Cleaning Amal 932 Premier on the bike

Folks -

Had my MkIII running fine with new Premiers then got busy. It sat for 2-3 months and now has a wicked lean popping on the right side. Tried blowing out the pilot by removing the air screw, the bottom bowl drain using compressed air - no change.

Really don't want to take the carb off (lazy) and wondering if anyone has cleared the pilot by dropping the bowl withe the carb on the bike - or if there is some other culprit I'm missing?

It's bad enough to hole the piston so I'm not running it further without getting to bottom of it. And, yes I know I'm looking for a short cut here.

Thanks guys,

Andy --

Its not such a bad job to take the carb off an if it's as bad as you say its far easier than changing a piston.You need so kind of cleaning agent not just air the aerosol type usually work but can DAMAGE POWDER COATING i know from personal experience so cover any likely to accidentally come into contact with it and clean passages not just the jets.

Once you have one carb off you can work on the other without removing it. As all you need is access to the removable pilot jet. (Owners of single carb machines feel smug at this point).

I have an allen key with the short side cut down for better access (its only long enough to fit in the screw head before it bends). That i use for loosening and GENTLY AND CAREFULLY tightening the manifold socket screws. Once loose i have another Allen key this time the long side is cut off so it fits in a 1/4 inch socket with 1/4 square drive the end of it is the "ball" type so it can drive at an angle. Its just long enough to miss the carb body with socket ratchet but not foul frame cross member or you can hold finger on end an use a spanner to turn it. With these two removing a carb takes seconds. You can buy "ball" end long type allen key with socket drive but the lenght may not be correct. I just spent five minutes with a saw an file on two (old an damaged on other ends anyway in my case) allen keys and saved hours of work in the future. Plus the force applied to them should be low so no need to use costly good quality makes.

Change the spark plugs first. Even I have been fooled by a lazy spark plug. Its no fun.
Dereck

You can clean the pilot jet by poking a .016" wire (or #78 drill bit) into it after removing the idle air screw. Followed by spraying with carb cleaner through the hole. I remove the drain plug on the float bowl so the cleaner will drain out. If that doesn't do it, you'll need to remove the carb.

maylar said:

You can clean the pilot jet by poking a .016" wire (or #78 drill bit) into it after removing the idle air screw. Followed by spraying with carb cleaner through the hole. I remove the drain plug on the float bowl so the cleaner will drain out. If that doesn't do it, you'll need to remove the carb.

Click to expand...

That might not not work with Premier pilot jets.




Better to remove the pilot to clean it, I would think, which I believe is why they changed to a removable pilot jet design on the Premier.

Thanks, LAB. I didn't know that.

Thanks for the insights guys. Will pull the plugs first. My first Norton tool was the "English Key" for removing the allen screws. The images were very helpful to see the removable pilot.

Cheers,

Andy --

Regarding the Premier pilot that is removable: they can be a tight fit and I turned mine off when I replaced it.
Take great care when running back in, lube with penetration oil on the body threads. This may be an anomaly but
take heed.