Involute

I took a Dremel cutoff wheel and ground a slot through the housing and in to the head of the bugger. Now I use a regular screw driver.

skokievtr

I guess if you go slow and use waterbase (silicone) gease to catch the grit and muffle sparks WHILE GRINDING A DRAINED FLOAT BOWL on the bench OFF THE BIKE. Unless you have a cable extension like I have for my Dremel and can get my big hand in there or just pull and turn over the carbs with the gas lines capped and extingusher handy.

No problem with the pilot's O-ring or threads being damaged from grinding heat or vibration?

loserbaby

Exactly! And I even went so far as to grind off the "shroud" so when I'm adjusting with the carbs on the bike, I can see exactly where I'm at.

skokievtr, I guess I'm a bit bold, it takes a specific air/fuel mix to actually ignite and when it comes to remaining "fumes" in a volume such as a carb bowl... you couldn't blow your pubes off! Not to mention, there are no sparks from brass and aluminum, I personally ignored the heat damage to the O-ring... and with a seven yr old bike there was no leak after the fact, or air leak. I'm an aircraft mech of about 17yrs and I'm fairly conscious of the negatives when making alterations. The risk here is truly negligible.

Involute

The only problem is any mouse that decides to nest on my engine will see the Dremel job I did.

Heat and vibration are not an issue if some (very little) finesse is used.

skokievtr

I have been working on airplanes, rockets, missles, satellites, motorcycles and cars (the later mostly because I want it done right for least cost) for 34 years, utilizing knowledge and skills learned in school, on the job and by trial and error. I developed a philosophy that merges two trains of thought when doing almost anything, that being there is "close enough for the girls we go out with" (or "government work"), and "only right is right" when lives are at stake. I take calculated risks but prefer to plan things out and adapt the plan as necessary. I can disassemble my VTR and expose the carbs in a half hour. Pulling the carbs completely (PAIR system was removed in 1999) or at least removing the float bowls adds another 15 minutes. Then working on the bench is a pleasure. In my prior post I was raising flags in laymans terms (the brushes & armature on a running Dremel create sparks) and playing the devil's advocate. However, as they say "cleaniness is next to godliness" and "safety first". That is what its all about, after that everything is commentary. I personally used a Dremel to cut a slot in the heads of the tamperproof screws retaining the TPS (with the carbs laying on a damp towel in the to replace them with socket head cap screws.

As I indicated, I modified the Factory D-bit and grafted it to the inexpensive MP adjusting tool. I'm willing to live with still using this method because its more work now to cut the pilot, and I can set the pilot screws and balance the carbs (I plumbed both carbs with capped extension hoses to hook up to both my mecury and electronic sync guages) without lifting the tank or removing anything.

Like anything in life, its all what your willing to live with, the risks and results.

jschmidt

Just scored the K&L tool on Ebay for not too much. Haven't tried it yet.

redman