Having overhauled the carbs on my four cylinder ’78 Kawi half a dozen times, what a joy to only have two to tear down and rebuild. And I don’t even have to break a sweat, swear, and scrape my knuckles pulling them out.
Took apart the right carb, seems straightforward so far. Every thing I could unscrew, I did, and then gave it all the 1-2 Simple Green + Ultrasonic punch, while noting what rubbers and gaskets need replacing (most of them). Took off so much gunk that parts I thought were steel turn out to be brass (i.e. the choke “dial”).
The question now is: which rebuild kit to get:
The basic one from Bing (Gasket Kit #1),
Or the deluxe one (which includes new slides, and head & airbox rubber sleeves) from Bob’s BMW (specific to 1978 R80 32mm Bings).
Needles and jets seem fine, float needles, too. Floats look alright, though one tab seems to have been tweaked a bit (previous owner?). I’ll start everything off to factory spec on reassembly and problem solve from there at the final rebuild stage.
The sub-question is, how do my slides and diaphragms look? I need to read up how to get the diaphragms off, for starters, but quick inspection and they feel supple and intact. I’m debating with my buddy: I prefer to only replace parts that really need replacing. He’s of the mind “Why take chances?” Especially when dealing with carbs, replace everything you can (if you have the money). My reasoning is mainly rooted in cost-savings, but partly in “don’t mess with a good thing” and “solutions looking for problems often produce actual problems.” On the other hand carbs have put me through a loop when problem-solving, so the less variables the better?
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