Bhudda had sent back to someone, and the tubes were blocking the vacuum holes like mine.  Any advise?

Other than that, my rusty trusty GS is shredding pretty well, thanks to these forums.  Thanks, y'all! 

[The Buddha]

White on the slides is actually believe it or not, wear and quide material getting on it. No lube neccesary, though your air filter being clean will help keep it from wearing as well.

Washers - 1 or 2 ... depending on what your bike likes ... 3 is very very rare, and indicates something is off, like floats ...
I remmeber emailing you - what did I do or forget to do ... did I send you a jet pack with washers missing ?

vacuum can be capped @ the carb ... left carb oinly has vacuum.
That is not a problem.
I dunno what hose was blocking what, but hose connects to vacuum on carb and to petcock @ the other end.
Cool.
Buddha.

Dudes,

I just noticed on the rejetting matrix that I'm supposed to have two washers under my needles for my setup.  I've taken my carbs apart about ten times trying to get the jetting correct, and it's running great now.  The first time I opened the carbs, there was some kind of whitish lube/grease on the slider part of the rubber diaphargm (is that the butterfly???).  Anyway, do I need to lube the slider thingies?  It's plastic on metal, so I'd think not, but I really dunno.  Experts?

Also, I converted to a non-vacuum petcock, which is also working pretty well.  To close the vacuum on the carbs, I just put one piece of 1/4 ID (I think) tubing between both vacuum holes.  Is this a smart thing to do, or am I being stupid?  Seems like I saw a pic of carbs that Bhudda had sent back to someone, and the tubes were blocking the vacuum holes like mine.  Any advise?

Other than that, my rusty trusty GS is shredding pretty well, thanks to these forums.  Thanks, y'all! 

[norcalbarney]

Buddha, thanks for the response.

I think my KnN drop in is pretty clean.  It's prolly only got 500 miles on it max.  I cleaned the white crap off the sliders, and it doesn't bind so I'm guessing it's ok.

When I say my vacuum hose was blocked, I mean I've got one tube across both vacuum ports.  It's just a 10" piece of rubber tube.  Where might one get a vacuum port cap?  Might the little red vent cover from a battery work?

I forget what size jets you installed, Buddha.  But they're working great.  I don't have any washers on the needles now, but I may throw them in to see the effect.  Seems like I'd need to recheck my float hieght after adding washers to the needles? 

Just yesterday had the brainflash that the airscrew = the color of the sparkplugs, and now they're both beautiful caramel tan.  mmm.  My GS is running better than it ever has.