DIY carb stand

Check out this carb stand I made for setting float levels. I got the idea from a guy on another forum. Works great and cheap too.

This is the kind of stuff I do when I'm waiting for parts.

 

Sweet.... nice job......

 

Rear and side views too? Please?

 

Much neater than mine, if it had 2 upright members I'd buy one. Wiz.

 

could you PM me with the list of materials for this, I am really interested in building one. Nice job

 

My camera batteries died right after I took that shot.

I'll get some more info and pics and credit the guy I *stole* this from when my batteries are all charged up.

My former setup looked a lot like Wiz's. This contraption allows me to work at my bench all comfy and seated. Maybe I'll do a better job.

 

Mine's simpler ...but not as secure

Is it glued together? How do you make sure it's level and square (I'm no plumber)?

 

More pictures please! That looks great!

 

Not to hack this thread, but how about a homemade tool thread? Supply pics, materials, measurements etc. Maybe have its own sticky or whatever you call it.
Oh, before I forget, nice clean look on the carb stand!

 

Alright so that stand is awesome. Looks like I will be building one when I get home.

 

Cool stand, man! Definitely something to consider building.

 

Got to + 1 for everyone else here. Great build. Just gotta love the ingenuity of all of these xjers.

 

Great stand, clean, functional, and it looks easy to build, good job!

 

I just clamp mine in my bench vise. It's possible to do it in such a way that the drain screws are all accessible.

 

how about a 'how to' build this thing?

dimensions etc, etc. I've always wanted to use something other than my vise for cleaning etc...

 

+1 do a build guide and get it stickied!

This is probably the most genious home made tool I've seen. So simple and so effective.

Love it.

 

Got the idea to build a frame out of PVC for the cover on my boat. Have been SOLD on the stuff ever since! It is GREAT to work with! Inexpensive, easy to cut, strong and no mechanical fasteners to hold it together. With a little forethought on where the glue joints are, can be taken apart for storage. Definitely be building one of these...

skillet

 

As I promised, more pics. Credit for this goes to Lawrence Osborne over at the Kawasaki (gasp) Concours forum.

Parts list (all 1-1/4" SCH40 PVC):
2 tee's
2 smooth 90* elbows
2 smooth/threaded 90* elbows
5' pipe
2 end caps

All new it should cost less than $12. (Even with MD's confiscatory tax rate)

The parts not exploded in the pics means they were not glued. I wanted to be able to disassemble the stand for storage. I cut the slots with a band saw and use pipe clamps to lock things in place after getting everything level. The threaded side of the elbows fit almost perfectly over the 1.5" carb throats. I cut the short vertical piece for lower work height.

Regarding Wiz's comment about the extra vertical support, I thought it might be a little wobbly too but it's actually pretty firm. Not rock solid but it's way better than my previous setup. Plus you can spin it upside down or sideways in a flash to make working on the internals easy.

Yeah, I know the rack is in poor shape. It's a spare I got off eBay.

 

I was just thinking that if you filled the bottom part of the stand with lead shot it would make that stand absolutely rock solid, just the "U" shaped part I mean.
Picture #2

Or a cheaper solution, quick dry cement, might be a little messier than the shot though.
Just a thought.

 

I think the rigidity is mostly related to the height and thickness of the vertical piece. When I use the shorter pipe, it's noticeably firmer - not that it's bobble headed as it is.

All I need to do now is make an attachment to hold my lawn mower gas tank above it so it's all together in one place. Hmmmm....

 

Cut the back piece and stick in a Y connector then another straight up to the fuel tank. You may want to go with the heavy base if you put any gas up top.

 

gitbox - I liked that so much I built one! For those that were asking I documented the build. I created a pdf but can't get it uploaded here.

Does anyone know of a good (safe) file sharing site? or send me a pm with your email address.

Doug

 

I found the shorter vertical pipe was easier to work with. This was the most fun I ever had setting float levels. That is, if you can have fun doing that.

 

How simple is this?

 

I use FileAve. Their free account gives you 50 megs of storage and 1 GB of transfer quota per month. Only thing is, you have to log into your account at least once a month or it goes bye-bye. I don't know if that's the case with their paid accounts or not.

 

What is the best thing to use as a fuel tank for this set up. I was thinking a lawnmower gas tank. Any other suggestions?

 

I don't think it gets much better than this. I use my snowblower tank for tuning also, so I can reach all the screws easily. It took some 2x4s and rope to make that work tho.

 

I still wouldn't mind knowing how long the straight sections of tubing are. I'm about to run out and buy some PVC and pipe clamps to build my own.

