Im new to CBR's with a few questions.Lets start by a small intro
Im a mechanic by trade since the mid 90's,I work on Hydraulics,cranes winches,diesel engines and automobiles.this is my first Sportbike,I had several offroad bikes 2 and 4 stroke,repairing them all bike ranging from a 1920s Sears and Roebuck 2 stroke-03 CRF250
I have a CBR 600F4,it has 23k miles no fairings at all and hasn't ran in 2 years.The owner use to ride it alot but he bought a Harley davidson and parked the CBR in the garage.It has new ires with 20 miles on them and a yoshi pipe,everything else is stock

2 days ago I asked him for the CBR,the battery was dead and wouldnt take a charge so we used jumper cables and after 2 minutes of cranking and flooding she fired up,ran decent but had a slight miss when reved.Tried to unhook the jumper cables and she dies so we didnt ride the bike.being it started I made a deal with him on the bike.

I now have the new battery on the bike but wouldnt fire up,we removed the tank and plugs they look fouled and only one plug fired bright white all the rest were blue and orange,cleaned the plugs and the bike sputtered but no start.i just poured fuel stright into the carbs and cranked the bike and she only sputters and blows fire out the exhaust and sometimes thru the carbs.
I suspect that the fuel isn't making it thru the carbs because no matter how much I choke it it wont flood,the first time it flooded gas was pouring out the engine and thats when it started up,once it started up the gas stopped comming out the engine.

So i just looked at removing the carbs tonite,it seems its possible to remove the carbs without removing the engine if I come up with the right 1/4" drive universals and extension bars to reach the neck screws.Does anyony know of a write up on removing the carbs for cleaning?Or is there a way to clean the carbs in place?

What do you think is wrong with my bike?
I think my next step is too test the fuel pump also,I first have to verify fuel presure.
Also my local Honda dealership says that they can get aftermarket bodies for $800,i assume thats a decent price being the made in china ebay ones are $500 with no bolt holes

 

Hey the carbs are easy to get off on the F4. Go to any hardware store and pick up a really long screwdriver. On the side of the frame you'll find a whole on either side that will let you get to the screws to loosen the bands. The carbs will come off with a little effort. I guarantee the jets are full of varnish and its starving for fuel after sitting so long. As far as the pump pull the hose that leads to the engine and turn the bike on. If fuel comes through the pump is good. You should feel the pump pulse. I'm betting its the jets needing a good cleaning. Hope things work out for you.

 

I was able to reach with extension bars and an 8mm socket but all of the bands are facing diffrent angles.I didn't notice any holes in the frame.I will look at it again tonite.so once the band clamps are loose and the long bolt that holds them together is out they should come right up?

 

Also the bands on the left two carbs are facing left and the bands on the right two carbs are facing right so on each side of the bike I can only reach two carbs

 

"I see...said the blind man"
I found the screwdriver slots and a 16" screwdriver worked out perfectly.I was trying with extension bars and sockets and it seemed impossible....I'm off to clean the carbs
on to other problems,the carb clamps are loose,both carb rods are loose but the carbs wont budge
The fuel pump isnt working at all,all of the fuses are blown,I noticed that the tail light wires arent factory.This could turn into a nightmare project.....goodthing it was cheap I guess.

Does anyone know of a write upon how to remove the carbs?
Whats the best CBR repair manual avalible?

 

Yeah just loosen the bands and the carbs come off WITH EFFORT. They are a pain in the *** to get off. Put all new fuses in and then check the pump again. The fuses are probably half the battle. The manual I downloaded from online. Its the honda service manual for the f4. There are places to download it for free if you google it. The bands are all you need to loosen to get the carbs off. I ended up using a pry bar to get them to pop up. Once you put them back on you'll notice that they kind of "snap" for lack of a better word in place when they reseat.

 

So the carbs should all come off together as a set and not as single carbs.

rather than repost i'll add it here
Got the carbs off,pryed pretty hard but they came off,is it a good idea to soak the complete carb assembly in gasoline before the Carb Cleaner?i think a 24 hour gas bath would help break some gunk loose,The inside of the bowls had some varnish but it wasnt that thick.I just dont understand how it ran for 15 minutes great and a day or two later....nothing at all



Is all the parts gas proff?
I bridged some of the blown fuses and my fuel pump pulsates when the key is turned on but doesnt produce much presure out of the hose,Im assuming since its a carb set up not alot of psi is needed.Hell it probly could be gravity feed just for a start up.The PO says somewhere he has a new rear wiring harness for the tail lights that have jerry rigged speaker wires.

 

Wow the wiring harness sounds special. It would be a pain to take it out but if you wanted I've seen used ones on ebay for dirt cheap. Make sure to take the jets out and give those a good cleaning. Jets are different sizes. Outer carbs are smaller than inner carbs so make sure you take note of what came from where. Thats usually the spot that varnish is the most problematic. Have you checked the fuel filter? Maybe it pulled a bunch of rust through the tank from sitting so long and once you fired it up it all just collected in the filter and won't let enough pass through now. You'll chase it down sooner or later. Keep the questions coming if you want to bounce ideas off me. I don't have a garage so I'm turning wrenches vicariously through you.

 

Thankxz for the heads up on the jets being diffrent sizes
The fuel filter look very clean along with the tank.Today sometime in between painting rooms in my house i'll go clean carbs and reassemble and hopefully get her fired up today,maybe take it for a test ride.Since 99 I wanted the F4,I feel in love with the Body style and had to have it,it was a deal I couldnt pass so hopefully it doesnt turn into a sour project.

 

Awesome. Let me know how it turns out. I had a hell of a time getting everything started back up. Took me about 15 minutes of trying to continuously start it before it fired up and belched out a bunch of smoke. If it still doesn't start up pull the cover on the float bowls. If there is gas in there then the pump is getting gas to the carbs. If its dry then its not. If the gas is there in the bowls then its probably not getting through the jets to the engine. Most of the time when I've had a problem the jets have been the source. They are pretty delicate little brass fittings and are kind of easy to damage if your not careful. Best of luck.