30yr motorcycle mechanic here... When the engine is cold, please start it and immediately but carefully feel or temp gun the headers for equal warmth. You're not idling on all four cylinders. That's probably because the carbs haven't been cleaned properly (sorry George!) and they're also out of balance if you've been fiddling (I saw the tops of each carb so am assuming you've moved at least one out of balance). You did the compression test with the throttle closed, it should be wide open during the test. It looked to me as if the high-reading cylinder was probably the most out of balance carb as it's holding the throttle partially open on that cylinder. Take the carbs back off, clean them properly (use a magnifying loupe to look through each jet, especially the pilot jet and make sure they are clear and round holes. I saw the piece of steel wire you had been running through the jets but that may not have opened the holes back up enough, or you've used too big a wire and made the soft brass jets larger... Blow through all internal airways in each carb body. That's important. Please don't adjust jet sizes or mixture screw settings until you have the bike running on all four and carbs balanced. Hope that helps.
45 Year motorcycle nut here... The 30 year old mechanic is 100 percent right, add to that the advice of @gimmethecarkeys you need the airbox installed and all vaccum lines for the bike to run proper. Sucks to install all that plastic stuff, just to remove it to work on it again, but it is the nature of the beast on old jap bikes.
I have this exact bike. With no airbox and chopped exhaust, all your jets will be wrong and by a lot. My stock bike with airbox and pipes runs a 115 main and center clip on the slides. In your case, think 135 mains or more plus up one, possibly two on the slide. Also your hoses were not set up right on the carbs, one needs to be hooked to the petcock or that carb will run super lean. In addition, the carb boot on the engine side is notorious for cracking, and the o-ring behind it will 100 percent be cracked causing lean running. That’s a good start, and from there is fine tuning of the idle air screw that George was messing with on the top, but he most likely disturbed the bottom fuel screw as well. These are adjusted in tandem as they affect each other with the fuel screw adjusted first and then the pilot air to compensate at idle. Once all that is finished, then you can worry about balancing.
40 year factory authorized Suzuki technician. Is standard to go up four sizes for carbs than deleting the airbox and 2 1/2 for the exhaust removal. Next raise the needle at least two washers or two clips down to clean up the low speed and the mid-range. That should get you pretty close and then do a sink on the carbs make sure that the heirs are out two and a half and the low speed is out 1 1/2 turns on the carbs.
I could sure use a hand tuning my '82 GS850G. Flat slide BST34SS of an '87 GSXR750. K&N pods, 4 into 1 Vance&Hines megaphone exhaust and Dynatek electing ignition and coils. Rebuilt engine. Bogs at 4k
Air filter or "stock air box", carb sync, valve adjust, rubber carb holders. All mandatory when working on these old bikes. I have worked on tons of these old things. No air filters alone will make it run terrible. Added no backpressure with the mufflers cut off and it makes its 10x worse. Cant wait for the next video. 🤘 also for the love of god change the oil, if it sat for a long long time like that sometimes the fuel from the carbs will end up in the engine. Had a old kz1000 one time that had about a half gallon of fuel mixed with the oil after 15 years of sitting.
@@Acceler2 No. The lack of vacuum kills the ability of the carb to suck fuel up through the jets. While bigger jets would overcome this issue in certain power ranges, throttle response will never fully recover.
i will wholeheartedly vouch for cleetus's company. i made a mistake and put my old address on an item i ordered...thankfully the new resident returned it to cleet....and its being shipped to me now, without any additional costs to me. to me, thats love for the customer and a viewer. that deserves alot of respect and def means im gonna be spending more at his store. not to mention, theres a lot of cool stuff to tell people u go fast and love freedom there :) love you guys....keep it free
***** The air box being on and four basic vacuum gauges are REQUIRED to balance and tune the carbs. It’s really the most important step you can do. And look for some cracked rubber boots or trash in the tank that’s plugged the fresh carb also. After sitting that long you’re gonna have some cracked rubber boots that mount the carbs. If it has that style. It’s been a long time since working on bikes that old.
I was thinking the same thing. The carb boots get hard and they ALWAYS leak. And it'll pop and spit and not wanna rev until it gets new boots. WOT doesn't care so much about the carbs being synched, though. And the valve adjustment could be too tight here and there... I've spent hours working on bikes like that. It just takes time.
Only for cv carbs. These are mechanical slides. The pilot limiters need adjusted and slides synced. U can run these carbs with no air box. But considering no air box and cut exhaust I'd go up a few points on the main and lift the needle one slot.
@@tngtacticalmiata1219 Man this is taking me back to owning an 80's bike. the airbox and muffler cut can cause all kinds of dramas with fuelling, especially the airbox. The carb boots going hard is also a very real thing. Cleetus if you happen to read this the way to test for that is to have it warmed up and stable. Once it is, spray a little bit of brake cleaner on the carb boots without it getting anywhere near the carb intake one at a time and pay attention to see if you get ANY rpm rise at all. If you get that rise you need to figure out if there is a rubber crack or something causing the air to leak in.
Really enjoyed seeing good ol LS George light up over this bike. He obviously has a real passion for motorcycles. I hope there's more like this, for him.
Im pretty sure most of your problem is you need to properly synchronize the carbs with vacuum guages (especially important after a rebuild) - this can solve a lot of issues. You can have a few cylinders lean and a few rich, or some perfect and other lean or rich, or any combination of all that if you haven't synced them. Makes a difference on idle, off idle response and high end power. Tons of information online as far as how to do so. Edit: as others have said, put the air box back on first and you will see improvement just from that. You wouldn't sync the carbs with it removed, so I thought it would go without saying. Sorry for being unclear.