Plus, with the vertical pipe canted forward like that, doesn't one run the risk of the bottom T section twisting forward? I ask because I got the impression it wasn't glued in place, and compression fittings will only go so far.

 

Schmuck, I just eyeballed the lengths. Not critical. I wanted the carbs to be at a good working height on my bench and the legs long enough to make the whole thing stable.

I cut slots in the bottom tee so I could adjust the tilt and hose clamp it in place, but as it turned out I didn't need them. The pipe grabbed quite well enough without them.

Oh heck, I just ran out to the garage and measured them. In its present form the vertical piece and the legs are 9" long.

 

Gotcha - thanks. Now I need to see about finding the slip/threaded 1 1/4" elbows -- seems Home Despot doesn't carry them. At least not the one I went to.

 

I got my stuff from Lowes. Home Depot had a crappy selection.

 

for all that have had to change intake manifolds screw 2 of the boots to your work bench make sure they are level your ready to go can leave them mounted for later use or can unscrew them work great

 

So I noticed. I guess I know where I'm going tomorrow...

 

Re hashing an old thread. To anyone that has built this, I can't for the life in me get the carbs to stay in the threaded holes. One false move and they come crashing down! Any tips on how to get this to stay?

Should I cut slits in the elbow and hose clamp them down? Will that actually work? need to wet set these bad boys....

 

Yes. That's what I did with mine. If you look closely at the picture on page 8 of the fuel level writeup, you can see the slit underneath the hose clamp. Make sure the slit is wide enough and long enough for them to allow the rest of the elbow to flex and grab the carb body.

If that doesn't help, what's also been done is to add a threaded adaptor piece to the elbow, then something else (what it is I don't know, but the picture I was sent had "Proflex" on it, and I'm told it came from Home Depot), and that should take care of the problem.

 

My question here is when the carbs are on the stand as pictured..... I know they are level from left to right.......but from front to back.....are they level or are they at a 30 degree tilt....

Hopefully, the top elbows are not glued, so when the top rack tilts fowards with carbs on , one can adjust them back to bring them level.....

Here again, if one has extra intake manifold bootsror use 2 off their bike that are good: 2 boots and 2 x 4 = a carb stand.......DONE.....

Just don't snap off the allen head intake manifold boot bolts just to get the 2 boots required.....OUCH...that would hurt.....

 

Five,

I've given up on the pvc stand. 4 trips to lowes/home depot and I can't get those things to stay on the stand. I'll give Fitz's recommendation a shot and get that black and decker workmate 125. It's something that would be really great to have anyways.

If I sandwich the carbs between the two planks, it's possible to just bend down and lean to get to the drain bowls? I REALLY want to wet set, that's the point I'm at now. Lower end is rebuilt, just need to wet set, was supposed to do that tonight but I just can't figure out a way to get these things level and even...

I don't have 2 intake boots and am terrified of taking them off my bike....

 

Well, you indicated that your boots are in rough shape I believe, so it is best that you don't take 2 off the bike....I did....but that is another story.....

You could try sandwiching between two boards but key thing here is the carbs must be level left to right & front to back.....use a torpedo level to check if you have one.....another purchase or eyeball it...LOL....requiring probably another trip to Home Depot/Lowes......you are going broke buying tools....just kidding...just part of the fun fixing these bikes.....

Don't give up.....keep plugging away.....we will get you thru this.....

K-Moe was on.....maybe he has an idea.....

 

Yea, I'm definitely not taking those boots off! Tomorrow morning I need to go hit them with some more RTV to repair those cracks.

Yes, I am going broke buying all these tools and parts, it's getting quite ridiculous. Though it is fun, I'm already poor, this is making it worse lol. The parts I can deal with, and was expecting it, but all these damn tools! Not gonna give up now. I'm too deep to get out LOL. I'm going to order that workmate 125. It's something I'm sure I'll get a lot of use out of AND I can work on my balcony instead of loading all of my tools in the car, doing some stuff at work, then lugging the tools back home to do something else, then back to work, etc...

K-moe was on? You mean online? I didn't see a response from him in this thread. The help I've received is very much appreciated, let's see if I can get these wet set. Someone at work has amazon prime, so I'll order this thing next day air for 4 bucks, and see if I can't do this before the sun goes down on friday.

 

torpedo levels are about $4 @ Home Dept.....they are nice to have....not a necessity thou.....but you want your carbs level both ways.....

I just never like the idea of that PVC stand.....even putting slits in the PVC....you still could not get them on & held in place with circular clamps....????

