Today I received my order from www.partsnmore.com: two carb kits, a pair of fork seals and a cable lubricator. That exceeded their $35 minimum order by $5.
Tonight I removed the carburetors and followed the Haynes manual for disassembly. Having read all the stories about the float bowl bolts I was ready for the fun. Turns out (no pun intended) that I had no issue removing the bolts. With the carbs upside down on the workbench I sat on a shop stool with a fresh #2 Phillips bit in my screwdriver. I pulled the carbs close to my body and pushed down with my cheek on the top of the screwdriver as I twisted out the screws. My arm with the screwdriver was in close to my body while doing this. Certainly sounds goofy, but this lets you put considerable downward pressure on the screwhead to keep the bit from turning out.
Also, despite reading here about posidrive bits for these bolts, mine are definately not posidrive.
For reassembly I will be using stainless socket cap screws. Less than $2 for four from the local Fastenal, they even had them in stock.
Right now I have the left carb completely dissassembled with the exception of the pilot jet. I do not have a scewdriver that fits well. One screwdriver is too narrow and the other is to wide. Tomorrow I will find one in between or grind one down.
At this point my only question involves one of the o-rings in the rebuild kit. There are 3 o-rings that come in the kit, I will call them small medium and large. The small one goes on top of the carb body. The middle one goes on the post on the float assembly (the post that inserts into the carb body). The large one... goes onto the bottom of the piston guide? That's the only other o-ring that looks close but the one I removed from the bike looks larger than the one in the kit by the width of the o-ring. I suppose the o-ring may swell over time. Can someone verify the location of the large o-ring in the kit?
Thanks!
AFAIK, that's where it goes. I have yet to find the proper size of square-cut o-ring for that spot, but considering the function and location, it should work.
Yes, that's where it goes. Did you have trouble removing the piston guide? I think I have a post in the FAQ about the rigamarole I went through to get them out on my carbs.
Thanks for the confirmation.
Mandres, when I reached the point in the Haynes manual that said to remove the piston guide I was surprised that it did not come out on my first effort. After several progressively more serious tries it came out just fine. Nice work on your part to make the puller, that's good ingenuity! So let me ask you... have you done a valve adjustment yet? If so, did you obtain an "official" valve compressor tool or come up with a homemade solution? I am hoping to accomplish the job without the tool.
For the valve adjustment I signed up on the list for the rotating West Coast kit, which included the depressor tool.