Emulsion tubes/needle jets: how long do they last?

[tomacGTi]

I've searched up and down for the past day and does anyone have a consensus on mileage on these? Factory pro says as little as 5k and I've heard 25k with no wear.

-Randy

[gsxr400 racer]

interfuse was having problems too

[PitterB4]

Mine were definitely elongated in the mid-teens.

[tomacGTi]

Well as crazy it may be, the emulsion tubes in my bike were OK. This is going on 27k and at least more than half of that was on a Dynojet jet kit. Things of note:

-The slide guides had the most wear. I was able to replace these with the ones on a junk set of carbs with low miles that came with my motor. The slides themselves were alright but I cleaned them up and used some light oil so they would work a bit smoother.

-With some slight guide wear, the needles showed that they were more "polished" where they would contact the emulsion tube. I polished the entire needle with some compound in the drill and brought everything even color-wise. Hopefully the new polish will also help with wear. DJ needles are stainless steel, not aluminum or Ti and are fairly smooth. They're just about mirror smooth now.

-Emulsion tubes had some very slight witness marks from the needles, nothing anywhere near that Factory Pro would indicate as bad. Thankfully it didn't distort them at all and all you could see were rub marks in the very interior. These could have also have been from the stock aluminum needles as these had some rubbing indicated in them as well.

-Even with an in-line filter, the tank is still rusting a bit as indicated by the very slight sediment in the bottom of the float bowls. I think a full tear-down is going to be a yearly thing. A side project this winter perhaps will be to remove the failed Kreem and recoat with POR15 or otherwise. A PIA that I am not looking forward to doing.

From all I have read and searched, the only thing you can buy are the slides themselves. The guides bear most of the wear in the carb and can only be had with a set of carbs themselves. Just being able to replace these from time to time would probably keep everything pretty happy.

Emulsion tubes are still listed from Suzuki and a little tidbit: if you're looking to replace the o-rings that go underneath the mixture screws, they're not listed in the Bandit fiche. You can get them by going through the GS 500 one.

[interfuse]

I think I got a season out of a set of tubes (maybe 10,000 km). But I'm pretty sure my slides are bad (I`ve got spares here, next time I buy needles I`ll switch everything). I had a dynojet needle that was nearly sawed in 1/2. You can tell when the go, you'll be all soggy in the low end.

[interfuse]

Oh and when I got my bike it had 36,000 kms on it. The tubes where toast but still functioned. It ran a lot better after changing those out. You can see the wear if they`re worn.

[tomacGTi]

Yeah, I could see inside the bore that they were touching a tiny bit but really not enough to replace them (at least in my opinion). That and it's a bad time of the year to spend money on the bike especially since it's hibernating for the next four months.

Damn you Christmas and winter...

[Banditmax]

I just ordered in a new set of these from jay myself too. Will let you know how it helps my bikes rich running mid range.