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Old May 3rd 2010, 16:18
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Dells Rebuild

by David McCutcheon NO_H2O
Dec 01, 2003

You have scoured the planet in search of some Dellortos to top off your power plant. After searching your shop, your friend's shop, Ebay, swap meets and bulletin boards all over the internet, you finally have a pair of DRLA's worthy of sitting atop the monster that will push your GL down the road, and the corners of your mouth towards the sky.

But since Dellorto carbs have been out of production for many years, they are more than likely to be used or have been sitting for a while and will need to be "Rebuilt".

I got a screaming deal on a pair of 45 DRLA's and will take you along as I clean them up and put "Rebuild" kits in them.

Well here they are, before and after. They don't look too bad before, but there are some hidden issues that we will have to overcome, as you will see.



Method

Step 1

Armed with a The Dellorto Superformance Handbook (from CB Perfomance), some carb cleaner (spray and dip), a variety of brushes, picks and cleaning utensils we will get to preparing our carbs for service. I would highly recommend compressed air and a blow nozzle or cans of propellant to blow out the passages in the carbs.

Remember to read and follow the instructions on the cans of carb cleaner, we don't want to damage any parts to these beauty's, they don't make them any more and some parts can be hard to find. CB Performance does carry a great selection of parts but they do not have them all.



Step 2

Grab your Handbook and start the disassembly process. Use the parts diagram and inventory all parts and inspect the condition of them, make a list of all parts that you will need to order and get them coming to you. Take note of the Jet, E-tube and venture sizes that are in the carbs, they may not fit the needs of the engine you are going to put them on.

Clean and organize all your parts, put them in Ziploc bags. Do not remove the accelerator pump just yet as we will need to test the carb bodies for the dreaded "Dellorto Drip" later. It is not recommended to disassemble the throttle shafts and butterflies as getting them aligned properly is a pain. If not done correctly, this will cause the plates to wear the throats of the carb and they will be ruined.

Let's test for the "Dellorto Drip". With the top of the carbs off and the accelerator pump still in place, put the carb bodies on a couple blocks of wood with some paper under them as shown. Fill the bowls with fuel and let them sit for a few hours.

If they have "The Drip" you will see that the paper under the carbs has been wet and problem will have to be repaired (by a professional).



Years of sitting have left a film of corrosion on the aluminum and this will have to be addressed before we give the carbs a swim in the dip tank.

This is where all the small brushes, picks and scotch-bright will come into play.

Small rifle bore brushes do a great job of removing the film and dirt, don't get too carried away and mess up the bore or threads.



The bottom of the bores can be cleaned with strips of scotch-bright cut and wrapped over a rod. The larger areas can be cleaned with scotch-bright wrapped over a tongue depressor. Get all the dirt and corrosion cleaned out of the carb or you will end up cleaning it out of your idle jets on the side of the road somewhere.

After everything is cleaned, and the rest of the carbs are disassembled, give all the metal parts a swim in the carb cleaner dip.
DO THIS IN A WELL-VENTED AREA AND USE GLOVES AND SAFETY GLASSES. Carb dip stinks and the smell will not wash off, not to mention the health hazards. Clean, clean, clean. That is the name of the game.



Step 3

Now that all the parts have been cleaned, dipped, rinsed and blown out, we can start to put our babies back together. Make sure that everything fits well and moves freely. Follow the instructions in the "Dellorto Superformance Handbook" and use all the new parts that come in you "Rebuild Kits".



Use the settings for float jets and adjustments spelled out in the "Handbook". This will be you starting point for tuning the carbs to your engine. Tuning them can take some time to get right, but will be well worth the effort, and should make a great Tech article of it's own when I get to that point.

Well, here they are all freshened up and ready to tune. I used some jeweler's rouge and a polishing wheel to give the stacks a shine.



I had to order 4 or 5 small parts (missing) from CB Performance, their website has a very nice DRLA parts locator.

I can't wait to here that sweet Dellorto tone when they are opened up and screaming down the road. I hope this has given you some knowledge of what it takes to make some swap meet junk into jewels of induction.
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