actually you can soak them.  but you cant soak the gaskets and o rings.  Not to sound rude, but this stuff is used to take off burnt on rubber and debris, so your buddy wouldnt be t smart to soak them with the stuff on the carbs.

Update. Okay, tried some of the suggestions - thanks by the way - <br /> - took out the air filter and tried some high speed runs. The damn thing actually ran worse :wtf:<br /> - tore the carbs apart and they were clean as a whistle. I was really hoping there would have been inches of shit in there - oh well. Put it all back together and it runs exactly the same. Pulls strong up to the very top of fifth and then sixth you can feel it die off. Sometimes you even have to down shift back to fifth. Seems worse when it&#039;s pulling into a wind. Damn thing runs like a top till you really get into it. You can feel a slight bog occaisionally all through the gears but it&#039;s way worse up top. This bike has a vacum operated petcock so I&#039;m thinking maybe that&#039;s hooped - whatever it is I have to get it fixed soon before it makes her crazier :jump: She came home the other night pissed off because she lost to a litre bike on the highway :rofl: Anyway thanks again. (I told her to buy a Kawi but noooo, had to have a Honda)

Its real important to read the product information on the labels of any cleaners, oils, etc that you plan to use on your bike.&nbsp; If a cleaner says don&#039;t use on plastics or rubber, then you know its likely to disolve o-rings or harm plastics that you get overspray onto.&nbsp; For example, locktite is a great product, but if you use it for the bolts that go through your windshield, you can expect cracking to appear in that area, even if you never touch the windshield with the locktite.&nbsp; The fumes from the curing process as locktite sets, reacts with polycarbonate windshields and cause plastic fatigue and cracking.&nbsp; Unless a product specifically says its meant to soak parts in, I never leave the parts in for an extended period of time. I simply spray and wipe as directed and then re-assemble.<br /><br />As mentioned before on this page, get replacement gaskets, o-rings, etc before you start the project.&nbsp; When tearing them apart, I&#039;ve gone to the trouble of using a cardboard box lid with crude pictures drawn on it and holes to organize screws, etc.&nbsp; Others I know use a digital camera and take pictures every step of the dissassembly so they have something to reference when it goes back together.&nbsp; I know that may seem overkill, but if you only take a carb apart once every couple of years, its sometimes hard to remember what pieces went where, what bend you had on the float, etc.

I noticed a couple of things reading through this thread. I am far from an expert, but I have ripped the carbs apart on my current bike twice, and I couldn&#039;t count the number of times on my previous bike. With this I have come up with a system that works well for me.<br /><br />There have been lots of good tips, that I will take not of as well for future use. The one thing that I don&#039;t agree with was soaking the carbs in gas. Might work to clean some of the dirt and debris off of the outside of the carbs, but if they are gunked up in the jets or other passages this doesn&#039;t usually help a lot as gas is what has been running through the carbs when they got dirty. I have a gallon of Gunk Heavy Duty cleaner degreaser that I soak all of the metal parts in overnight. Take them out the next day, and everything is shiny and new looking. You never want to us any kind of carb cleaner on any rubber parts, as it will destroy the rubber.<br /><br />When I took my carbs appart the first time, I used the digital camera and took pictures of every part from various angles. Came in very handy (along with the computer in the garage) when I went to reassemble the carbs. I could go back and look at the pictures, and count the number of turns on a spring to make sure I had the tension wound back on properly. I currently have several hundred pics of my bike, most every part and angle.<br /><br />I like the idea of using a piece of cardboard to hold pieces as well. Would work great for all of the screws. What I usually do is use a clean paper towel or 2. That way I can lay the pieces out and they are easy to see each and every piece on the white paper. As well, with the paper towel, screws, jets, or other small round parts usually stay put, instead of rolling around the workbench.<br /><br />The final thing that I would comment on is the synching of the carbs. If you are running a rack of 2 or more carbs, any time you split them you should be doing a sync. I am getting good at getting really close with a bench synch, but I would rather have it bang on. If anyone would like to synch there carbs, I have a set of mercury sticks that you are more than welcome to borrow, or come over and use.

Another cleaner that works well and will not hurt the rubber seals and gaskets you don&#039;t even know are in that carb is ( Autopar combuston camber conditoner) in the spray cans.&nbsp; &nbsp; Can be sprayed throw every passage and jet. Then&nbsp; you know if they are open or not in a hurry.&nbsp; You are not supposed to soak Motorcycle carbs as there are seals&nbsp; in it you can not remove.&nbsp; I found this out from a x-moto racer/mechanic.

Yes, I have heard many good things about the combustion chamber cleaner. <br /><br />As for the soaking of the carbs, I hadn&#039;t heard that before. I am sure there are no extra seals in my carbs, as the members of the V4 forum I frequent have been soaking there carbs for a long time. As well, some of the members have been building, modding, and dragging the bikes since they have come out. <br /><br />Non the less, that is good to know that there is that chance that some of the carbs out there may not be safely soaked in cleaner.

ive only done work on mikuni carbs and they seem to handle any cleaner pretty good. ive never actually soaked one but i know of people who have and never heard of problems. i think its just the newer ones that are a bit touchy.

I have Mikuni&#039;s and I was always told not to soak them....I cleaned them out bigtime, replaced the jets and now I just have a fuel mixture problem....dang thing is always smellin&#039; rich....but the carbs are clean and it&#039;s got lots of power...

Did you do a plug check? The needles might be wore a little if you didn&#039;t replace them or they might just need to be lowered a notch or 2.&nbsp; My runs rich on 2 carbs, I ordered carb kits from the states but the customs must like them as they have had them for 3 weeks now.

needles were replaced....i think it&#039;s the mixture screws as they had been played with before I bought it and I dunno how to get them set right and noone in the city has an exhaust analyzer to do it properly I hear...

mixture screws are fun,&nbsp; most manuels tell you to twist them all teh way in, and then a certain ammount out, and to work from there, because it needs to change depending on elevation.&nbsp; i know i hate working with carbs, expecially dual and quadrouple carbs that most bikes have because tehn you have to keep them in sync.

wow!<br /><br />why&#039;d you pull this one out?? hehehe

lol i dont know, just wanted to up my post count i guess lol.&nbsp; did you get it runing right before the season ended?

I dunno if they did or not...they haven&#039;t been online here in a while :dunno:

well what the hell?