Cool Carb tips
I cleaned the carburetor recently on my Yamaha SR250, but my bike was still running weird and I could tell that it was time for a rebuild of the ol’ air-fuel mixer.
Source: Fix.com Blog
Most of the stuff on my bike is still stock. Still has the same piston, smoke pipe, oil strainer, etc. Actually, until I adopted it, the clutch and spark plug (and maybe oil!) were probably the same ones that it left Japan with!
As far as the carb is concerned, I have cleaned it a few times before, but to be honest, it’s the stock unit that’s been on there since 1980. It was time for a rebuild. In fact, it was probably dreadfully overdue.
The packet from Japan arrived on an overcast and rather drizzly day here in Los Angeles County, and it was perfect rebuilding weather since I wouldn’t be going riding in that slop anyways.
I opened it up and was stoked to find that most of the shiny new parts were visually identical to the pieces coming out. Of course that doesn’t mean that they won’t need a little tweaking regardless.
Photo/Creative Riding
Resetting float height and making sure all of the needles and seals are aligned and installed correctly is paramount when rebuilding a carb. Even if you didn’t change any settings, you will probably still have to tinker a bit to get things up and running.
Such was my case. I had to readjust the float after installing the new needle valve. The old float valve was ‘ringed’ from decades of seating into the passage from the rising and falling fuel levels.
I also took this time to clean it again even though I had just done so. Years of fuel build-up came out when the old main jet was removed and the other screws were turned out of their retirement cottages as it were. There was a lot of gunk in there.
It was pretty stinky too, and stung my eyes a bit as the powdered fossil dust from the land of 80’s pop and Hair Metal Bands wafted through the air.
I got all of this done just in time to ride around the block couple times and check the float settings before any more rain came down. 🙂