Soooo upon investigation after pulling carbs off again, noticed dark sticky substance on inside of carbs. Apparently my friend failed to replace float orings with orings and instead used liquid gasket.

 

You mean the bowl gaskets? Or the float needle? Either way that is no good lol. Get that taken care of, and while the carbs are off, check the pilot screws. just gently screw them all the way in, clock wise, until they are seated, then turn them out 2.25 turns. May want to google it if youw ant to be precise though.

 

I just took my carbs out and started to clean them. I've never done it but this write up is helpful. I have a 1990 cbr1000F with an idling problem so I was told to clean the carbs and check the pilot idle screw which I gather is the D shape tool. How far into they need to be screw in or out?

 

I don't know the pilot setting on a 90 1000f. If you can't find any info on the correct setting then you could just judge yourself. Does it start with the choke OFF? If so it is too rich and needs screwed in clockwise. Does it have a hard time even with the choke ON? It is probably lean and the pilot screws can be screwed out counter clockwise. If it start well but idles goofy, you may need to sync your carbs. If the idle is just low or high, have you tried simply using the idle adjuster?

 

Dont suppose you know where i can get just the gaskets in the 3rd picture from? went to take my carbs apart to clean and found out that i dont actually have any on there and the only quotes i can seem to get are for a carb set which is around 30 quid per carb. :/

 

Ebay or a honda dealer is all I know.

I am surprised they don't sell all 4 in a set together. I've gotten parts from partsfish.com before too, they may be able to sell you single gaskets. Sorry I can't help more.

 

What a godsend this write up is. I've got everything cleaned, boiled, and adjusted.

Question #1, I have is why was my #2 carb spitting up gas upon starting and running very rich on the plug. It felt like 2.5 turns out on the adjuster. Float seamed clean. Anything I want to check before putting them back in that would affect a ton of gas in that one carb?

Question #2, Also my bike has always idled at 1400 RPM. What should it be at? Anything special I should try while the carbs are out before I put them back in?

Question #3, Why does my #1 plug look like this?

 

Do you mean that you started it up with the airbox off and that fuel was spitting out of the airflow/throttle plate area? I've seen that before if the choke is on, wouldn't worry too much about that. In the end you want your spark plugs to look good and the bike to run strong through the whole tach. Your plugs look good, not sure how your bike runs. You could go a touch leaner if you want. Were your needles stock or slotted? If they are slotted you could drop them in by half a slot and screw in your pilots a quarter turn, but honestly you don't have to because what I see looks good. I used to run my f2 on the lean side at the track, plugs would be a dark tan, which was probably pushing the limit on how lean it could run.

I think around 1200 is stock, but not 100% sure on that. If you can run it lower while maintaining a smooth idle and a quick rev when you roll the throttle then you will save fuel.

That looks like rust and corrosion. Probably got condensation down that plug. Make sure the boot is all the way down on that plug. It was probably loose which allowed moisture in and out as the bike heated and cooled. I wouldn't worry about it.

 

My shop manual says idle speed for a 49-state bike is 1200rpm, and 1400 for a California bike.

Your #1 plug could look that way for a couple of reasons - could be that water is getting past the seal on the plug wire and is sitting down in the plug hole. Those seals aren't really designed to keep water out if direct spray, like a waterhose is shot a them.

You also could have a headgasket leak

or, that plug may not have been tight, and that corrosion could have been forced up through the threads.

 

+1 on the #1 plug. What's the bottom of the boot look like? Is it hard and cracked? Might want to replace all of your wires/boots anyway; they're cheap. Make sure you put some dielectric grease on there when you hook everything back up.