I took apart my carburetor on my CB750K7 this weekend, layed everything out in an organized manner, took lots of pictures, cleaned the parts in the almost-boiling Yamaha Carburetor Cleaner Dip, and as I was straining the final mixture I found this little plastic washer. I'm assuming it belongs somewhere on the throttle assembly link because the inner walls of the washer are the same diameter as the post that runs through the carbs and also assume that it was originally between carbs 2-4, but I can't find this little part in the parts fiche, the Honda Shop Manual, the Clymer manual, or any of my before pictures. Does anyone know where this little monster is supposed to keep metal from rubbing against metal (or whatever purpose it has other than keeping me from putting my carbs back together)? As you can tell from the hyperlinked picture there are two tabs that protrude from each of the elongated ends of the washer. These tabs are 2mm in height from the inside of the washer.
On to the second question. Some of the rubber o rings housed in the sides of the carb bodies are missing or came out looking like a cat coughed up a Cherrios-sized and -shaped hair ball. I haven't researched whether these o rings are sold separately yet, so my question is are any of you running without these o rings and what has happened? I imagine gasoline from the inside of the carbs leaking out to mix with dust from the outside of the carbs, creating a gunk sticky enough to impede throttle response and making my right forearm larger than Popeye's. I also imagine that sticky gunk eventually getting into the carb bodies and shooting right into my engine, however unlikely.