2004 Bandit 1200 - About to put a carb rebuild kit in. Question on the parts...

[bandit01]

Hi.  Like the topic says I have the K&L 18-5082 kits and am about to put them in.  They include the needle valve and seat assembly, bowel gaskets, and misc. other O-rings.  My question is on the O-Rings.  I have read the manual on the carbs and it doesn't seem like I really need to change any more than the needle assembly (to get to the O-Rings), the small vacuum o-ring under the plastic lids, and the float bowl gaskets.  There are more rings than that in the kit, but they seem to be there "just because" .   

Is there anyone with first-hand knowledge on if any more of these o-rings go in different places on the carbs?  Thanks.

[rider123]

It may be because some rebuild kits will cover different years with slightly different carbs so instead of building a whole new rebuild kit it's cheaper for them to throw in a few 2 cent O-rings. As long as you replace what you take out you should be good. For example the Gen 1 uses the RF900 carbs whereas the Gen 2 uses a totally different carb. They are very similar but different enough that some O-rings you need for the GEN1 are not applicable for the GEN2 and vice versa. On the rebuild kit was it a generic "Bandit 1200 1995-2006?" or something because that would explain the extra O-rings.

Here is a chart with their products and they do have different kits for GEN1 and GEN2's. Did you buy the wrong kit maybe?

http://www.powersportjunkie.com/K-and-L-SUPPLY-CO-18-5082-p/tr-292713.htm

For the gen1 you need the 29-2714 for GEN 1 bikes 96-00

For the gen2 you need the 29-2713 for Gen 2 bikes 01-06 <---You need this variant of the kit

From the picture, it looks like the right kit as I've taken my damn carbs apart more times then I can remember jetting it.

Looks like it has 2 emulsion tube 0-rings 1 to put on and 1 spare.

[bandit01]

I agree on the one bigger ring being a spare.  After digging into the carbs further I found:

- The float bowel gasket is pretty self explanatory
- One small ring goes at the base of the fuel/air screw.  They have to be backed all the way out - THERE'S A REALLY SMALL WASHER IN THERE!!!  DON'T LOSE IT!!!!
- One medium/small ring goes at the base of the main jet column
- One small ring goes at the top of the carb under the plastic cover.
- The second medium/smalll ring holds the needle assembly in the carbs, also under the plastic cover.
- The remaining large ring looks like it could be a spare to the needle valve assembly.  It has to be, because nothing else in there is big enough for it to go around.

All of this matches the carb line-diagram break downs for where they should be.

After digging further into it, I'm glad I bothered to rebuild them.  The rings were all terribly dirty and dried out.  The one around the needle assembly, and at the main-jet base was real bad.  It's no wonder at all that they leaked fuel into the crankcase.     I found them on eBay for $67 shipped, too.  Not bad for less than half price of what everyone else wants for them.    

Hope this helps.

[AZJAX]

Hi to all of my fellow Bandits. I’m getting ready to rebuild the carbs on my 2001 Bandit 1200 and here’s the breakdown of the 5 O-rings that come in the rebuild kit. 1 is for the tip of the air screw, 1 goes under the black plastic diaphragm cap, 1 goes under the black plastic screw on cap for the enrichener valve aka choke, 1 goes at the base of the emulsion tube for the main jet and the last one (the mystery one) is a fuel rail seal which requires you to disassemble the carb bank. 

[txbanditrydr]

Nice job on the pic...   

Also,    to the site - Glad you found us.

[AZJAX]

Thank You I really appreciate it.
I'm going to tear into the carbs this weekend and I will do my best to post some pics of the process. BTW this forum is AWESOME! it's a great resource for tips, tricks, short-cuts and "whatever you do don't do this/that".

Cheers.

[AZJAX]

So I just disassembled the rack of carbs to get them super clean. I took the carb cleaning to the extreme because I just bought this bike (11/12/12) in a barely running condition. And when I took the carbs apart they were super NASTY because the bike had sat for 2 years with a tank of gas and stabilizer. The stabilizer is only good for a year MAX! and after that all bets are off. Here's some pics of where the fuel rail o-rings go and some proof of how nasty the carbs were. BTW this was my first time ever taking a rack of carbs apart and it was surprisingly easy.

[rider123]

I'd say stabilizer is sketchy after 6 months max. If I had to store something over 6 months I'd drain the fluids.

[AZJAX]

Your preaching to the choir on that one my brother. You and I both know that stabilizer is not so stable but this was the condition that the bike was in when I bought it 2 1/2 weeks ago. But the up side is I no longer fear carburetors LOL!

BTW rider123 thanks for the link on where to get the rebuild kit. The price was half of what HS sells the exact same kit for. 

http://www.powersportjunkie.com/K-and-L-SUPPLY-CO-18-5082-p/tr-292713.htm

[rider123]

Well you have to scratch your head at some decisions some people make. I'm in Canada and I run the bike every 2 weeks or so for 10 mins to warm up the bike and fluids and keep everything flowing in the winter. If we get a global warming spell I even go for a short ride and top up with fresh gas to make sure its got some fresh and remix with more stabilizer. Keeps the battery charged as a bonus. If I can do it in coldish Canada I'm sure anywhere south of the Mason-Dixon line should be a no problemo.

Other than laziness, there is no reason that guy couldn't have run that bike every month or so and then topped up with fresh gas and stabilizer once and a while. He would have a perfectly running bike no matter how long he stored it. But hey his loss your gain, I'm sure you saved a few dollars on it 

[RDUBandit]

I just rebuilt a set of gen. 2 carbs I got of eBay as well.  While I was in there, I added a Holeshot stage 1 kit, and turned the wire actuated choke into a knob type (using OEM parts from an '89 Gixxer 1100 that are still available online).  I'll post pics if you're interested.