I have a side-project bike that has a hard time firing up and doesn't hold idle, so I figured cleaning / inspecting the carbs would be a good place to start.

I have not serviced carbs before but found some good starting info on removal here and cleaning here

I was disappointed but not surprised (bike came to me somewhat abused) to see that the intake was missing the screws and washer on one bank.





This sloppy assembly had resulted in no seal between the intake base and the carb.


I looked up the screws and washer online; Honda calls it a "tongued washer".



My question is why the two screws are connected in this way, and whether it is important to the overall function.

If not I will use individual washers instead of ordering this thing from Honda.

Also, the screws and washer seem to be brass; I'm not sure why.



Cheers,
Andrew