xj650 carb cleaning questions?

so, following all the excellent posts on this site, i've finally got the carbs taken apart and working on getting them squeaky clean. what a chore! they look like someone crapped in them...literally. and to make matters worse, i've had more messed up fastener heads than good ones. all float bowl drain bolts were stripped and i spent hours carefully removing the crusted up pilot screws. regarding the butterflies, do they have to be removed to clean any internal parts? other than cleaning, that's the only thing i haven't done yet. if they do have to be removed, are there any seals/gaskets that need replacing, and if so, where do i find them?

 

You do not have to remove the butterfly's if you are just doing a normal cleaning where you leave the carbs assembled together. But if they are as bad as you say they are, and you don't know when the throttle shaft seals were last replaced, I would go ahead and break the rack apart and replace the throttle shaft seals. That would require removing the butterfly's. It can be a hastle to get the butterfly screws out, especially if you have Mikuni carbs, though I believe the 650's used Hitachi carbs.

When I cleaned my carbs for the first time I didn't do throttle shaft seals, and I found them leaking after I put them back on, so I had to take them back of again. I would order new shaft seals and new butterfly screws from Chacal, because you might damage the butterfly screws. You will also need to loctite the butterfly screws to keep them from working loose and getting sucked into the engine!

Another thing I missed when I cleaned my carbs was the small holes on the emulsion tube. I held them up to the light and they looked clean, but they were partially clogged which caused my bike to run lean. I had to use a carb cleaning tool to get them perfectly clean.

So long story short I would go ahead and replace everything to possibly save yourself a lot of time and hassle.

Good luck!

 

i don't know if we have the same carbs or not but breaking the rack does not require the butterflies to be removed on my hitachis. i've already broken the rack and thoroughly cleaned everything in an obsessive compulsive anal retentive manner. over and over again. i just didn't like the looks of the screw heads on the butterflies and wanted to know if it's necessary to remove them. if so, i'll get a JIS driver to do it right.

 

If you want to replace the throttle shaft seals then you will have to remove the butterfly's. If they are fine then I would leave them alone. I don't think removing them would help with general cleaning of the carbs.

 

i didn't realize that the throttle shaft seals were located there. and, like you said, everything i read says to replace them. well that answers my question. i'll get the right driver and finally finish them. thanks for your help