I left a comment in the "general discussion" section, but it was suggested that I place it here, since this is the thread most folks find when they start "Googling" about these carbs.
I bought an '81 GL recently from a guy who'd been doing some Cafe mods to it. He'd gotten rid of the airbox and installed pods. He hadn't re-jetted, AND his pods were unmodified, so the seal was blocking those ports in the stock carbs. The bike ran, but it stumbled terribly in the mid-range. I wasn't looking forward to sorting out the carbs, so I just bit the bullet and ordered the Mikuni carb kit and some mid-pipes from Murray's. Fantastic product, and terrific customer service! I'd PM'd him earlier today to see if he'd share his phone number in case I ran into trouble. He called me later and talked me through the routing of the throttle cables in the GL (different than CX). These carb kits are basically "plug & play". I didn't have to do anything other than install them correctly, engage the enrichener plungers, and touch the start button. She started in half a second and ran great right off the bat. Soon she idled down and I disengaged the enricheners and took her out for a spin. Smooth power throughout the entire band now--and that's with the H-box still attached. I'm eager to see how she runs after I've removed that and installed the mid-pipes.
I didn't initially like dumping that much cash into this bike right off the bat, but I now know that it was money very well-spent.
Again, great product, and I'd recommend it to anyone
Update: My mid-pipes haven't arrived yet--Post Office's fault. So this bike is still wearing its H-box. But I needed to move the bike, and it was almost out of gas, so I had to drive it on the highway some. I have to say, these carbs are worth it even if all they do is make starting easier. Seriously, every Honda horizontal V-twin I've ever messed with has been cold-natured. It took me several minutes yesterday with the stock carbs just to get it started so I could move it up the hill and into the garage for the Murray's Carb kit swap. It got cold here last night for April (about 30 degrees F), so it was still pretty cold in the shed today when I went to start this bike and take it down the highway. I'm now an even bigger fan of the Mikuni fuel enrichener system as opposed to the stock carbs' choke for cold starting. Once the enrichener tabs were engaged, all I had to do was touch the start button and she fired right up.
On the road, this GL500 seems to have about the same amount of torque and power as the stock CX650C I used to own. But I do need to get that H-box off it before I ride it very much. It is running rich with the H-box still on. This can't be good for the plugs over time. And while it has good power right now at the low and mid RPM range, I can tell that it is getting robbed of its potential at the over 7,000 RPM range.
Once I source some Harley mufflers and get that H-box out of there, I'll post another update.