Speaking from somewhere in the middle... The interactions between the next generation of gear heads and Mr. Sam put a smile on my face that was hard to wipe away. All of you guys are living your best life. Enjoy these moments because these are some of the best ones! 🤘🏻
I feel that! I was waiting around on TH-cam for it browsing through the channels got mid video of a different channel seen this come across the screen an clicked right on it! Lol
Gotta love Sam, 1st thing he asked for was a compression test, because he knew right away what it was, but he is still taking the time to teach the boys .. good on ya Sam.. we all love ya
Brings back serious memories. My 1st bike was a Suzuki GS650L (drive shaft). It arrived here at the house in 11 jumbo garbage bags (I kid you not), everyone thought i had gone mad. When i was done, she purred like a wicked blue paint job with Aztec airbrush artwork. I toured most of the island on it before upgrading to a Kawasaki Vulcan 1600 on which i toured the whole island multiple times.
Hey Cleet, before you fine tune the jets, throw whatever air filters on it you're going to run. Running with no filters like you are will make it more lean than it would be with filters on it. So if you fatten it up, then throw air filters on it then it could go pig rich.
Go head and throw some good n used race oil down the valves and see if it frees anything up. Also recommend vacuum gauges and see what they read to synchro the carbs. Like u said bout u prolly need a cpl other tools first tho cleet. Then throw the intended air filters and boxes u intend running and redo everything after to ur new spec. Should make it easier to tune the carbs after. 👍
Adjust the valves first to get close to equal vacuum and compression, Then synchronize the carbs with vacuum gauges so the AFR is equal across all 4 cylinders. Thank you guys for all the amazing content!
@mikescherrer4923 valves are a set to spec thing not something you tune. Setting the vac is nessasary, but the afr is tuned via the pilot, needle and main jet.
@safechameleon7656 .. your gaagle search only gave you a partial answer that is only some what correct lol .. FYI there are a lot of different ways to tune valves .if you know what your doing .. and before you start the idk what I'm talking about just know that I used to make custom valves for different Nascar and Superbike race teams
@GrumpysGarageDave yes but we are talking about an old street bike.... why bother with that crap. Horses for courses. All that stuff is great with adjustable cam gears to dial all that stuff in but of no use in a turd like this. I'm sure you totally unverifiable claims are true but why waste time and money these motors are pigs and this one is flogged out by the looks of it. Get the valves set to spec, throw a kit through the carby, new plugs warm it up, balance the carby block. Any problems do a leak down test. Find the problem area then talk to the customer about how much they want to spend on a bike worth 1k. But I never done super bikes or top fulers so I know nothing and have no experience.
Squirrel loves you so much based on how he looks at you man. Genuine brother love at 3:57 . Also during your bald eagle shirt recommendation, your laugh with your wife was so pure. Hope only good things happen to you and yours brother, happy to see you happy
The "pocket" on the Dixxon flannel is a sunglasses cleaner! And another hidden gem you may not know is the front pocket with the logo has a hole up top for your sunglasses arm to hold your glasses!
Man .. the sound of that running. Every little part from start to stop are so familiar to my ears. I brought an old GS back from the grave years ago. Lots of hours enjoying that thing .. whether riding or wrenching. Pulling, or reinstalling those four carbs was always a miserable pain. But a GREAT bike. Cheers fellas
You can put some mystery oil down in the cylinders and let it sit for a little while and it will free up the rings and bring compression back sometimes
@@Edizzle15 will second seafoam. Ran it straight on my motorcycle for like 5 minutes cause it wasn't running right. Would loose a cylinder intermittently. After the seafoam treatmeat it has run great! I didn't want to mess with all 4 carbs like in the video.
I would absolutely jump at the chance to come help get the old zuki striking right! Some simple tweaks and a few parts will have that rear tire fearing for its life!
Cleet! I had a 2000 Vstar 1100 that sat for a decade and the rust in the tank kept clogging everything. The lean bogs this bike had gave me flashbacks!! The only solution beyond buying a used tank for several hundred dollars was using a product called Red-Koat. It’s a coating that lines the inside of the gas tank and seals the rust in. Works forever if you do it right. Otherwise you’ll buy fuel filters and petcocks until it dies lol.
Only issue I see them having with RedKote (great product, I've used it about a half dozen times) is, that it's not ethanol resistant. They say it's good for e10 and nothing above if I recall when I last checked. Great for rusty tanks that are hard or expensive to get replacements
I want them to get all weird with it as well pulling out some "barn" finds in the backyard that were definitely bought elsewhere to restore maybe even ty "leaking" videos that it was a set up video lol
I don't know if yall can agree or not... but the song they've always used when someone is working and it's sped up.. it's like.. a certain feeling.. like nostalgia. Love when it's played. Never skip. Much love from AZ! I need to grab some new merchandise soon and go to an event for the first time.
LS George just leveled up big time. Having grew up tuning Mikuni and Keihin carbs, it's a lost art and science. Much respect to George for jumping in there. One of the last old guards. I'm tipping my hat to you good sir. EDIT - air fuel ratio sounds close on the mid to upper rpm ( controlled by your main jet). Your lower rpm on throttle crack is the issue because it's still lean on the low end. That part of the powerband is controlled by the needle jet. Not the main jet in the carb. Unscrew the top off each carb and remove the needle jet. Move the needle clip position up one position to get the needle to sit lower in the carb hole. That will add more fuel and richen the bottom end. Reassemble and enjoy no more lean condition on bottom end. Thing will rip. Trust me. I've been tuning Mikuni and Kehin carbs since 1993.
the airbox's are a huge partdamn right, im hoping once they get the airbox an rubber carb boots back on it itll fix half there trouble, it needs synchronizing for sure, valves theres no tellin its got some miles, but enough to have to readjust valves who knows, in any event i hope they see your comment
Not having the air filter and intake box will make a bigger difference than you would think on a bike like that, definitely contributing to your lean sitiation🤣
back pressure just means less exhaust leaving the chamber which in turn makes a richer mix. thats why they run better with back pressure they need more fueel. he could probably run it how it is with ust air filters. he also can keep adding fuel until it runs right. a vac guage would make this real easy
@@zethloveless7238 all right how many of these bikes have you worked on. If you do not tune the bike light cutting the exhaust off it will not run properly.
I was pulling my hair and laughing at the same time with the struggles. Carbs have to be tuned with air box and a vacuum gauge sure would help y’all out a lot. Love the laughs that happens with some of y’all’s failures.
