Are 47 year old carbs worth rebuilding?

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Norcoastal

Norcoastal

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I just went to YouTube (yes I’m jumping around a lot) and I was searching a site that was titled Rebuilding Amal Carbs.

The guys first sentence was “if you have a 40 year old carb, it’s not worth rebuilding”.

Do you guys agree with this?

I have some old 932’s that I was going to rebuild for my 850. Should I be just buying new carbs?
 
Ask yourself the question, how much are new carbs and how much in total would it cost to rebuild the old ones.
 
Bernhard said:
Ask yourself the question, how much are new carbs and how much in total would it cost to rebuild the old ones.
Click to expand...

It wasn’t about the cost. The guys statement was that 40 yr old carbs are worn and not worth rebuilding. Obviously rebuilding a carb you already have would be best, but if you put in the time and money rebuilding them and it’s not worth it due to it age, maybe it’s better to buy new.

I’m only going by what someone said on YouTube. It was his first comment so it had some validity to it as he was making a bold statement.
 
Just save your pennies and buy a set of new Amal Premiers and be done with, the old ones they were made from pot metal and just wear to much to soon and by the time you spend money rebuilding the old ones the extra money for the newer ones will be better spent, and they are made to last and made of better metal.

Ashley
 
Mine was stored for 38 yrs. with about 22,000 mi. on her. I revived it and rebuilt the 932's a year ago and they're still going strong. So I think the man is missing some information to pass that opinion along.... Could be he's just had bad luck and bought junk too.... Maybe mine will crap out next week. Rebuilding is less expensive and worth a shot prior to dumping 3-400 dollars if you don't need to IMO. It only cost me about 60 to rebuild.
 
Back in the day the bike was likely used every day and the carbs don't wear out as quick as occasional used bikes that we tend to get today
The only real worry would be the bottom of the slide breaking off
This occasionally can happen
My bike starts runs revs out perfectly on an old pair of concentrics but I don't know how many miles they have done
 
I bought new Premiers for my Commando - Have not run it yet so I cannot offer an opinion on them but most seem delighted with them. The originals were fine except for idle issues when it got hot . If you can live with the idle issues from worn slides and there are budget constraints then you might look to rebuilding . If you can’t live with the air leaking around worn slides then rebuilding will include boring and sleeving and new anodized slides - while I am not certain, it seems to me you will now be approaching the cost of the new Premiers so new Premiers would be the way to go.
If cost is an issue clean the carbs - ultrasonic if you can - and assemble with a rebuild kit and try them . Easy enough to swap them out for new ones later if you are unhappy with the result.
PM sent re: this subject- check your inbox
 
I am one of the happy Premier buyers. Others have stated they need cleaning right out of the box; I did and found swarf in the drill ways. Once cleaned, I slightly lowered the floats before installing. Bike runs great and idles!

~998cc
 
Lund sleeves Amal 900 series for about $75. I don’t know how long his serviced carbs last. I have original 932/19 932/20 carbs that were sleeved by Mike Gaylord in 1998. After more than 35,000 miles they idle and accelerate perfectly. If no damage to the 40 year old carbs other than slide wear sleeving seems to be the economic solution. I intend to do sleeving of the original 930s on my ‘69 750S project.
 
I appreciate everyone’s opinions. Thank you.

I think for me it will be best to try and clean and tune up what I have. If it doesn’t work, nothing lost.

Thanks everyone and Happy New Year!
 
I went to new Premiers on all four of my bikes and have never given it a second though. Sleeving makes the carb body bore way too thin. I see no point
in spending a lot of money for a repaired carb.
 
Yes, sleeving does thin the walls somewhat, possibly making them susceptible to warping through over tightening etc. But sleeving does work well when done properly.

My issue with sleeving is that it doesn’t replace the jets, needles, floats, etc, etc and, worst of all, you’ve still got the shite original pilot bush set up.

Sleeving is a great repair for unobtainium carbs, but with Premiers available, I personally wouldn’t opt to repair and sleeve old concentrics any more.
 
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He'll fire as his guns come to bear I'm sure seeing as he's got the range and the wind is in his favor.
 
I rebuilt my original 930's with all new parts, had them sleeved at Lund's and ended up spending the same as a new set of Premiers. Your choice.
 
An original new Amal came with some issues. The Premiere design looks after those issues.

So even if you spend lots to get the old ones in close to new condition, you still have something that is inferior to the Premiere.

Ive still got a bike running originals and two others with sleeved originals. Now that Premieres are available that'll be my choice for dealing with worn Amal carbs in the future.

Glen
 
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Norcoastal said:
I appreciate everyone’s opinions. Thank you.

I think for me it will be best to try and clean and tune up what I have. If it doesn’t work, nothing lost.

Thanks everyone and Happy New Year!
Click to expand...

Good plan. If they don’t work out either solution is a good one. If I had any concerns about condition of the old carbs I would go with the new Premiers.
 
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