1977 BS38 Carb Rebuild

Sowiuk1

no gear no idea
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Hi All.
Stripped my Mikuni BS38 carbs apart this evening off of my 77 xs650, ready for the ultrasonic cleaner.
Where can I get replacement parts, and what should I replace now it’s all disassembled? And how do I learn what sizing the jets are etc.

Thanks for any help.
Pictures attached.
 

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Hi Sowiuk, just noticed your posting. I don't often come to the UK regional forum - seems to be a bit of a backwater.

I did a similar thing to yourself - stripped and cleaned the carbs. Then bought carb rebuild kits from NRP Carbs. Can't remember how many of the parts I changed.

Also, can't remember the jet sizes and so forth off the top of me head, best place to find the factory settings is a manual. If you don't have one, you will find free manuals on-line but I would always recommend having a hard copy to take in the garage.

Take a note of the jet sizes just for reference, might need a magnifying glass. Jet sizes for best running is affected by everything - air filters, exhaust, state of the engine, the cams, over-size rebore kit if fitted.

The biggest problem with the carbs on my XS turned out to be tiny splits in the rubber diaphragms. Didn't notice on first exploring the carbs but I started getting severe running issues - bike just would not take any throttle or rev past about 3,000. I though it must be an ignition problem but in fact it was those splits. You could see them if you held the slide up to the light and gently stretched the diaphragm. Bought new slides & diaphragms from Heiden BUT they were wrong for my BS38s. Something to do with the way the needle is retained. Managed to buy good s/h on ebay.

The tale no doubt told on my build thread - look for Miss November. This link might take you to the relevant section of that long saga . .

https://www.xs650.com/threads/miss-november-xs2-tribute.55057/post-613757

If you search the forum there is a lot of information on carbs. Don't forget to look at the excellent guide in the Tech section:

https://www.xs650.com/threads/43

And if you ask for advice, there are people very willing to help, for example, 5Twins has a great deal of experience setting up carbs on XS650s.
 
Since yesterday, looked up std jet sizes for 1977-83 XS650 running BS38s. These will give at least a starting point:

Main 135
Jet needle 502 clip pos 3
Needle jet Z-2
Air jet 140
Pilot 27.5
Float height 24 mm (+ or -1)
Pilot screw is preset at the factory but look around the forum for how to change if required.
 
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