Synchronizing the carbs is crucial. A vacuum gauge is a must. Of course you want "max" vac on each carb but they MUST be equal. Not a bad idea to adjust the valves but you quite possibly could have some stuck rings. The compression check results speak for themselves. Change the oil with an oil that is high with detergent (Penzoil Ultra Platinum or Valvoline Restore & Protect), run it through multiple heat cycles, drain and refill. The goal is to free up stuck rings.
The use of the same few songs is so genius. I hear that montage song, the knockoff “another one bites the dust” outro, 50 cent’s hate it or love it, I immediately think of cleeter. That bassline in the outro lives rent free in my brain.
Dude!!! Ive been loving watching these vids on the Suzuki... My pops had a 83 back in those days... Found one that a heart surgeon had bored out to like 12xx cc and just left it at a shop (he got it for a steal) That is the happiest i ever saw my pops is when he'd get off a long shift with the Sheriff's Dept. and go for some wind therapy... Seeing this bike definitely brings back good memories of him 🥹 (We lost him in 2020) Thank you guys for that 🙏🏼❤️
Aww MAN, I had this exact bike for years in college! Absolutely loved everything about it. I did so much work on that bike, this video brought back years of memories... Every little nook and cranny of that machine was so familiar. 😍 It's amazing what you forget you know until you see it again.
A lot of times on multiple carbureted bikes you need to synchronize the carburetors to each other. I had a couple of older 80s gold wings that rain kind of rough and once I synchronize them they ran great.
I'm sure most of your Qs already answered, but/and: 1) .039 is good & proper enough jetting. 2) Make sure each entire carb bowl is varnish/gunk free. 3) On startup, must start choked, then leave alone until it warms up, 2-3 min or more. It will idle up. Turn choke off. It will idle down. Make adjustments from there. These were good power plants for the time and are still marketable.
Those old Suzuki inline 4's never seem to disappoint me, they can sit around collecting dust for years then just fire right back up! Glad to see you guys still getting enjoyment out of it!
It needs the air box on and then do a compression test with the throttle wide open and a set of vacuum gauges used to balance the carbs From a bike mechanic with over 45 years of experience from across the pond in Chester UK
I can agree. I went to Chick-fil-A and was looking for a spot behind a motel with a great view of a river and mountains to eat and hit a concrete light post with my 96 dodge ram that only has 40000 miles on it. Thankfully it just scuffed the front bumper I didn't notice it due to the sun going down and was hardly moving in an empty parking lot as Cleater would say 'what an idiot'
Motorcycles are a passion of mine. Grew up racing flat track. Dialing in a bike is a job. Street bikes a lot of work too. Vertical twins, multi carbs in sync does help. Good job squirrel.
As a bike guy that loves finding old rusty projects and know this is mainly a car channel, I’d love a shirt with that bike on it saying “Till Rust Do us Part”
That is one of life’s obstacles for sure. Hope you all are well. Wish I was around as your neighbor I would come help for sure. Hope you got insurance.
When I joined the Navy, my dad had a 1981 GS850GL that he was looking to sell after he upgraded to a 1982 Kawasaki Voyager. I told him do not sell that bike, I'll buy it once boot camp is done. He then went and sold it anyway. Says he doesn't recall me telling him that. Had Vance&Hines exhaust, carbs rejetted, performance clutch etc. It was immaculate. The guy he bought it from literally kept it in his bedroom during the winters. I still want that bike today.
Balance them carbs my boys. And it definitely sounds lean. A carb balancer is a must. And absolutely put filters on those carb inlets. AutoZone or advance usually carries those little filters. Good luck my dudes.
Those mikuni carbs are really prone to running lean if you take off the airbox. They're vacuum carbs with a slide inside them, and that vacuum determines how wide the venturi in the throat of the carb gets. When you take off the filters, you change the amount of vacuum that the slides are seeing. You can solve that by putting the airbox and filter back on, or by re-jetting the carbs with something bigger. Jets-R-Us carries jets for these carbs in a bunch of sizes, and if you're really trying to go for a rip, you can swap out the needles too while you're at it.
Should go up on pilot jets as well if not reinstalling air box - this will improve off idle response as main jets do not change idle to just off idle response. This will help at high rpm as well as well as pilot jets are part of your total fuel flow at high speed as well. You should also lift needles (move clips down) as well - if needles only have 1 groove you can put tiny washers (cut circle off tiny electrical ring terminals) between slide + needle clip -have fun + good luck!
I have 2 of these bikes GS1000E you need to put a dynajet kit in the carbs once you open the exhaust and take off the air box it goes lean bigtime . The dynajet kit even comes with new needles mine are on 3rd notch down. Also this bike looks like a 79 or 80 it may have dual points instead of electronic ignition like mine did . pull ignition cover and check for sure . Last definitely do a valve adjustment with the shims because as valves seats wear they dont close and you lose compression. One more important thing to check is the rubber intake boots they have a bad habit of leaking air once they get old and harden up.
Don't forget you need to balance the carbs. Look up the old school vacuum gauge that shows how much each carb is flowing. This is coming from someone who worked at a motorcycle shop from 1998-2006 when we used to work on these old bikes
I have an 82 GS750 (darn near the same bike) I started to rebuild it in 2008. It’s been sitting in pieces in my shop ever since. This is the motivation I need to put it back together!
When changing exhaust from restrictive to open exhaust most of the time you go up 10-15 sizes. From factory these bikes are already lean so when you open up the exhaust it goes way leaner so if its 45 stock go with a 60 and see if it still bogs. Bogging in the higher rpm range means lean. Running it without the air box will also cause it to be out of wack because you're letting in more air so you will need more fuel as well.
What are you talking about bro? AG1 is amazing! I usually snort a whole pack every morning. If I'm feeling spicy, I'll melt it down on a spoon and mainline it.🤣🤣 On a serious note, it does look like hes dying each gulp 😂
@storytimewithunclekumaran5004 gotta pay the bills fam. He's running a high-dollar business, can't really afford to turn down many sponsors. I'm not a fan of it either, but he's gotta do what he has to.
