I've just bought a CBR600F4. It was in poor condition, running very rough and with no recent servicing. I stripped down the carbs completely, soaked and cleaned them, and roughly adjusted the pilot screws without any sync gauges. Huge difference, ran much better. However still a bit rough, so I bought gauges to sync properly. When I removed the carbs the first time, I noticed some sweating/oily between carb no1 and the air box. No2-3-4 was completely dry and nice. I didn't think much about it, since it probably wasn't cleaned in years. When I removed the carbs the second time, everything was spotless (from the last complete cleaning), except between No1 carb/airbox. Same "problem" (if it is a problem?) occurred just after 1.5 months. I'm no expert, so I ask you guys. Is this an indication of improper valve adjustment? Or something else?

 

Hey there. Not sure if this is your issue or not but did you check the valve clearances?

 

I didn't. It's a step up for my skills. But I think I need to learn it sooner than later.

 

I would give that a shot. It's not terribly difficult, especially if you have the service manual to guide you. Making sure the valves are within tolerances is an often overlooked part of carb work. Our carbs are vacuum driven and the valves is where we get that drawl. One tip in checking clearances is it's better to have them on the loose side of the tolerances than the tight side.

 

Cool. I'll give it a go.
I've seen people do it in youtube with big boxes of various sized shims. I guess that is for adjusting if some are out of spec. Should I get it before inspection (since I need to disassemble a lot already)? Or is changing the shims a much bigger job than inspecting?

 

Changing the shims the easiest part. All you need are some basic math skills, an assortment of shims of various sizes and a magnet. Getting the bike to the point where you can check the clearances and and making the adjustments is by far the hardest part in my opinion.
To answer your question, It's a matter of choice really. If it were me I'd want the shims at the ready so I could get it all done in one setting. It's hard for me to carve much free time so I'd rather have it "one and done" than have everything disassembled and waiting on stuff.