78 GS550 Carb Issue

[motomurray]

Hey All - I was gifted an old 78 GS550 and started tearing it apart to start fresh. After removing carbs and opening them up, I found the tube pictured in attached broken off in carb #1. I've been searching all over the internet and can;t find this part in the diagrams, for sale, ANYWHERE... I was able to use pliers to pull out the remainder of the tube from the carb, just straight out no twist needed, so weird to me I can find this anywhere..

Needing some help, anyone know what I'm looking at here? Going to head to a moto junkyard this weekend to try and find a new (used) set I can open up and salvage parts from, unless buying something new is an option.

Any help would be great!

[oilyrag]

Are there any numbers or letters stamped on the side carb? That would tell you what model it is. You should be able to get parts based on that

[Easy-X]

Worst ways find a knock-off or second-hand carb and strip the pipe from that.
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Royal Enfield Continental GT 535, Husqvarna Vitpilen 401, Yamaha XSR700, Honda Rebel, Yamaha DT175, Suzuki SV650 (loan) Fazer 600, Keeway Superlight 125, 50cc turd scooter

[Pete.]

Pretty sure that's just the fuel pickup for the fuel enrichment (choke) circuit. If so you have a few choices:

Plug it and suffer the bike not running on that cylinder when you first start up from cold.

Find or make a similar tube, fix the new one in place of the old.

Make a thin brass sleeve and soft solder the two halves together using the sleeve as a joiner. Fix the tube back in with fuel-safe retainer.
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a.k.a 'Geri'

132.9mph off and walked away. Gear is good, gear is good, gear is very very good

[oilyrag]

There's a single carb
https://www.ebay.com/itm/SUZUKI-GS550-1978-CARB-CARBURETOR-MIKUNI-CARB-BODY-4-Four-Right-Outer-OEM/283869646004?hash=item4217f30cb4:g:UqYAAOSw~6BessuR

[oilyrag]

According to that link you've got a 77-79 GS550L and the carb is a Mikuni vm22ss.

https://www.thegsresources.com/_forum/showthread.php?73723-Carb-OEM-specs-as-per-factory-manuals

[motomurray]

Thanks everyone!! Talked to a shop today and, although they were uncertain, they said that piece was likely part of the carb and could only be 'replaced' through getting a new carb. I think otherwise, so gonna take a shot at repairing the copper tube. Also heading to a moto junkyard tomorrow in hopes of finding an old set of carbs to swap out, as a nice backup plan.

Either way, appreciate the research and recommendations. big help!

[Robby]

CMSNL don't list it as a separate part, so it looks like you are going to have to get another carb to harvest the part, fix it, or ignore it.

If it is on the choke circuit then it's the least critical part in terms of precise fuel metering, so I would be tempted to try fixing it. See if you can very carefully remove one of the intact ones first to see what the whole thing is meant to look like.

[motomurray]

One more question for everyone while I (hopefully) have your attention. Moving slightly forward, wanting to see if you're on the same page with jetting.

This bike now lives with me in Denver so needing to account for altitude (5k+ ft). I'm running 4 air pods and a 4 to 2 exhaust on here. Stock main jet is 80, so the mods above bring it up 6 points (to 95), then altitude knows it back down 2 points, leaving me at a main jet of 87.5.

Does all that sounds right?

I currently only have main jets, so was going to give that a shot (+ vacuum syncing carbs) before trying to replace anything else. Let me know if you think otherwise!

Thanks again

[Nobby the Bastard]

[A100man]