George is used to workin on them 2 strokers… these things have too many strokes and goofy names for stuff 😂 every 2 stroke guy knows that’s a gosh darn air screw
Just wait until I'm riding wheelies on this baby in 4th gear...
LFG Boys!
That’ll be sick
I had a guy give me a xr600... it runs horrible... but I'll race ya
12 o’clock that bad dawg
5k views in 3min brother!!!!!
Those carbs are tuned with the restriction of the air box, also you need to use a vacuum gauge to tune all 4 in synchronous.
Good answer!
yep, exactly
this man knows his stuff!!!
My thoughts exactly
And the drips coming from the carbs leads me to believe they reused the old float needles.
They also cut the exhaust off, all items OP listed are definitely contributing factors.
30yr motorcycle mechanic here...
When the engine is cold, please start it and immediately but carefully feel or temp gun the headers for equal warmth. You're not idling on all four cylinders. That's probably because the carbs haven't been cleaned properly (sorry George!) and they're also out of balance if you've been fiddling (I saw the tops of each carb so am assuming you've moved at least one out of balance).
You did the compression test with the throttle closed, it should be wide open during the test. It looked to me as if the high-reading cylinder was probably the most out of balance carb as it's holding the throttle partially open on that cylinder.
Take the carbs back off, clean them properly (use a magnifying loupe to look through each jet, especially the pilot jet and make sure they are clear and round holes. I saw the piece of steel wire you had been running through the jets but that may not have opened the holes back up enough, or you've used too big a wire and made the soft brass jets larger... Blow through all internal airways in each carb body. That's important. Please don't adjust jet sizes or mixture screw settings until you have the bike running on all four and carbs balanced.
Hope that helps.
45 Year motorcycle nut here... The 30 year old mechanic is 100 percent right, add to that the advice of @gimmethecarkeys you need the airbox installed and all vaccum lines for the bike to run proper. Sucks to install all that plastic stuff, just to remove it to work on it again, but it is the nature of the beast on old jap bikes.
This, great advice
Well explained but they probably don’t read comments
That's because an idiot, under the supervision of the world's biggest idiot 'Rebuilt' them.
BMW Tech here (cars with shim valve settings and ITB intakes knowledge), carb balance and tune = 99% the issue, 1% valve clearance.
I have this exact bike. With no airbox and chopped exhaust, all your jets will be wrong and by a lot. My stock bike with airbox and pipes runs a 115 main and center clip on the slides. In your case, think 135 mains or more plus up one, possibly two on the slide. Also your hoses were not set up right on the carbs, one needs to be hooked to the petcock or that carb will run super lean. In addition, the carb boot on the engine side is notorious for cracking, and the o-ring behind it will 100 percent be cracked causing lean running. That’s a good start, and from there is fine tuning of the idle air screw that George was messing with on the top, but he most likely disturbed the bottom fuel screw as well. These are adjusted in tandem as they affect each other with the fuel screw adjusted first and then the pilot air to compensate at idle. Once all that is finished, then you can worry about balancing.
Upvote
Mr Sam is amazing. “Now don’t take this the wrong way but… yall better just run it like it is”😂😂😂
40 year factory authorized Suzuki technician. Is standard to go up four sizes for carbs than deleting the airbox and 2 1/2 for the exhaust removal. Next raise the needle at least two washers or two clips down to clean up the low speed and the mid-range. That should get you pretty close and then do a sink on the carbs make sure that the heirs are out two and a half and the low speed is out 1 1/2 turns on the carbs.
I could sure use a hand tuning my '82 GS850G. Flat slide BST34SS of an '87 GSXR750. K&N pods, 4 into 1 Vance&Hines megaphone exhaust and Dynatek electing ignition and coils. Rebuilt engine. Bogs at 4k
Air filter or "stock air box", carb sync, valve adjust, rubber carb holders. All mandatory when working on these old bikes. I have worked on tons of these old things. No air filters alone will make it run terrible. Added no backpressure with the mufflers cut off and it makes its 10x worse. Cant wait for the next video. 🤘 also for the love of god change the oil, if it sat for a long long time like that sometimes the fuel from the carbs will end up in the engine. Had a old kz1000 one time that had about a half gallon of fuel mixed with the oil after 15 years of sitting.
ya, oil should have been changed right away
I agree with this comment. These older bikes NEED the restricted airflow... I had a 82 Honda cbc 900c and it was trash without the airbox.
@mathewmue5547 probably cause you didn't re-adjust the carb tune. More air needs more fuel
As soon as he cut the mufflers off, I knew it would never run right 😂
@@Acceler2
No. The lack of vacuum kills the ability of the carb to suck fuel up through the jets. While bigger jets would overcome this issue in certain power ranges, throttle response will never fully recover.
Nice seeing George get to work on something he’s passionate about. Didn’t know he was into bikes like that
I’ve seen some videos of him wrenching on some dirt bike stuff, he’s good for sure!
@@fltrxst22have you seen the reel when the rides his dirt bike in the house? lol
Nice to see George do any work...he usually just is laughing 😃
My boy can rip the Honda
Ya, he posts a good amount of dirt bike stuff on his IG.
i will wholeheartedly vouch for cleetus's company. i made a mistake and put my old address on an item i ordered...thankfully the new resident returned it to cleet....and its being shipped to me now, without any additional costs to me. to me, thats love for the customer and a viewer. that deserves alot of respect and def means im gonna be spending more at his store. not to mention, theres a lot of cool stuff to tell people u go fast and love freedom there :) love you guys....keep it free
One thing is abundantly clear... SAM is the brains of this operation :D
Man is a walking talking treasure trove of knowledge lol
We all know that he's the star of the show. And every channel he shows up on. We all follow all of them. 👏🏾🙌🏾👍🏾
I don’t think anyone would ever argue that point 😂
Sam has always been the brains behind the operation... Have you seen Sam's shop?
Sam is the Man…..
Jackstand with the best advice!! “You want to do it twice, or you want to do it once??”
