Wednesday, April 4, 2012

Rebuilding R6 Carbs

A friend needed his R6 carbs rebuilt, so I obliged. The bike "ran when parked" last year but the PO didn't drain the fuel from the carbs.

People, listen to me. No amount of Sta-bil will stop fuel from gumming up your carbs if it's left to sit for too long. Take the couple minutes to properly drain your carbs and winterize your bike.
If you're feeling super lazy than just turn off your petcock and run the remaining fuel out of the carbs before putting it away for more than a couple weeks.

First let's take some pictures for reference.

This screw was missing when I got the carbs. :(




Now let's start removing things.

Float bowls off.
These buggers are a pain. I hate safety torx bits.
So let's replace them...
...with something slightly less offensive.
Much better. (Yes I had to remove the sensor after this.)
Choke plate screws off.
Choke plate removed.
Take out the floats and needles.
Set them with the corresponding float bowls.
Looks like there was a bit of gunk in and on the jets.
Remove the main jets and emulsion tubes.
Note all the jet sizes. This is carb #1
This is carb #2
This is carb #3
This is carb #4
The slow jets were plugged. You should be able to see light through them.
So let's clean them out with a wire.
Guitar string and welding tip cleaner wire works well.
Here's the result.
Much better.
All jets removed.
Slide and cap removed.
The needles had some gunk on them. This can severely affect performance.
This can severely affect performance.
All caps and slides removed.
Bodies come apart. Be careful not to disturb the sync screws or you will have to re-sync the carbs.
All bodies separated. #2&3 are held together by zip ties because they do not need to be separated to be cleaned.
Pull off the choke covers.
Instead of removing the choke and spring...
...you can just pull it back...
...and stick a straw in the hole to keep the choke hole open.
Throw them in the ultrasonic cleaner, run wire through all the jets, blow out all passages with the air compressor and assembly is the reverse of removal.

I think these were the easiest carbs that I have rebuilt to date.

2 comments:

  1. Wonderful attention to detail and taking the time to take pictures of the process.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Gnarly Charlie. Care to help out an expatriate n Singapore ??
    R6 2003 issues with carbs and sputtering under 3500- 4000 rpms regardless of engine temp. Auto choke issues ?? I am at the end of my rope with frustration

    ReplyDelete