Is this a bad thing?



It doesn't wipe off with carb cleaner.  I haven't scrubbed or scraped or hammered yet.  Just sprayed and wiped to no avail.  Is it worth trying to clean, or should I quit while I'm ahead?  

I presume this is the "slide galling" I've read about?  I am just learning by tearing the thing apart, so I'll probably screw up the terminology.

Oh, and Savage Wahine, one thing you could include in your very excellent technical document...

"If you are nauseated by the smell of gasoline, as I am, just disconnect all the lines to the carb.  Then let the bike sit in an old barn full of owls and pigeons for approximately one year.  Owl and pigeon poop makes an excellent gasoline odor masker."

This is off the parts bike, so I'm not in a big yank over it.  I wanted to make a practice run before screwing around with the People Eater's carb.

Actually, I was really surprised at how pristine it was.  When I saw the slide I figured the carb was shot.  But I cleaned it all out, spiffed it up, and put it back together last night.  The diaphragm was nice and soft with no holes.  This poor bike was ridden by a young man who was mildly autistic.  His dad would tell him things he was supposed to do, but wouldn't do them (kind of a learning tool, I guess) so many basic maintenance issues were neglected.  That's how I ended up with it so cheap.  It ran out of oil.

I'm glad I did it on the spare first.  I must have done something wrong on removal, because I had a bear of a time jerking that thing out of the bike.  I'm a little reluctant to take the one out of my bike, for fear I won't be able to get it back in.  I guess I'll just plunge ahead and hope for the best, though.

I didn't polish the slide.  I cleaned it well with carb cleaner and then put a thin layer of motor oil on it, thinking that might help.  I didn't know what was right, so as usual I just made something up.  If that was a major no-no, please let me know so I don't go sticking it in the People Eater and blowing something up.

Thanks Verslagen1.  I'll open it back up and clean that off.  Then I might just stick it on my bike to see how I did.  I know to most of you guys, this is basic stuff.  But it's been a long time since I monkeyed with a carburetor, and even back then I was no pro.

Thanks for putting up with the ignorance.  All of you make this a fantastic site.

I've been successful over the years cleaning a similar part (slide) on SU carbs (English Cars).  I use lacquer thinner, the paint thinner that is retailed in steel containers (quart or liter).  If that fails to remove all the residue (carbon) I finish with a white polishing compound usually Turtle Liquid white polish.  Keep the slide (piston) dry, no lubrication and as verslagen1 has said not even any finger prints.  Lancer made a good point in cleaning the diaphram rubber.

Verslagen is right ,mine was black all overI thought that is was supposed to be like that,I used 600 grit wet dry on it and it worked great, after cleaning and reassembling  you should be able to open the throttle and when you let go it should close fast,if it's still sluggish ,clean some more,good luck

The smooth black is supose to be there - the shinny part is where it has worn away - rough black is a build up - very fine grit - 600+ paper and clean as possible before it goes back in.

I thought that the slide was supposed to be black. When I did my carb mods the slide was completely black with only a small wear mark on it and the bike had only 2,000 miles on it. I think that the smoothness of the slide is more of an issue, any little piece of dirt or oil will cause it to hang up.

I'm sure that you guys might be right about the black coating on your slides, but his is bright silver in the middle where no contact is made with the rest of the carb.  So I'd say that his doesn't have a coating and go ahead and make the whole thing bright.