Need that on a shirt
Something my dad would say lol😂 but that's no fun 😅
My dad would say the same thing. (And still does) “do it right, or do it twice.”
***** The air box being on and four basic vacuum gauges are REQUIRED to balance and tune the carbs. It’s really the most important step you can do. And look for some cracked rubber boots or trash in the tank that’s plugged the fresh carb also. After sitting that long you’re gonna have some cracked rubber boots that mount the carbs. If it has that style. It’s been a long time since working on bikes that old.
I was thinking the same thing. The carb boots get hard and they ALWAYS leak. And it'll pop and spit and not wanna rev until it gets new boots. WOT doesn't care so much about the carbs being synched, though. And the valve adjustment could be too tight here and there... I've spent hours working on bikes like that. It just takes time.
Only for cv carbs. These are mechanical slides. The pilot limiters need adjusted and slides synced. U can run these carbs with no air box. But considering no air box and cut exhaust I'd go up a few points on the main and lift the needle one slot.
@@tngtacticalmiata1219 Man this is taking me back to owning an 80's bike. the airbox and muffler cut can cause all kinds of dramas with fuelling, especially the airbox.
The carb boots going hard is also a very real thing. Cleetus if you happen to read this the way to test for that is to have it warmed up and stable. Once it is, spray a little bit of brake cleaner on the carb boots without it getting anywhere near the carb intake one at a time and pay attention to see if you get ANY rpm rise at all. If you get that rise you need to figure out if there is a rubber crack or something causing the air to leak in.
Mercury gauges are what is recommended for syncing the carbs
I swear this entire channel feels like the behind the scenes channel for a different, bigger channel.
I like this comment. If you've ever gone to any of their events, that's where they put on the real show!
Really enjoyed seeing good ol LS George light up over this bike. He obviously has a real passion for motorcycles. I hope there's more like this, for him.
thats not his name..... hes an animal now i guess.
Lmfao that crooked sticker killed me when George said looks good and zoomed in and showed the bubbles.
Im pretty sure most of your problem is you need to properly synchronize the carbs with vacuum guages (especially important after a rebuild) - this can solve a lot of issues. You can have a few cylinders lean and a few rich, or some perfect and other lean or rich, or any combination of all that if you haven't synced them. Makes a difference on idle, off idle response and high end power. Tons of information online as far as how to do so.
Edit: as others have said, put the air box back on first and you will see improvement just from that. You wouldn't sync the carbs with it removed, so I thought it would go without saying. Sorry for being unclear.
Just what I was thinking listening to it running. Great explanation on it also.
i dont think those a cv carbs meaning they dot run off vacum
@@unkagedperformance8501how do they run them then?
1+ on this, 100% needs the carbs synchronized.
Having an sv650, make sure you have the correct air filter and sync the carbs. Solved all my problems.
Best work shop shenanigans on the planet is a dream to find a place and a crew like this you guys living life to the fullest 🙌 much love from nz.
Speaking from somewhere in the middle... The interactions between the next generation of gear heads and Mr. Sam put a smile on my face that was hard to wipe away. All of you guys are living your best life. Enjoy these moments because these are some of the best ones! 🤘🏻
Sam’s honesty.. “I think we should just run it as it is”.. That’s one of the funniest comments In all cleetus videos haha.
One of my fav things about the man is he tells it how it is! I miss being surrounded by his generation all the time.
@@cjm5002 I couldn’t agree more. Old school wisdom is something we’re loosing.
His delivery of that sentence was awesome 😂 had me cracking up
Sam's the MAN!
Comment of the year by Sam
Takes airbox off.... "I don't know why it's leaned out" 🤣 classic!
That. “ Commercial break” was golden
A new Cleeter video at 10 pm is one of the few things I will delay sleep for.
FR my man haha.
same bro. the zzz’s can wait for 36 mins 😂😂
Me to
Same fr
I feel that! I was waiting around on TH-cam for it browsing through the channels got mid video of a different channel seen this come across the screen an clicked right on it! Lol
Have you seen him cook. The boy can legitimately chef. Multitalented. We need a special episode about Squirrel.
he was a chef in a famous restaurant before he got onto youtube,
his mother said the same thing, he can cook like something fierce.
Wait…you’re saying squirrels mom was in a video? And that he was a chef before porting heads in a shed? We need a documentary!
1 word 4 U
Turbo😂😂😂
@@curtis026I think maybe his mom has a channel, I've seen a video of him cooking on someone's channel anyway
The peacock lady @@leviduff2740
Gotta love Sam, 1st thing he asked for was a compression test, because he knew right away what it was, but he is still taking the time to teach the boys .. good on ya Sam.. we all love ya
Brings back serious memories. My 1st bike was a Suzuki GS650L (drive shaft). It arrived here at the house in 11 jumbo garbage bags (I kid you not), everyone thought i had gone mad. When i was done, she purred like a wicked blue paint job with Aztec airbrush artwork. I toured most of the island on it before upgrading to a Kawasaki Vulcan 1600 on which i toured the whole island multiple times.
love Sam's very deliberate troubleshooting steps. I also love how he's so willing to go along with Cleets Shenanigans lol
I love that😂😂 “you wanna do it once or you wanna do it twice”-Jackstand Jimmy
Hey Cleet, before you fine tune the jets, throw whatever air filters on it you're going to run. Running with no filters like you are will make it more lean than it would be with filters on it. So if you fatten it up, then throw air filters on it then it could go pig rich.
This is very true
Somebody should tell cleetus.
Go head and throw some good n used race oil down the valves and see if it frees anything up. Also recommend vacuum gauges and see what they read to synchro the carbs. Like u said bout u prolly need a cpl other tools first tho cleet. Then throw the intended air filters and boxes u intend running and redo everything after to ur new spec. Should make it easier to tune the carbs after. 👍
that and do wot while compression testing, not sure if they were doing that but it's kind of needed on a bike motor
The center stand works with leverage! Simply step down and assist it backwards, no pulling necessary! Love the videos!
