GS1000 Carb help! - Motorcycle-Journal Forums

Deuce · 06-22-2009, 07:35 PM

This is a long story, so here goes. I bought this 81 Suzuki GS1000 for $250. The guy said it needed a few brake parts and it's running lean. That's all's wrong with it. So I got the bike, fixed the brakes. It needed exhaust too. He's right though. It's running lean, so far as I can tell. The first thing I did was clean the carbs.. Very thouroughly. I used copper wire and cleaned every little hole and everything. They're spotless. I put'em back on and it's still running a little funny. It's doing a few things
They are:
Backfiring when I let off the gas
Running sluggish or stalling almost at rpms lower than about 3k
Idling at random intervals between .5k and 2k
If you disconnect the battery all the lights are dim and it will barely idle

Now I don't know much about the electrical but it seems just fine when the battery is connected. All the lights are bright and everything. i have not, however, put a voltage meter on it.
My question is this, when I dismantled the carbs all the pilot jets had rubber stoppers in them. Naturally, if it came that way, I put them back. But it doesn't make sense to me. The problems the bike is having, aside from the electrical, could be explained by this, right? I do body and paint work for a living. I don't know too much about mechanical. But to my understanding the pilot jet creates a seperate fuel/air mixture for low rpms, off accelerator and idle speeds. Right?
Does anyone else have an old GS1000 with Mikuni CV carbs? And if so, do yours have those rubber stoppers? Any help with this would be awesome because I live in a pretty small city and the only repair shops are dealers or pro speed shops with really high labor rates. I hope you guys can help!