Floatbowl screws!?!?!

[400exRacerX]

Today I went outside and peeled apart my 400 and went to loosen the 4 floatbowl screws and they are on too tight. I wanted too put in a 45 pilot and my new 158 main, but 3 of the 4 screws are almost stripped, I didn't want to try to loosen them anymore so I wouldnt completely strip them, I tryed tapping the side of the carb to loosen them alittle , no luck! any advice on how to get hese screws out? thanks in advanced

[400exRacerX]

oops, sorry leo, i didnt even notice that i was in the open forum, can you move it to the motor forum? thanks

[Wheelie]

A good pair of medium sized channel-lock pliers usually do the trick. If that doesn't cut it get a small hammer and a chisel bit, this will mess up the head of the screw, but will successfully loose it. An impact driver works good too.

[Leo]

don't even think about trying to take out the carb screws without a the right screwdriver, you are only setting yourself up for misery ...

a philips will round them out in no time flat, you need a pozidriv screwdriver... next time you see a snap-on truck running around town flag him down and pick one up.. you will NOT find a better screwdriver than snap-on...

another good investment would be a hand impact driver (make sure it comes with a pozidriv tip)...

If you already have them rounded out you can try either a small pair of vice grips, or cut a slot in the head with a dremel tool and use a regular screwdriver.

Leo

[skemp]

Those Keihin carbs seem like they are made to never come apart. I have a good selection of screwdrivers, so I had the right one, but that screw was in there so tight that is broke right at the head. The screws are in there very tight, so you need high quality tools to get the job done successfully. Trust me, I have learned the hard way.

The suggestions already given sound good to me, and shoudl work just fine. Be sure to get some new screws if the ones you have are in bad shape, because it will only make it worse next time.

[4punksdad]

let me share a little story with you........

I once had a ford fiesta (car). This car did NOT have lug nuts on the wheels........it had BOLTS that threaded into the hub.

Well,,,,,,,I got a flat one day & attemped to change it. I had NO lug wrench so I busted out a ratchet & socket.........after breaking EVERY ratchet in my tool box I started walking to a junk yard about 2 miles away to look for a lug wrench.

The old guy at the junk yard listened to my trouble & gave me a tip..........when bolts become frozen like that..he told me to give them a sharp smack on the bolt head with a hammer (being careful not to booger the edges..........

Well.........I felt like an idiot when I did this & then found I could almost turn the bolts out by hand after the hit with a hammer.

this doesn't work with nuts.........only with bolts & screws. I have used this trick on carb bowl screws before also.......a light tap with a ball peen hammer will loosen em up.......then use the correct size screwdriver.

[knighttime]

Yeah, I just changed the jets in my 400ex and ran into a similar problem. I can tell you this, those screws are a very low grade soft metal. I totally stripped one with a good screwdriver, but I took a hacksaw and made the screw regular instead of phillips. The next day I bought 4 new screws at a local hardware strore (Trader Horn). :devil

[nakomis0]

I have them darn philips heads strip out all the time, If i can't get them out I grab the channel locks. Then I replace them with allen head bolts.

[Leo]

the screws are soft, and I think pozidriv fasteners are specially designed to strip out when used with a philips screwdriver.

but really 99% of the time you can take them out without damage with a good pozidriv tip, works even better if you have a hand impact driver to 'convince' them to loosen up

Leo

[knighttime]

I think I get it now. Are pozidriv tips shaped different (tapered maybe?) than phillips head tips?