So a bit about the project first.

I purchased a 1998 cbr600 f3 for £600 and is a non runner. This is my first big bike and I'd like to do all of the work on it myself. Its covered 67k miles and is not in the worst of shape. According to the previous owner he rode the bike into the garage and it sat for near 4 years with fluid in.
When I collected the bike I saw that it would turn over on the button no problem but would only fire with some help from a spray tin. The bike however would not run and Idle.
I've now found some time to strip the carbs off the bike and was amazed to find what I did.




From what I can find I assume this is from some sort of ethanol deposit.

Looking at the pictures I've attached, what would be everybody else's opinion on the cause?

I'll be rebuilding the carbs and bathing them but would like some advice on if there could be any other problem that I would need to address first or at the same time.

Any advice or help would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance
Tom

 

Here it is.

 

It certainly looks that way (ethanol / very old fuel deposit) If the condition of the carbs and getting them clean are your biggest problem then you have a gotten a great bargain for 600 quid!
There are some very good posts on here about cleaning the carbs and in particular some of the smaller passage ways that you might miss. LiteTek is a popular site for carb repair kits (some folks swear by them!!)
As for other things, just the usual looks for cracks in rubber pipework, new boots and changing all of the fluids including the forks as I would place bets on them never having been done.
Oh and a set of JIS screwdrivers / bits otherwise you will wreak the screw heads using philips / pozi drive heads.

 

Hey there. I just did pretty much the same thing. I bought mine for $250 Canadian in a few pieces.

My experience is that I cleaned the carbs as I have cleaned other carbs, and the result was not what I had hoped--it ran better but not what I expected from a Honda.

I then found an old ultrasonic cleaner lying around. I used very hot (just sub boiling) water, and about 1/3 pine sol cleaner.

What a difference! Both in appearance and operation. I guess these carbs need to be really clean to work well.

I'd also recommend doing an air valve delete on the ram air system if you have not already.

I'd also check the fuel pump system to see if it's working well, and I'd think a filter change is in order.

Lastly, I only use premium fuel here, as it is the only fuel without ethanol. I have switched to premium in all my carb applications and it's the only way to go due to the ethanol content gumming everything up. On injected engines it's not an issue, but for carbs it's death.

Chay