Motorcycle carburetors should not be held together with Philips head screws.

93gsxturbo wrote:

MadScientistMatt wrote: That is all. Ok, maybe not, just had a mini-rant as I was trying to take the float bowls off my GS500F to clean out some clogged jets. The Philips head screws were frozen solid. Ended up getting six of the ten I need to remove out with a Pozidrive, three of them ended up boogered up beyond repair, and one's stuck behind two of the three boogered up ones. I'll try some PB Blaster instead of the WD-40 I had on hand, and either use Vice Grips or cut some slots in the heads to get them out, then replace them with Allen head bolts. Surprised how many of my fellow engineers apparently don't realize the point of Philips head screws is to prevent people from applying serious torque to a screw.

Thats because they may not be Phillips screws but are JIS screws. http://www.instructables.com/id/When-a-Phillips-is-not-a-Phillips/step10/JIS-Japanese-Industrial-Standard/ Look at the head of the screw for a small dot/dimple in one of the quadrants and use the right tool for the job. It will make your life much easier.

True. JIS screws are commonly found on Japanese motorcycle carburetors.

dculberson wrote: What about anti-seize?

Vibration is usualy greater on bikes, The lockwashers are there for a reason. While anti-seize would work it might be more likely to come out even with the lock washer, which by the way is a lousy way to keep a bolt or screw from loosening from vibration.