Carb cleaning video for review

How does this viedo http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=USqw8tYDUbw compare to cleaning a set of Mikuni carbs son a 81 XJ550 Maxim?

 

That Video is a "Hack Job"
That's the way you clean Carbs on a Bike you want to unload.
So you can say: "I cleaned the carbs recently"

Those Carbs are Sliders.
Not the kind we have on our Bikes.
Judging from way he reinstalled the Diaphragm ... he was in a rush to make the video.

There are plenty of differences between those Carbs and Hitachi's.
More to clean.
Small ports to inspect and clean-out
Float Valve Body's to remove and Beenie Screens to clean.

The "Idea" is the same ... in Principle.
Open the Carbs and clean them out.

The Video is a waste of time without some close-ups and narration.
Listening to the Foo Fighthers ain't gonna get a set of Hitachi's ready for going fast.

You have to spend more time Cleaning the Bottom-end and Fuel Bowls than that whole Video ran.

It's good to see someone crack a set of Carbs and give you an "Idea" of what to expect.
But, don't let that Video fool you.
You will spend the better part of a whole afternoon thoroughly cleaning and Clean-tuning a four-pack of Mikuni's or Hitachi's.

And you won't want head-banging music playing while you're at it!

 

Now that's funny!

 

So is there a good carb cleaning tutorial availabe? I have a set of Hitachi carbs to clean... not getting fuel to cylinder one. I haven't found good resources locally and haven't gotten the XJ CD yet....

 

Rick has put together a very thorough carb cleaning guide. It's in the FAQ suggestions section. Highly recommended.

 

Did Rick really call Foo Fighters "head banging music"? HAHA!! My question now about the video is how similar is the teardown of a set of Minuki carbs compared the vid.

Is the text tutorial complete? I think I remember reading it once and it didnt seem like it was done yet.

 

friends don't let friends do that,,,,might work if there's nothing really wrong or dirty an you just need to flush some crap out an you've got some real history in them,,,,but your going to miss something!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


waste of time if it's a new project
it also serves the new guy as this ant' what rick's talking about being cleaned,,,,,,checking every hole for flow is a little more time consuming,,,,,this ant it,,,,,,,

but if you've never done carbs before there's nothing like repetition,,, your going to do them again most likely,,,,,,,

 

To teardown the Mikuni's you need a big hammer and lots of alcohol or other central-nervous-system intoxicants. That way you can drown your sorrows when the float pillar hinge busts off, and if you're lucky enough for that not to happen, then you can use the big hammer to ease your frustrations while trying to extract the pilot fuel jet from its sunken well.

Mikuni's are great carbs, performance-wise, but are quite curious in some aspects of their design and employ quite a bit of "over-kill" engineering for a street-bike carb that makes them quite tough (frustrating tough, not rocket-science tough) to service. It's like adapting something as complex as a space shuttle booster engine control panel for use as an entry-level Chevy radio station selector dial. Neat, interesting, but somewhat short-sighted on the "user-friendliness" and servicability fronts.

Hitachi carbs, now those are a marvel of simplicity and functionality.....and with the same basic design and features of Mikuni's, too.....just lacking all the (to me) superfluous engineering flourishes that Mikuni carbs have, which might very well be state-of-the-art for an all-out racing design but is totally unnecessary on anything else.

Once you conquer Mikuni carbs you're king-of-the-hill!

 

The trick is to not let the project overwhelm you.
There's just a bunch of parts all screwed together.
You just have to do the un-screwing and place the parts aside in an organized fashion that will allow you to re-assemble the lot after everything is all neat and cleaned.

After doing the first one; the second one doesn't seem quite as imposing.
The more organized you are with storage ...
(I use two sets of Muffin Baking Tins ... each has 3 rows of 4 bins)
... the easier it is to not "Get Lost" in doing the job.

Hitachi needs some precision cleaning.
The Float Bowls
Float Bowl Starter Jets
Float Valve Body removal and Beenie Screens cleaned.

And the Emulsion Tube pushed-out and thoroughly cleaned.
As the cleaning progresses you get to be an old hand at it.

If you set aside an afternoon for the tear-down and cleaning ... you should be wrapping thing up before dinner.

Unless ... you find stripped Jet Heads and need to do some drilling!