Adjust the valves first to get close to equal vacuum and compression, Then synchronize the carbs with vacuum gauges so the AFR is equal across all 4 cylinders. Thank you guys for all the amazing content!
Nice word salad
@@safechameleon7656You don't know much about engines, do you?
@mikescherrer4923 valves are a set to spec thing not something you tune. Setting the vac is nessasary, but the afr is tuned via the pilot, needle and main jet.
@safechameleon7656 .. your gaagle search only gave you a partial answer that is only some what correct lol .. FYI there are a lot of different ways to tune valves .if you know what your doing .. and before you start the idk what I'm talking about just know that I used to make custom valves for different Nascar and Superbike race teams
@GrumpysGarageDave yes but we are talking about an old street bike.... why bother with that crap. Horses for courses. All that stuff is great with adjustable cam gears to dial all that stuff in but of no use in a turd like this. I'm sure you totally unverifiable claims are true but why waste time and money these motors are pigs and this one is flogged out by the looks of it. Get the valves set to spec, throw a kit through the carby, new plugs warm it up, balance the carby block. Any problems do a leak down test. Find the problem area then talk to the customer about how much they want to spend on a bike worth 1k. But I never done super bikes or top fulers so I know nothing and have no experience.
Seeing our boys tinkering with carbonators totally made my day! I was particularly impressed with George tackling the rebuild of all the carbs!
We need the bearded mechanic colab to get this baby running smooth. I'm sure Craig would be stoked to work on this hog!!
I just read your comment after i wrote mine, I 1000% agree
Thiss❤
Yes bring in Craig. Everyone can use a Craig in their life. It would be a great collaboration
It would take him all of 3 minutes.
@davidtappe5337 but it would be amazing for his subs. To see him come from beards and bikes to finally having his own channel has been great.
Squirrel loves you so much based on how he looks at you man. Genuine brother love at 3:57 . Also during your bald eagle shirt recommendation, your laugh with your wife was so pure. Hope only good things happen to you and yours brother, happy to see you happy
Agreed, family vibes 👍
I love Sam. He seems like he’s living his best life and brings so much to the channel.
Put the stock air box and filter back on it! It'll run perfect again. The air box helps stabalize the air going into the carbs.
Not anymore it won't!
Think of it as an ITB setup though, just tune it right and it'll rip
The "pocket" on the Dixxon flannel is a sunglasses cleaner! And another hidden gem you may not know is the front pocket with the logo has a hole up top for your sunglasses arm to hold your glasses!
Man .. the sound of that running. Every little part from start to stop are so familiar to my ears. I brought an old GS back from the grave years ago. Lots of hours enjoying that thing .. whether riding or wrenching. Pulling, or reinstalling those four carbs was always a miserable pain. But a GREAT bike. Cheers fellas
I am DYING at Sam's Motorcycle Diagnosis 😆 he said OOOF when he seen the spark plugs
Cleet and squirrel restoration are the best episodes!!!
You can put some mystery oil down in the cylinders and let it sit for a little while and it will free up the rings and bring compression back sometimes
Yep, good suggestion.
Seafoam works wonders too. Give it the old Italian tuneup💨
@@Edizzle15 will second seafoam. Ran it straight on my motorcycle for like 5 minutes cause it wasn't running right. Would loose a cylinder intermittently. After the seafoam treatmeat it has run great! I didn't want to mess with all 4 carbs like in the video.
And wide open throttle
@@elitesniper923 good stuff. Definitely agree with “tuneup in a can”…to a degree of course, but it’s a great maintenance tool.
I would absolutely jump at the chance to come help get the old zuki striking right! Some simple tweaks and a few parts will have that rear tire fearing for its life!
Cleet! I had a 2000 Vstar 1100 that sat for a decade and the rust in the tank kept clogging everything. The lean bogs this bike had gave me flashbacks!! The only solution beyond buying a used tank for several hundred dollars was using a product called Red-Koat. It’s a coating that lines the inside of the gas tank and seals the rust in. Works forever if you do it right. Otherwise you’ll buy fuel filters and petcocks until it dies lol.
Only issue I see them having with RedKote (great product, I've used it about a half dozen times) is, that it's not ethanol resistant. They say it's good for e10 and nothing above if I recall when I last checked.
Great for rusty tanks that are hard or expensive to get replacements
Hell yeah brother! These revivals are amazing, i hope the freedom factory finds continue to come back to life
I want them to get all weird with it as well pulling out some "barn" finds in the backyard that were definitely bought elsewhere to restore maybe even ty "leaking" videos that it was a set up video lol
I don't know if yall can agree or not... but the song they've always used when someone is working and it's sped up.. it's like.. a certain feeling.. like nostalgia. Love when it's played. Never skip. Much love from AZ! I need to grab some new merchandise soon and go to an event for the first time.
I get irrationally bothered when I hear that song on other channels.
Yes I feel the same way I've loved watching him build his empire and it keeps me motivated to do the same being only a year younger then the guy
I love the time lapse music so much, I've been trying to re-create it on guitar. it's really fun to play!
Absolutely stoked to have some motorcycle content on here!!!!! Keep er up cleet!!!
LS George just leveled up big time. Having grew up tuning Mikuni and Keihin carbs, it's a lost art and science. Much respect to George for jumping in there. One of the last old guards. I'm tipping my hat to you good sir.
EDIT - air fuel ratio sounds close on the mid to upper rpm ( controlled by your main jet). Your lower rpm on throttle crack is the issue because it's still lean on the low end. That part of the powerband is controlled by the needle jet. Not the main jet in the carb. Unscrew the top off each carb and remove the needle jet. Move the needle clip position up one position to get the needle to sit lower in the carb hole. That will add more fuel and richen the bottom end. Reassemble and enjoy no more lean condition on bottom end. Thing will rip. Trust me. I've been tuning Mikuni and Kehin carbs since 1993.
need to put airbox on first
I freaking love Mikunis I play with these all the time
Get er dun!
the airbox's are a huge partdamn right, im hoping once they get the airbox an rubber carb boots back on it itll fix half there trouble, it needs synchronizing for sure,
valves theres no tellin its got some miles, but enough to have to readjust valves who knows, in any event i hope they see your comment
Don't underestimate that bike. Those GS's are beasts. Looks old and goofy but that motor packs a punch.
