Carb cleaning question

[luvthefloyd]

I have a 97 M750 i'm trying to get up an running after a decade of sitting in the garage. I'm not at all knowledgeable on carbs.

Would removing the carb an dropping it into one of the dip products be the best way to to go?

How much am i giving up by not totally disassembling it and cleaning it?

It's a Keihin with nearly no miles on it when i stopped riding. I didn't empty the float bowls though, i imagine that makes a difference.

Thanks!

[bond0087]

I wouldn't recommend dipping the carb into a dip product without fully disassembling it first. The problem is that there are a number of things in the carb that are either plastic or rubber, and you really want to avoid prolonged exposure of anything other than metal to harsh carb cleaning chemicals.

You can still clean your carb with carb cleaner without a full disassembly, but you'll need to at least take the float bowl out, and use a more focused approach like a spray can, not a dip. Just try to avoid spraying on plastic and rubber components, and wipe up excess carb cleaner after spraying.

Really, though, there's no reason not to take the jets out and give them a thorough cleaning. I haven't taken Keihin carbs apart before (and granted they are more complicated than the stock ones), but in general, taking carbs apart enough to thoroughly clean them is much less challenging than it is intimidating for someone who hasn't done it. If you get an exploded view of the carb, maybe do a youtube search and watch someone else doing it, clear a clean and well-lit work area, and keep everything organized, it is actually not a difficult job.

If you end up going the route of disassembling them a bit, I'll leave you with the best tip that I've gotten on carbs: if fuel starts to leak out around the top of the float bowl after reassembly, give the carb a few taps with a hammer. If the float needle isn't properly mating with the seat, that should fix it.

[krista]

If those really are Keihins, those things are awesome. Take them apart:
- remove float bowls
- remove jets
- unscrew the fuel screws on the bottom and fish out the springs, washers, and o-rings
- take apart the accelerator pump circuit and try to clean it out with carb cleaner, contact cleaner, and compressed air

-> poke these (fyI that's me selling them) through the jets (or get new ones). If you do not poke the tiniest poker through the slow jet, it will not idle.

Clean everything you can see the best you can, and put it together.

Or take to a local dirt bike shop and pay them to clean them. FCRs are on dirt bikes all the time.

If they're the stock Mikunis, go through all the above, give up, then buy Keihin FCRs. 

[luvthefloyd]

They are, they're 39mm flat slide racing carbs. Is there a how to somewhere for someone that knows nearly nothing about this stuff?

[krista]

Well obviously there's Google.

And don't discount what dirty bike people say! Our Ducatis are like TWO of the thumper motors spliced together. The 8th entry on google is Factory Pro Tuning's page about the Keihin, which I recommend.

And then there's my own FCR FAQ. Don't worry about 39s vs 41s. There really is no difference between them for our Ducatis! The difference is that people have found 39s difficult to setup for the 904cc engines. Otherwise, they're effectively the same. So we tell people with the 900s to buy 41s so they can ride away happy sooner and easier.