Buoncostume: CARB CLEAN AND BRAKEZZZ

After finally getting the carbs off i attempted to clean them. Now i didn't really know what i was looking for in terms of them being gunked up but externally, they were pretty much fucked. The picture doesn't really do it justice but i definitely got through a few toothbrushes on this piece. I didn't get many pictures for some reason but with the aid of YouTube tutorials, the Clymer manual and a can of carb cleaner i go the jets, float bowl, needles etc scrubba dubbed.

They were pretty clean inside with only a bit of fouling on the two carbs to the left in the picture below which i learned, after taking them to a few local garages, was due to the choke butterfly valves seizing up. I reckon this could be why it wouldn't start when i brought it out of retirement after the winter. The mechanics offered predictably cryptic advice and committed to nothing, so i got them home and after scratching my head for a while, pushed them in really hard and they cracked open. I took them back to garage that was most helpful for a check over and they said they looked sound mechanically but i wont know until i put them back on the bike and fire it up for sure and that won't be for some time i can tell you now for nothing Barry.

Pre-Clean - i blasted them with push bike muc off cleaner, the pink stuff and some toothbrush elbow grease.

Top of one of the carbs with the cover off. The gasket, i learned is made from cork, though i thought it was just cardboard originally. That was one dirty arse spring and was responsible for the mechanism requiring Stallone's right arm to make it work previously.

T'ird's eye view.

I also had a go at removing and then bleeding the front brake along with the handlebars the next day. It was a messy do. Brake fluid is nasty. I'm learning.