Any liter bike is serious business.
Yes I wound mine out to 135 on the speedo .
Not having the air filter and intake box will make a bigger difference than you would think on a bike like that, definitely contributing to your lean sitiation🤣
Also hacking the exhaust off didn't t help. Needs some back pressure
Exactly what I was coming to say.
back pressure just means less exhaust leaving the chamber which in turn makes a richer mix. thats why they run better with back pressure they need more fueel. he could probably run it how it is with ust air filters. he also can keep adding fuel until it runs right. a vac guage would make this real easy
@@minter_fab_mafiadoesn’t need any back pressure just needs the airbox and the carbs properly tuned.
@@zethloveless7238 all right how many of these bikes have you worked on. If you do not tune the bike light cutting the exhaust off it will not run properly.
Cleet “Notice anything weird?”
Ty “no?”
Awkward silence…. Got me so good 😂
The sticker on Ty’s truck was hilarious!!! 😂😂👍🇺🇸👍🇺🇸👍
@paullane7489 Yeah, made him quit. LOL
I was pulling my hair and laughing at the same time with the struggles. Carbs have to be tuned with air box and a vacuum gauge sure would help y’all out a lot. Love the laughs that happens with some of y’all’s failures.
Synchronizing the carbs is crucial. A vacuum gauge is a must. Of course you want "max" vac on each carb but they MUST be equal. Not a bad idea to adjust the valves but you quite possibly could have some stuck rings. The compression check results speak for themselves. Change the oil with an oil that is high with detergent (Penzoil Ultra Platinum or Valvoline Restore & Protect), run it through multiple heat cycles, drain and refill. The goal is to free up stuck rings.
The use of the same few songs is so genius. I hear that montage song, the knockoff “another one bites the dust” outro, 50 cent’s hate it or love it, I immediately think of cleeter. That bassline in the outro lives rent free in my brain.
Dude!!! Ive been loving watching these vids on the Suzuki... My pops had a 83 back in those days... Found one that a heart surgeon had bored out to like 12xx cc and just left it at a shop (he got it for a steal) That is the happiest i ever saw my pops is when he'd get off a long shift with the Sheriff's Dept. and go for some wind therapy... Seeing this bike definitely brings back good memories of him 🥹 (We lost him in 2020) Thank you guys for that 🙏🏼❤️
I know headers are important for scavenging but never heard an engine needing a muffler to generate enough back pressure
RIP!
“Now don’t take this the wrong way” haha Sam’s best line.
That smile 😁 on Sam's face was probably one of his best of all time at 16:45
Aww MAN, I had this exact bike for years in college! Absolutely loved everything about it. I did so much work on that bike, this video brought back years of memories... Every little nook and cranny of that machine was so familiar. 😍
It's amazing what you forget you know until you see it again.
You have to love ol Mr. Sam's honesty just run it like it is 😂😂
A lot of times on multiple carbureted bikes you need to synchronize the carburetors to each other. I had a couple of older 80s gold wings that rain kind of rough and once I synchronize them they ran great.
I'm sure most of your Qs already answered, but/and: 1) .039 is good & proper enough jetting. 2) Make sure each entire carb bowl is varnish/gunk free. 3) On startup, must start choked, then leave alone until it warms up, 2-3 min or more. It will idle up. Turn choke off. It will idle down. Make adjustments from there. These were good power plants for the time and are still marketable.
Cleetus, George, and Sam...the holy trinity i didn'tk now i needed. Was dying.
this is my favorite episode of "Cleet my Ride"....pure gold
I don’t know what weirder, seeing bike on Cleetus McFarlane or watching George do something productive. Luv ya Georgie!
George has a cr500 at home and he rides
George works plenty.
That colab was my first thought too!!
Ol freezer burnt getting his hands dirty 😂
Those old Suzuki inline 4's never seem to disappoint me, they can sit around collecting dust for years then just fire right back up! Glad to see you guys still getting enjoyment out of it!
It needs the air box on and then do a compression test with the throttle wide open and a set of vacuum gauges used to balance the carbs
From a bike mechanic with over 45 years of experience from across the pond in Chester UK
26:26 "You want to do it twice or you want to do it once?" My Man!
Today just got better!
I can agree. I went to Chick-fil-A and was looking for a spot behind a motel with a great view of a river and mountains to eat and hit a concrete light post with my 96 dodge ram that only has 40000 miles on it. Thankfully it just scuffed the front bumper I didn't notice it due to the sun going down and was hardly moving in an empty parking lot as Cleater would say 'what an idiot'
Motorcycles are a passion of mine.
Grew up racing
flat track. Dialing
in a bike is a job.
Street bikes a lot of work too. Vertical
twins, multi carbs
in sync does help.
Good job squirrel.
Thoroughly impressed with cleets burnie on the bike. My guy definitely rides
As a bike guy that loves finding old rusty projects and know this is mainly a car channel, I’d love a shirt with that bike on it saying “Till Rust Do us Part”
That elbow preload getting ready to YANK on that throttle killed me 😂 29:37
Same 💀
Haven’t seen that much preload since the 335i video😂
"HOW 'BOUT NOW?!"
I would love to have that raptor I think they are one of the best trucks ever made.
Cleeter I just wanted to say thank you for coming to the northeast. That was the coolest show I’ve ever been to ever. Again thank you brother
It was awesome. Super grateful they came to my home state!
No doubt, and the fact that he stood out there for a couple of hours meeting fans says a lot about him. Hell yeah brother.
I just had a huge oak tree fall in my back yard today. Took out mine and 2 neighboring roofs. I needed a great video like this so bad! Thank you!
Sorry dude
Sorry buddy! I would have come out and estimated it for you but I had to retire due to a blown out back. Retired 35 year insurance adjuster.
A tree would fall on a guys house that’s TH-cam name is “Eyore” just saying “I guess I lost my roof.”
