1979 SUZUKI GS550 Carb Flushing

I just spent an hour and a half trying to consolidate my book purchases on amazon so that I wouldn't have to pay for shipping from six different sellers. It's actually way more complicated than I thought it would be? I bought two more Brautigan compilations because I keep lending them out, they're only about $3.00 each so no big loss really. I also bought the Divine Comedy in three separate volumes from penguin classics for $0.50 each, "Sixty Stories" by Donald Barthelme and "Hells Angels" by Burroughs. People keep recommending the last one, and although I've never really been into Burroughs a book about motorcycles has to be the ideal route, personally.

Yesterday after a few early morning meetings with professors to catch up from the week of classes that I missed I spent the day working on the motorcycle. As much as I didn't want to admit it, before I wrestled the carbs back on I knew that a jet cleaning had to be completed. Ugh, so close! But I finally hankered down and took a seat in the garage, opened the big door to watch the rain and let in some light, pulled on my blue latex gloves (finally learned that lesson) and nudged out the throttle linkage.

A WORD OF ADVICE that ANY mechanic will tell you...as a beginner I found it VERY helpful to buy a box of ziploc bags and a sharpie marker and WHENEVER I would remove a part or set of screws I would place them in a baggie and write the name of the screw or part on the baggie. That way I always knew which set of screws went where, could look through the bag to reference and double check, and never lost any of the TINY screws that make up these carburetors. We all know how impossible that shit is to replace, they make it that way on purpose. BEAT THE SYSTEM! Save your eyes and sanity.

First step, since I had already removed the choke parts, was to remove each carb from the throttle plate. That got a little complicated, as there are many rubber parts that you should be very careful of since they are old and hard to replace. Another few small cautions are observing where the throttle tension spring connects to the carb body itself, as that is something that is important when you are re assembling the carburetors and take note of the placement of the throttle pull and the order of the carburetors themselves, which ones will be placed on the outside, etc. A lot of carb cleaning guides discuss how it is not nessecary to remove the carbs from the throttle plate, but the truth is that if you're going to soak the carbs themselves in carb cleaner it is imperative that you remove ALL rubber parts because the highly toxic cleaner will eat away at all your precious rubber bits :). The cleaner will also likely munch away at your paper gaskets, especially if they are thirty years old like mine! It might've been wise to buy a carb kit, but seeing as how that would be a lot more money I wanted to get around that. Plus, this bike seems to have had pretty clean fuel running through it as there was not much tarnish.

I finally bought a #3 screwdriver to remove those huge screw that affix the carbs to the plate, After removing the carbs and placing them down individually I went to work, completing each step on each carb before moving to the next step. This helped me keep each part together as well, and I learned as I went along.

this is not a tutorial, as I am not officially a qualified mechanic, so I'm going to be kind of vague from here on. I will say that the Clymer manual was my saving grace, and even though it is slightly soaked in gasoline I love it with all my heart even if it doesn't have a sense of humor. All in all, I removed the jets to find a goopy substance blocking some of the jets, which I hope solves my problem. I'm guessing it was the foam air filter that the former owner had neglected to change for twenty years, thereby allowing the foam to degrade and be sucked into the carbs. In respect to the carburetor it did an amazing job getting rid of most of the gunk, alas it couldn't do all the work and so I finished the job thanks to a can of carb cleaner and some shop towels.

Frustratingly after dis-assembling the parts I flipped to the last instruction that stated simply, "To re assemble the carburetors follow these steps in reverse order." Dammit! Of course there was a whole new set of issues when putting the carbs back together, including the placement of the rubber bits and a lot of trial and error. Finally after a lot of muttering to myself and guesstimation (just kidding) the family was reunited, and I could look forward to the joy of wrestling the carbs back onto the bike, probably the worst task in this whole endeavor. With the grace of a monkey shaking a tree for a coconut, I laid on the bike and pushed, pulled, cursed and begged the rack back between the airbox and the manifold. Since I just bought a brand new set of intake boots it made the whole ordeal a little easier, the new rubber is much more pliable and I am not as terrified of accidentally cracking old rubber boots as I already dropped the $100.00 on replacing them. Oh, another word of advice is to remove the philip head screws adhering the intake boots to the manifold and replacing them with hex heads, as the philip heads are old and will only strip when you attempt to remove them. I ripped up my hands the first time around getting those puppies off, and I'm happy to say that never going to happen again. Truthfully, on every repair I do to this bike I've replaced the bolts involved to save me time in the future. Oh, and they're nice and shiny too!

So my final task is to tightly fit the airbox onto the back of the carburetor, which I am (damn) just not strong enough to do. it's going to take some muscle for this one, maybe two people, let's see who I can bribe into helping me! Happily I begin my Motorcycle Ohio classes tonight and should have my endorsement by the end of the weekend! I am so officially official, almost! I was hanging out with some biker guys in Athens the other night a a girl there kept begging one of the guys for a ride on his bike, and I must admit I kept thinking to myself that I could go on a ride anytime I want, and get the extra thrill of knowing that I helped the machine work. It's a good feeling, even if it is slightly prideful. It's definitely not sloth, that's for sure. Maybe vanity?

Anyway, here is the list of parts I've replaced so far...
Filter- Fuel and Air
Taillight (I do kinda want one of those tiger tail lights that rice paddy sells)
Battery connections
Plug wires, plugs, one plug connector
four intake boots

Still need :
Oil filter
Tires
hose clamps
Oil change!

I'm sure this has bored you to tears, but I'll be back to fill you in on further mecahnical maneuvers!


wuv,
b