Planet Minis

minijohn

Hey guys I was wondering if you could help me out with my `80 Z50R. I cant seem to get any fuel to the carb. I took the fuel valve off and it was packed with corrosion, so I soaked it in engine degresser for 2 days and that seem to free up all the crap in there and I was able to blow all the stuff out. Then I still wasent getting fuel to the engine, so I decided to take the carb off and it too was packed with corrosion, so I soaked it in gas for about 8 hours and after I put it all back together I still cant get fuel to the bowl of the carb. So if anyone can help me out with any suggestions I would really appreciate it. Thanks

mexicanyella

engine degreaser and gasoline are not the kind of solvents you want for dissolving fuel varnish deposits. You need carburetor cleaner in an aerosol can at the very least, PLUS the compressed air hose. Those "bucket o' cancer" cleaners where you submerge the part in a metal basket in the vile deadly fluid work pretty well, but they also dissolve gaskets and nylon parts and stuff too, so you have to strip the carb down to only metal parts before dipping them.

If you do have fuel coming out the petcock but not getting into the float bowl, you've either got some junk you missed in the fuel line or carb inlet nipple, or else your float needle is hanging up in its seat. This is pretty common. It's got to slide freely and drop out freely with the float out of the way; if there's any friction it won't necessarily follow the float when the float drops, and therefore hinder fuel coming into the bowl. You can try to clean it but if you start getting tempted to scrape around in it, my advice would be to replace that needle and seat, because it saves time and aggravation and sometimes abrasively cleaning it will make it drop out easily but also not stop the flow of gas completely when you want it to.

You will almost certainly need to disassemble the carb, though, and clean the bejesus out of everything with actual carb cleaner and compressed air and maybe a torch tip cleaning tool, if it was that junked up.

110streetlegal

i used fea foam to get the corrosion out of my carb soaked it for a couple hours and scrubbed it you can get it at walmart, pep boys, napa, and kragen or online

Motor Treatment - Sea Foam

mexicanyella

Yep, Seafoam is good stuff. I've had good luck with a Berryman product (I think it was called something scientific-sounding like B-12 Chemtool or something) in the past too. Lately I've been just using regular old Autozone house-brand carb cleaner and compressed air, but I haven't had to soak anything in awhile since my bike gets used all the time.

minijohn

Thanks for the help guys. It turns out the needle wont come out of the carb, so I'm on the hunt for another one. Anyways I appreciate your help guys

micromachine

dont forget to clean the crap out of the gas tank or youll be doing this again next week!! you should put some chain and bolts, ball bearings, and a little gas in the tank and shake it for a long time to knock loose all the crap in the tank. then wash it out really good. and if the tank is really rusty you could do a chemical liner like Caswell or somthing like that to seal the inside of the tank

rusty gas tanks are a bitch.

good luck with your bike

50minikid

Another tip if you want the easy way out, stock xr or crf50 carbs work perfect and can be found for pretty cheap on here.

minijohn

Cool man, thanks for the heads up, I'll keep my eye open for one on here

mexicanyella

Which needle won't come out of the carb, the slide (metering) needle, the float needle or the pilot air screw needle on the side?