How to remove carburettors on a Suzuki Intruder VS1400

Removing the air boots

The first thing you need to do is to loosen a couple of ring clips. These ring clips are fastened and secured using a Philips screw and holds the air boot from the airbox to the carburettors. Find the head of those screws, loosen them and then you’ll be able to remove the rubber boot and get it out of the way so it doesn’t cause an obstruction when you’re working on the carbs. You’ll find these ring clips at both ends of the rubber boot of both carburettors. One ring clip secures the boot to the airbox and the other to the carburettor.

Once you’ve loosened them up, you can very slowly pry off the rubber boot. You want to be careful when you’re doing this, as you don’t want to crack or split them (otherwise you’ll have to replace them), and if it doesn’t come off easily, try loosening the ring clips more.

Make sure you check the boots when they are off – Check them for splits and fractures and make sure they are soft and pliable, not rock solid and rigid. If they have any of these defects, they need to be replaced because if you have more air going into the carbs than you are supposed to,  the engine will not run as intended and you may get over-revving and backfiring.

Remove from the cylinder

Now you can work on the other side of the carbs to release them from the cylinders. This is the same process as before, you have two ring clips: one on the front carb and one on the rear carb. These are attached to the cylinders. Find the heads of those screws and loosen them up. Once they are loosened, you’ll be able to slowly manoeuvre the carbs off of the cylinders.  Make sure you don’t just pull them off when you’re done, as there will be some other things we need to take into account first.

Make sure you locate which wires are going from the front carbs to the rear carb and which are going under the frame. You don’t want to remove the carbs without doing this as some wires go underneath the centre bracket and you need to release any wires and pipes that are going around the engine.

On this bike, I needed to take note of the choke cable and the throttle cable from the front carb. Both of these were going underneath the centre frame. This may be different on your bike, depending on any mods that may have been done.

Releasing the Rear Carb

There is a brass nut on the throttle arm of the rear carburettor (right-hand side) which anchors the throttle cable. You’ll be able to get a couple of spanners in there and release it, but it can be very fiddly. Mine wasn’t in good condition, so I cut it rather than release it to get it out with ease. You DO NOT need to cut the throttle cable if you’re not replacing it. You may also want to take note of the piece of conduit (foil tubing) on the left-hand side of the frame – This is your fuel line that connects the two carbs together. You don’t have to remove this if it’s going over the top of the frame, but if you do, make sure you keep it in good condition.

You also need to remove the fuel supply line to the rear carb. It’s the rear carb that takes the fuel first from the tank and it is then supplied to the front carb. There is a metal clip at the top of the pipe, you need to release that clip and then push down on that pipe to remove it from the bottom of the carb. Be mindful of the wiring and other components while applying downward pressure to remove the pipe. The carb should then be easily removable.

The last piece to remove on the rear carb is the choke. There is a 12mm plastic nut on the carb. Underneath this nut, there is a spring and a needle (both move freely so be careful) – when removing the choke cable, make sure you do it slowly so as not to lose these inner parts.

Sync Cable

The sync cable goes under the frame connecting the two carbs. Its job is to synchronize both carburettors, allowing the same mixture of air and fuel into the cylinders at the same time with the same amount of pressure. If we don’t sync the carbs, the engine won’t run well.

If you can get the carbs out without touching the sync cable or loosening it, do it, as it’ll make the job of refitting a lot easier. If you do have to make changes to the tension of the sync cable or remove it completely in order to release both carburettors, syncing the carbs thereafter will be essential.

Releasing the Front Carb

You need to release the tension on the throttle cable on the front carb and remove the end of the throttle cable from the throttle arm located on the front carburettor. To do this, follow the throttle cable down from the handlebar to where it joins to the front carburettor. You will find a lock nut that you need to release before loosening the throttle cable nut.  Then continue to unscrew the throttle cable from the carbs. This will allow us to take the carbs to the workbench. To release the ends of the throttle cable from the throttle arm, ideally use some long nose needle pliers to manoeuvre the end of the cable out of the carburettors throttle arms.

The front choke is easier to remove than the rear one. Pull any slack in the choke cable through and away from it’s seated position on the choke arm, this will give you enough room to release the end of the choke cable. Rotate the choke cables plastic housing where it meets the carburettor (see video 11m:02s) and it will release.

Please note

Never force anything. Use WD40 or an equivalent penetration fluid, spray it, leave it for half an hour, and try again.