tying up some loose ends (carb hoses) on '98 GSX-R1100W

[smaier69]

evening all. long time rider, first time poster here.

long story short, i bought a '98 GSX-R1100W that had been stored in a friend's machine shop by a 3rd party. as is all too common, the bike wasnt stored properly (gas without stabilizer left in tank for 3 years). knowing this, my friend yanked the carbs and went to town with gumout. with much fiddling around we got the bike to run fairly well with the exception of the low end (bogs down under 2500rpm but hooks up nicely beyond that. seems like its not running on all 4 cylinders below 2500). it idles OK, but sometimes idle doesnt always stay down between 1000 to 1500 all the time - sticks at maybe 2000 to 3000 for a short period but will eventually drop back down to normal idle. it also smells strongly of gasoline when warming up/idling. ive replaced the fuelcock and checked thoroughly for gas leaks and she seems to be free of that.

anywhoos, when i replaced the fuelcock i noticed that there were 2 hoses from the carbs that werent connected to anything. the hoses come from a T connector between the #1 & #2, and the #3 & #4 carbs, and terminate by the airbox. there are 2 holes on the outside of the airbox suspiciously located right by where the hoses terminate, but the doesnt look to be any fittings onto or into where the hoses would attach/go. the holes on the airbox dont appear to go into the airbox itself, but are through a flange on the outside of the airbox housing. for what it's worth (not very much coming from a carburation newbie such as myself) they look to be vacuum-type hoses.

anyways, any help would be much appreciated. the bike is 100% stock with 6k miles on the odo. if need be ill probably either have the carbs overhauled or just buy some new carbs and stick on a stage 2 outfit while they're out and easily accessible.


thanks in advance

[Clint]

Those are just breathers or vents. My Bandit has them, too. They don't get hooked up to the vacuum system or the airbox. IIRC, the holes in the airbox flange are retainers for the tubing.

We have some great carb guys here who can probably help you sort out your doggy low range. I'd throw a guess of bad floats or still-clogged pilot jets.

Welcome to M-J! Please fill out your profile.

[smaier69]

ah, cool. thank you very much for the quick help, bud! . when it comes to carbs i have to draw the line in terms of what i am willing to wrench on (i'm a machinist by trade, so i can make stuff.... it's the fixing of stuff that can get cumbersome when it gets really intricate).

and the profile will be completed shortly

[87gsxrnut]

Clean the pilot jets.

That will get them running right at low RPMs. Easy to miss, or not get right the first time.

- Nut

[Gixxerman]

And if you need any parts, here is the place to check how and what

Alpha Sports - Suzuki Motorcycle Parts Catalog

The part numbers are international so you can shop with these numbers in any country

Wish you best of luck with that cool machine you have

And for what it's worth, the guy above me knows it all so I won't be able to help you, sorry

[smaier69]

excellent, thank you very much for the help fellas. are pilot jets something that can be serviced by a know-nothing like myself (when it comes to carbs, anyways) or would that be a formula for disaster? don;t worry about offending me if the answer is the latter as i wouldnt really trust myself to do it either. and i believe you're right on the money with the pilot jets recommendation, as in my conversations with a couple astute wrenchers led to the same conclusion.

thanks for the help and the compliments guys . i'll have a lookie at ALpha Sports, too. i'm still turning over the idea of a new set of carbs to remove any other possible problem regarding carbs. my biggest fear is tackling one problem only to find it has companions. . i'll try not to become a nuisance with questions :p

[87gsxrnut]

It is fairly easy to do. Buying new carbs is really a waste of money.

- Nut