 

Nope, I couldn't get them to stay put. I cut slits, and used nice hose clamps, nothing.... another 12 bucks in the garbage. I managed to salvage a couple of Tees, I can probably return those and get a torpedo level... Just ordered the workmate 125. I'm officially tapped out. God I hope this workbench 'works'. I've read that it takes over an hour to assemble, if that's the case I won't be able to get to wet setting until saturday morning. I may learn how to bench sync tomorrow, then hopefully saturday morning start doing this wet set stuff. Probably have to prop my actual gas tank on top of my grill so it can be higher than the carbs..... Oh man, this is some crazy stuff. If I can miraculously pull this off I'll be very proud of myself. I've just installed the new float assemblies, so that's all done. Now I need to:

Wet set
Bench sync (I hope I can figure this one out)
repair cracks in intake boots
change air filter
change oil (again)
re-install carbs
pray to the heavens that i don't get gas in my crankcase any more. I've spent 30 dollars on an oil change, and within the hour I smelled gas. That hurt. A LOT.

 

whatever works & is the cheapest...just make sure tank is above carbs so that the fuel flows.....take back whether parts you can to Home Depot/Lowes....since you never broke the rack....your butterflies should be close....don't mess with them if they look close.....get a second opinion from Rick or Fitz on bench syncing.....but read the tutorial....

Bench sync is basically for people that have broken their rack and had to adjust the sync screws when re-assembling the rack....

Just relax & take your time.....

We know how anxious you are to get your bike back in shape but it takes time......

It will come together eventually.....

PM me your Name & address.... I have something for you...check your PM

 

How loose are the carbs on the PVC stand? If it is less than 1/4 inch all around, you can try wrapping the carb elbows in some thin rags or or coarse tape to take up the space, then fit them on the stand and finally tighten the hose clamps over the slits.

At least that's what I'd do if I understood you properly.

I wet-set mine without with just a table, some thin leveling blocks of wood, clear hose and gas tank.

If you think outside the box, you can do it on the side of the road Definitely don't need the special stand, although it does make things much easier and more enjoyable.

 

Okay, first things first. There are three periods in an ellipsis. Not four. Not five. Three. :mrgreen:

Secondly, on mine I glued the elbow to the short piece, but that is by no means required. Everything else is a press fit. Once you get the rack level from side to side, to obtain your front-to-back level you can twist the elbows or hold the legs down and adjust the upright section (pivots at the lower tee).

Less than that at the dollar store.

Well, drat. I'm sorry to hear that, and I feel kinda bad, but mine works just great. As for the workmate, I got the Harbor Freight version... that I use as a platform for the PVC carb stand.

 

No, bench sync is for people who want to be able to start/run the motor and have it run reasonably well prior to doing the vacuum sync. In this case, it shouldn't require a lot of adjusting and may indeed turn out to be more of a "check." I always do a bench sync before a rack goes back on, regardless of whether I broke it down or not. It's easy in the course of other work to bump the sync off.

SLOW DOWN!!! You're still trying to jam through this quickly; it doesn't help.

 

Fitz, I feel like I'm definitely going slow, almost crawling slow! I've had this rack off for some time now. What would take you guys an hour takes me 3 days

I'm just trying to accumulate the stuff I need, but as far as speed goes, this is the slowest ive ever done anything

I literally just need to wet set these carbs now but can't for the life in me find a solution to doing this on my balcony. The workmate is on its way, hopefully that will be the solution! Do you recommend just using the table as a vise to grip the carbs and just go under the table to check fuel levels?

Thanks again ! This place rocks!!!

 

I'm stuck waiting for a new set of fuel jets to arrive, so I wasted a little time trying my hand at making a PVC carb stand of my own. I had the same problems a few others mentioned in this thread--without using glue to keep the PVC pipes in place, the carburetors' weight pulls the pvc pipes down, or the carbs slip out and fall into my overly-cautious hands.

So... I found a few bits and bobbles to reinforce it. Here's what I came up with.

I drilled a hole at an angle through the center upright pipe, and put in a screw-rod to act like an 'kickstand' for lack of a better word, with wing nuts so I can adjust it's height if things are off. ...and I wrapped the bottom end in electrical tape to not gouge a table too much. Then I drilled a couple holes up top in the arms and elbows, then inserted cotter pins to keep the them from twisting... Why cotter pins? Now I've got a little eyelet that I can tie a length of spun wire to. I can fit the strand of wire, under the carbs' bracket where it can't scratch anything essential.

Despite that wire strand, the carbs still wanted to succumb to gravity, so I sawed off a couple pieces from a large dowel that fits perfectly into the carburetor. I'll probably cover these with felt or something, so they don't scratch anything up. Or get rid of them completely if they prove pointless.

Did I just slightly 'over-engineer' this? Yeah... maybe. But that's what boredom and spare time will do t0 ya!

 

Well. I have mine done now too.