cost to completely rebuild carbs

what is the total cost of parts to rebuild all four carbs ?

thanks

 

chacal has a parts list somewhere on this sight.

 

$962 for everything. That's why we re-use undamaged old parts.

 

I was going to say, completely "blindly" just replacing everything that can be gets really expensive real quick.

A LOT of these bikes are suffering more from the effects of sitting than from being worn out. The problem is, the conditions under which the bike was "stored" (or simply parked and forgot about) vary greatly. As a result, the negative impacts from the "dormant period" also vary greatly from example to example.

Unless you want to pump cubic buck$ at it, the best course of action is to tear down, inspect, and replace only those parts which are no longer serviceable. Usually just the rubber/neoprene stuff and gaskets. Sometimes corrosion has taken its toll and other items need to be replaced as well; sometimes even float bowl gaskets are re-usable (again, depending on a number of factors.)

Disassemble, clean, inspect and evaluate. Then buy parts.

 

rebuild kits are a joke, people will think they buy those and put them in the carbs and they're supposed to work.

as long as nothing is broken, the only things that may need to be replaced are made from rubber... seals and whatnot.

 

car carb kits cost on average of $10 - $20. comes complete with all the gaskets and o-rings. any bearings the carb might have. float seat and needle. accelerator pump. shaft seals. and i think even the fuel filter if the carb has one. the whole nine yards. MINUS the float. which is usually another $10 or less.

too bad bikes can't be that cheap.

 

Besides the rubber bits and gaskets, I've had to replace quite a few needle/seats in other models carbs. Sometimes the needle valve has a rubber tip and it gets a "ring" around the tip, interfering with the seal.

I agree, clean and re-use as many original parts as possible. I caught Hell on my CB500 carbs this Summer, all because of some aftermarket slow jets. Found some genuine Keihin's and solved the problem right away.

 

I paid $50 for a rebuild kit for the bottom end, all 4, bowl seal, float needle, needle seat and some O rings, the rest i cleaned myself, polished, about $10 for new screws at Lowes, so far around $60 for me.

 

I rebuilt mine after carefully tearing them completely down and replacing all gaskets, o rings, seals, and everything else that was worn. I spent roughly 150 to 175 on my carbs. The good news is they worked perfectly using all parts bought from Chacal, the bad news. After firing the engine up I saw molten metal coming from my number 1 exhaust pipe so I get to rebuild my engine now. But back to the point, it all depends on the wear.

 

wow....thanks for all your replys, just wanted a ball park figure before starting. i've seen sets of carbs for sale on ebay for around 300, cleaned and rebuilt, ready for install, so they claim. any thoughts about going this direction ?

 

I woudnt. Do it yourself, and you know you have done it right. Rebuild your carbs for a fraction of the cost and put the rest into tools or whatever you want.

 

I've never heard of anyone who had a good experience doing this; I have heard some tales of woe. I suppose it's possible one of the half-dozen or so places that do this get it right occasionally but it's a pretty expensive gamble, especially if they don't know their stuff and screwed them up.

 

the guy i got my bike from told me he just did a "complete overhaul" on the carbs but you can read my post from earlier and take a guess onn how much he actually made it worse.

 

your absolutly correct, my bike sat too long over the summer, now im paying for it.
my next course of action will be as you quoted above, chacal will have all parts needed ?

 

he has everything but frames with titles, but if you needed he could probably help you with that too.

 

I'm rebuilding two sets right now and I can tell you, after a month of an hour or two here or there, it takes a HEAP of time to do it right. Parts are another expense but time is the biggest issue for me. I would NOT jump on that flea-bay offer, I've heard poor reports about folks doing that, someone usually gets burned. Do it yourself and have no regrets.

 

Slightly on topic:

I plan on "winterizing" my bike after Dec 5th and I have a spare set of carbs from a forum user. The condition of the 2nd set is unknown.

I was planning on dissembling the 2nd set and learning about the carbs, rather than risk messing up my "working" carbs.

Which set should I rebuild? Or is it best to crack them both open and see which parts are best? Then mix and match parts as appropriate? (I fully expect to replace common stuff like gaskets and rubber parts and SS bolts).

I already know MY carb's #2 adjuster screw needs to be muscled out . So bare minimum I'll probably use the 2nd #2 body.

Any thoughts/comments? If I had sufficient funds I'd rebuild both and have a spare ready to use.

 

Metal Bob, it is not advisable to mix parts. Keep them segregated with an egg carton or similar compartmented box (or muffin tin). I would suggest you rebuild the spare set and swap out the working set to rebuild later. In that way you protect yourself from getting stuck if things go south. As for the adjuster screw, be very careful while removing it and be sure to replace it.

 

The cost to completely rebuild my "E-Bay 650 parts only" carbs that were $13.00 shipped, was exactly ZERO - nada. But - I borrowed the necessary jets from the Seca 750 carbs, the diaphragm/piston assemblies from my Maxim 750 carbs, and cherry-picked amongst the floats, pins, needles, seats.

I could use new Pilot "O" rings, but the old bowl gaskets never leak on the last few cleanings I've done.

Now if I were to rebuild the other 2 racks and do a nice job, I'll be into some money for sure.

 

as long as were on the subject, whats the best way to protect carbs when not in use ? here in the desert, its the summer that i dont use my bike.
and thanks again guys for the advice.

 

You need to take apart and inspect everything. Once you do that you can guesstimate what it will cost useing chacal's price list. Personaly I wouldn't cut corners or you'll be into them again soon. Do them once and do them right.

 

where can i find chacal price list ?

 

Oh thats easy. Look at the top of this page. You'll see a XJ engine that says XJ 4 Ever on it. Just click on that and you'll see more than you imagine for his parts lists.

MN

 

My experience has been that you should clean out the carbs, hose the diaphragms down liberally with WD40, button them back up, cap off the fuel feed line, inlet and outlet bores with plastic caps (or get creative with duct tape) and you should be ok for a few years.

 

Len is great, he has had everything I have needed

 

Well, it's probably cheaper to buy 4 new carbs than to replace everything..BUT, everyhing dosn't need to be replaced now does it?
I've had sediment crystalize in the jets, mostly the pilots (primarys) due to sitting, sediment, sand, rust, elecrolisys, and bad gas but the absence of accelerator pumps, good rubber for the slide diaphrams and intake manifold boots you could probably get away with under $200, alot less if the inlet valves are good and the jets aren't plugged.
Beware, the age of the carbs; believe it or not, through the years the float pins tend to distort (bend) and the floats bind.

 

REALLY??? Where? Last set of NOS carbs I saw was $995.00.

I agree with TIME as far as having a good spare rack and a "parts" rack; then you've got the odd float bowl or even carb body if something's truly hosed up on your "good" spare set. And some careful eBay bargain-hunting can turn up some real gems.

The thing with these carbs is this: until you take them apart you won't know what you'll need. Sometimes the rubber/neoprene parts look new even though you know for a fact they're not; sometimes everything in there is all dried out, crumbled or turned to "mush."

 

Oh, certanly I wouldn't think of replacing oem with oem, I could care less about keeping things original the high book on an all original seca 750 is only $1500 usd. So mine won't be for sale as long as it is rideable. If it will run better or go faster with something else, that's where I'd go. I was refering to Keihin 33mm cr's as opposed to replacing every single concievable thing and rebushing the throttle shafts etc.
There are salvage yards that specialize in Yamahas including XJ's though, A&A in Oklahoma City is one. Len has used carbs and parts for sale also.