What to pay for carbs rebuilt?

ramvett · Full Member Joined: Sep 12, 2006 Posts: 20

What should I expect to pay to have carbs freshened up/rebuilt for an '80 XS650?
Thanks

jetmechmarty

I think you'll pay $100 per hole ($200) at MOTORCYCLECARBS.COM I think when I dropped mine off I paid 1/3 of that or less. I think that's the high and low.

arty (in Georgia)

jimmer

Do it yourself ... buy a kit, clean the carbs, its not that hard and you'll learn lots. Run into a problem ... ask a question.

BobJJ

When I bought my XS 650B project this summer, when I got it home and put in a new battery and got the bike started in would only run on one cylinder. I bought carb kits on ebay. That was a big mistake, I ordered for my bike and the rod for the slide was 1/4 in to short, the choke gasket was to small, the jets I don't know about I rejetted from Mikes XS. (Different air cleaners and mufflers.) What I found wrong with carbs is some idiot used silicone on the bowl for a gasket and filled in all of the holes, had fun cleaning up that mess.

I havn't driven the bike yet but it idles great and good response to throttle. I hav'nt heard that great sound in about 15 years.

So be careful when getting kits, the overhaul was pretty easy like an old Ford 2 bbl.

sevens0n

For sure.... Do it yourself , it Ain't rocket science. All ya really need is a dishpan and some carb cleaner from wally world. And Mikes XS or where-ever for some parts. Trade some time for money. Get what you need to do it right and ask questions on the board. Great info here, you'll get-er-done for $30.00-$40.00 bucks and end up becoming intimatly aquainted with your carberators as a bonus.
sincerly...
Brian

ttmaniac · Full Member Joined: Dec 22, 2006 Posts: 468

What a guy wants to do is remove the old cv junk and use them for target practice....when u have completely destroyed that worthless old junk u order a set of 36mm roundslides from mikuni...300 bucks or so.....then you can ride without fear of ur carbs raining on your parade

droth

I paid $140 to have mine done. I did want to do my own, but when I went to clean them, I found a pilot jet had the slot in it stripped. It was done before I bought the bike. I went to all sites for advice, but in the end I just chickened out and had someone do it for me. There was a guy on ebay who offered the service for bid. Very Happy

midnrider

Don't pay s***, get VM's and do yourself a favor..

jimmythetrucker · Full Member Joined: Mar 12, 2008 Posts: 1283

One thing to think about and remember with machinery this old --

The carbs that are mounted on your motorcycle may not be the carbs that are supposed to be on your motorcycle. The moral of your story is this: If your title and VIN sticker both say your bike is a 1978 model (for example), you must still identify PRECISELY which carbs you've got before you run out and order carb kits for a 1978 XS650. At this point in time, there's simply no telling where those carbs actually came from or when or where they were mounted on the bike.

Almost every XS650 in the world is now 30 years old. Given that most bikes stay parked all winter, and given that inexperienced owners don't bother to drain the tanks and the float bowls in the fall, and given that vacuum petcocks (stock from 1978 on) are perennial leakers, chances are good that the carbs on your 30-year-old motorcycle have been disassembled and cleaned at least a half-dozen times -- and probably more.

Unless you're a dedicated antiquer, then, there's really very little reason to mess around rebuilding those old Yamaha carbs. We're long past the point where aftermarket carbs such as round- or flat-slide Mikunis are easier to get than original Yamaha carbs in decent condition. And the aftermarket stuff performs better anyway. . . . You see where I'm going here, for sure.

CV carb fanatics don't be upset with me. I'm just sayin' is all.

JoelC

Jimmiethetrucker
any suggestions on how to identify carbs? I ran into that problem of thinking mine were '75 so I ordered kits but they were completly different. Anyway I don't know what I have but I can't find any numbers or anything to identify them. Any help would be appreciated.

Cooltouch

Hey Jimmy,

Go to the tech tips section at Mikes XS -- he has a write-up there about ID'ing the various year model carbs.

www.mikesxs.net/tech_tips.html

Best,

ichael

jimmythetrucker · Full Member Joined: Mar 12, 2008 Posts: 1283

Cooltouch and JoelC -- I have no idea how to tell those carbs apart, but I don't need to know. My newly purchased 650 came with round-slide Miks preinstalled. Whoever installed them did a piss-poor job, just sorta smeared em onto the bike. I'm not even sure they're really a set. He never changed to a manual petcock and now the Miks are all full of crud. They'll have to be dismounted, disassembled, soaked, blown out, reassembled with correct brass and the floats newly adjusted. The manifolds will need to be replaced (they're the old kind with vacuum nipples). The top covers need replacement, 90-degree cable guides installed, and probably some other tweaks.

All of that waits for me as soon as the weather warms up to where I can use the garage. I've already ordered a manual petcock from Mike's. Soon as I get that, I'll unload the bike from the back of my pickup (it's been there for nearly a month, now), make a hole for it in the garage and get to work on it.

I've never done Mikunis before. I expect it will be easier to do Miks than to do the old CV carbs. The Miks are more simple, after all. But one thing is certain at this point -- I won't have to identify the carbs on that bike.

5twins · Full Member Joined: Aug 05, 2006 Posts: 1616

JoelC, describe your carbs, the jet #s you found in them (needle # too), and I can probably I.D. them for you. Better yet, post a pic. Some of the big "tells" - '80-on BS34s have chrome tin tops. All earlier carb sets (BS38s) have cast alloy tops. '75 and older sets use 2 separate throttle cables, newer sets just one.

JoelC · Posted: March 29, 2008, 7:31 pm Post subject: Re: What to pay for carbs rebuilt?

5twins, they have the alloy tops and two throttle cables. The main jet is 127, pilot is 45. I measured the intake side at 38mm. I was told when I bought the bike that these were the original carbs,but who knows. I ordered kits from mikes for a '75 but the choke cover gaskets were different and the jet sizes were 130 and 42.5 and the needles were shorter than the old ones,[I didn't get the needle #]. So I don't know if I have some other year carbs or they sent me the wrong kit. Thanks.
Joel

JoelC · Posted: March 29, 2008, 7:32 pm Post subject: Re: What to pay for carbs rebuilt?

5twins, they have the alloy tops and two throttle cables. The main jet is 127, pilot is 45. I measured the intake side at 38mm. I was told when I bought the bike that these were the original carbs,but who knows. I ordered kits from mikes for a '75 but the choke cover gaskets were different and the jet sizes were 130 and 42.5 and the needles were shorter than the old ones,[I didn't get the needle #]. So I don't know if I have some other year carbs or they sent me the wrong kit. Thanks.
Joel

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