How to Clean Carburetors 1982 GL1100

[RuDogGL]

Greeting all, I pickup my first Motorcycle it is a 1982 GoldWing GL 1100i , with all the bells. I have never own a Motorcycle before, but always wanted one. After reading a lot of the information about knocking noise at low RPM's, I believe the first step is to clean the four Crabs and than Sync them . This will also be my first time working on a Motorcycle Crabs/Engine, what should I look for or be aware of . Thanks in advance for all of the suggestions and help .

[Aussie81Interstate]

Crabs get angry if you don't boil them first..

[RuDogGL]

Boil it? What will boiling the Crab do Aussie81Interstate, I surely don't want my angry at me?

[Aussie81Interstate]

I suppose you have missed my point..

Carburrettors are usually shortened to CARBS not CRABS.

A crab is a marine crustacean and very nice to eat - but you need to cook them first - usually by boiling

My sincere apologies for having fun at your expense.

[Aussie81Interstate]

Basically you would need to strip your CARBS down and clean all the jets and passages - reassemble then bench sync them, once reinstalled you may need to fine tune the sync.

[RuDogGL]

Thanks man right now I'm in the middle of pulling a carburetor out I got it three quarters of the way but it's hitting on something I tried turning it to the left and right and it just gets stuck any suggestions I'm pulling it out of the left side of the bike if you're sitting on it

[Aussie81Interstate]

Take the two inlet stubs leading to the cylinders off the right hand bank will make it easier to remove to the left.

[RuDogGL]

I was able to get them off today before I read your post I pulled the two right side in takes off it slid right out so now time to clean thanks for your post

[RuDogGL]

And I just read your post carbs versus crabs funny man real funny thank you

[Aussie81Interstate]

Just be really thorough with the cleaning - you will think they are clean - then do them again.

I had a set on my old CB750 SOHC - cleaned them 3 times before they worked properly - years of non-use and a lot of corrosion in the internals - but when cleaned - it was a totally different bike.

Good luck with them..

[dingdong]

Before you get in over your head read here.
https://www.ngwclub.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=12168

And here.
http://www.randakksblog.com/gl1100-carb-details/

[Hoosier Jack]

I've had carbs that acted pretty crabby before.

[RuDogGL]

Thanks Dingdong and Hoosier Jack for your replies. Cool

[RuDogGL]

I just completed the cleaning and reattachment of the Carburetors. I have attached the sync tool and all the Carburetors are already in sync. It sounds a lot smoother, but still has a little knocking but, not like before the cleaning. If I had to rate it I would say a 10 before the cleaning and now a 4. It idols on its own at about 985 now even being cold, but before I had to hold the throttle a little until it warmed up, and it starts on the first attempt unlike before the cleaning were it took multiple attempts before it started.

[RuDogGL]

Any comments on why the Carbs were sync, this is all new to me

[Aussie81Interstate]

Does it hold the synch when you slightly increase the revs?

[RuDogGL]

Yes it still shows all Crabs sync.

[RuDogGL]

Update, the Carbs seem to be working great. I was ready to take my first ride and the Front Breaks would not close, either side. I took off both calipers and press the positions all the way in and now I'm unable to get them out. I attempt to push them out by placing them back on the Motorcycle, but that failed. I tried using a Air Compressor which failed, and I'm all of out of ideas and so is YouTube. Any suggestions out there?

[Aussie81Interstate]

If you put them back on the bike - you would need to bleed them if you disconnected the brake hose..

Another way of ejecting the pistons is to use a grease gun and slowly pump them full of grease - it is messy but works well, depends on if when you pushed the pistons back in if they went back in straight... you can also block one piston and put all the effort into one at a time to get them moving.

A bit of penetrating oil won't hurt either if you plan on rebuilding them with new seals - because that sounds like what they may need.

There could be a lot of build up of junk around the tops of the pistons and rust/corrosion on the pistons and or bore of the caliper which stopes them moving easily.

Good luck - maybe a photo or two ?

[RuDogGL]

Front Caliper

Front Caliper

Here are some photos of the Caliper. I do not have a grease gun. I seen this tool that someone made on this site which fit inside the position and than expanded when you turned it finally broke lose the position, thinking of trying to build it and see if it works for me, here is the link. download/file.php?id=15890&t=1

[Aussie81Interstate]

I would probably reattach the caliper via the brake hose - try to bleed the caliper, then use the hydraulic pressure to move the pistons out...

[RuDogGL]

A Friend of mine had the Blind Bearing Puller which remove the Stock Pistons.

At Harbor Freight

Pulled rubber washers from the hose connectors

Washers place on the puller

Washers need to be push to the edge of the puller

[RuDogGL]

I was able to unstick all for piston after spraying PB Blaster on each one and several pulls on each piston, but one took about fifteen minutes to get out.

[RuDogGL]

Question concerning Carburetor Sync process again, I completed the process and the GL1100i sounded great, so I move on to other tasks that needed to be done. So I wanted to show a friend how much Syncing the Carbs improved the performance of the GL1100i. I started it up and the knocking was back and now I'm having the hardest time getting red of the knocking again. I check the Gages as instructed in WingAdmin's post and each one read or measure the same when I switch the hose from one, two, and four onto gage three. I have all four Gages back sync, but the knocking is still there, any though on this.

[Barracuda3077]

Did you check the valve clearances, before you synced the carbs? I had a similar problem, I did the carbs before the I checked the clearances, and the knocking didn’t go away. But when I readjusted the valve clearances, and then did the syncing of the carbs (take your time syncing the carbs, I spent over an hour doing so) the bike smoothed right out and is purring like a happy kitten! Good luck!