Damn. Sorry. Been there
That is one of life’s obstacles for sure. Hope you all are well. Wish I was around as your neighbor I would come help for sure. Hope you got insurance.
When I joined the Navy, my dad had a 1981 GS850GL that he was looking to sell after he upgraded to a 1982 Kawasaki Voyager. I told him do not sell that bike, I'll buy it once boot camp is done. He then went and sold it anyway. Says he doesn't recall me telling him that. Had Vance&Hines exhaust, carbs rejetted, performance clutch etc. It was immaculate. The guy he bought it from literally kept it in his bedroom during the winters. I still want that bike today.
I have 1982 GS850L I want to sell. 9k miles, Vance and Hines, Rejetted, nearly perfect bike. Never ride it anymore
My 81 GS650GL is my profile picture. I won't get rid of it for nothing.
Balance them carbs my boys. And it definitely sounds lean. A carb balancer is a must. And absolutely put filters on those carb inlets. AutoZone or advance usually carries those little filters. Good luck my dudes.
Now we need a top gun reenactment of you and squirrel on the bike pulling into bald eagle airfield!
Yes! I need to see this!
Oh, I second this!!! Hell, I third and fourth it too!!! YES!
Maybe next year for pride month 🏳️🌈
Hell Yeah Brother
Uhhhh NO .. picklebacking is not approved lol
The sticker freaking killed me lmaooo “ide rather you had keyed it”
Those mikuni carbs are really prone to running lean if you take off the airbox. They're vacuum carbs with a slide inside them, and that vacuum determines how wide the venturi in the throat of the carb gets. When you take off the filters, you change the amount of vacuum that the slides are seeing. You can solve that by putting the airbox and filter back on, or by re-jetting the carbs with something bigger. Jets-R-Us carries jets for these carbs in a bunch of sizes, and if you're really trying to go for a rip, you can swap out the needles too while you're at it.
Should go up on pilot jets as well if not reinstalling air box - this will improve off idle response as main jets do not change idle to just off idle response. This will help at high rpm as well as well as pilot jets are part of your total fuel flow at high speed as well. You should also lift needles (move clips down) as well - if needles only have 1 groove you can put tiny washers (cut circle off tiny electrical ring terminals) between slide + needle clip -have fun + good luck!
Which is exactly what they explained in the video already. They're asking if it is currently running lean or rich.
I have 2 of these bikes GS1000E you need to put a dynajet kit in the carbs once you open the exhaust and take off the air box it goes lean bigtime . The dynajet kit even comes with new needles mine are on 3rd notch down. Also this bike looks like a 79 or 80 it may have dual points instead of electronic ignition like mine did . pull ignition cover and check for sure . Last definitely do a valve adjustment with the shims because as valves seats wear they dont close and you lose compression. One more important thing to check is the rubber intake boots they have a bad habit of leaking air once they get old and harden up.
The 'P' on the ignition stands for 'Park'. It just turns your lights on (minus headlight) without the bike running.
Don't forget you need to balance the carbs. Look up the old school vacuum gauge that shows how much each carb is flowing. This is coming from someone who worked at a motorcycle shop from 1998-2006 when we used to work on these old bikes
The look on Sam's face once it got to the second cylinder 😂
Cleetus, your show is like dinner at 5 oclock, thanks man
"We better run this thing like it is..." 😂😂😂
Thanks, Mr. Sam!
I think you guys should fix it up and put a sidecar on it for squirrel!!! Cleet & Squirrel sidekicks T-shirt I would definitely buy that...
Yes please
I have an 82 GS750 (darn near the same bike) I started to rebuild it in 2008. It’s been sitting in pieces in my shop ever since. This is the motivation I need to put it back together!
Put it together brother!!! I recently rebuilt my grandfasters 81 Honda Cb750c. Such a great bike. Love the 80’s smooth rides
Well, put the airbox on and avoid these issues. LOL
The accomplishment will be euphoric after this long. Get after it bud, stop playing around
an hour a day bud,
GET AFTER IT BROTHA !
Hell yeah brotherrrr , just got me one of them fine straw hats nice unit 👍🏻😎👨🌾
Better make sure this wasn’t a retired Bunnell Police Motorcycle 😂😂
I knew somebody at the department was going to be in trouble for not taking the decals off. I read that story yesterday.
When changing exhaust from restrictive to open exhaust most of the time you go up 10-15 sizes. From factory these bikes are already lean so when you open up the exhaust it goes way leaner so if its 45 stock go with a 60 and see if it still bogs. Bogging in the higher rpm range means lean. Running it without the air box will also cause it to be out of wack because you're letting in more air so you will need more fuel as well.
Protect Sam at all costs. Makes me smile every time he shows up.
Sam is one of my favorite people on this channel hands down
LOVED the commercial break!!
Every time Cletus drinks the ag1 you can tell he’s hating every minute of it 😂😂
its a scam that has been busted over and over.. Why is he promoting it ?
What are you talking about bro? AG1 is amazing! I usually snort a whole pack every morning. If I'm feeling spicy, I'll melt it down on a spoon and mainline it.🤣🤣
On a serious note, it does look like hes dying each gulp 😂
contractual agreement
@@storytimewithunclekumaran5004
@storytimewithunclekumaran5004 gotta pay the bills fam. He's running a high-dollar business, can't really afford to turn down many sponsors. I'm not a fan of it either, but he's gotta do what he has to.
Cleet: “what knob you turnin there?”
Squirrel: “the air screw”
You watched the video too?
@@Huda88754 Nah, hes just really good at guessing
Fuel screw
George is used to workin on them 2 strokers… these things have too many strokes and goofy names for stuff 😂 every 2 stroke guy knows that’s a gosh darn air screw
Love Mr. Sam such a great attitude all the time.
Tye driving off with the Chevy sticker has me dying 😂😂😂
Maddie was dialed in that commercial break. Damn Cleeter couldn't stay in character lol.
Sam absolutely roasted cleet and skwurl on their mechanic skills 😂
9:50 Squirrel is adjusting the air/fuel clockwise making it leaner.