Removing the carb float bowl – Honda CX500, GL500, CX650, GL650
The float bowls are at the bottom of the carbs – here they have been turned upside down:

They are normally filled with fuel, so the usual precautions about working with fuel apply – be careful not to ignite it and try not to get any on your skin or in your eyes etc. – you can drain them first by undoing the drain screw (as shown at the bottom of this page) while the carbs are upright and the fuel will (mostly) drain out the hole on the bottom of the carbs. The float bowl is held in with three bolts, circled in red below:

A quality Phillips screwdriver No.2 is suitable for removing them:

The float bowl should lift free now:

A light coating of rust is visible inside this one:

Now we can see the two main jets, the rubber bung covering the idle jet and the orange floats:

On the underside of the float bowl we have the drain screw:

Unscrew it – you can see more rust to be cleaned on the tip:

And with that you’re done removing and disassembling the float bowl for this side. If you’re following the carb cleaning guide, go back to the main carb cleaning page for the next step.