883 carb help needed

A lady friend of mine has a 1991 883 XL and back in the fall her Ex put a Screamin Eagle Air kit on the bike along with doing some carb mods. He used Dynajet brand jets.

Here's where I need ya'll help. They carb is having a problem. Seems you can go so far down the road and the bike will cut off. You can sit there for a few minutes it'll crank up and you can go a little more distance down the road and it'll happen again. Another thing when going 55 and you give it the gas, you barely feel a response and it slowly gains speed. The bike idles fine now and before the air kit/carb job the bike didn't have this problem.

Her Ex replaced the jets and she said he set the float at 4 (?).

Can anyone tell me what the stock jets are that came with the bike and since the bike now has larger air flow does anyone have a suggestion on what jets should be used and don't forget about the float help.

I went to another forum and ask the same question and didn't receive any advice.

With the sluggish acceleration seems like it may be jetted too rich.If all that was added was the SE breather kit,most times stock jetting is fine even with pipes , they leave the factory pretty rich. When its cutting out that could be the gas cap not venting creating vacuum lock in the tank and the gas stops flowing. Try taking the gas cap and blow thru it,if you can't thats why its cutting out. I can't remember stock jets for it but a 42 pilot rings a bell and a 175 or 180 main. Manual will tell you, or ask the Dealer or Indy shop.:devil:
The top of the float should be level with the carb body when holding it tilted sideways and the needle valve seated.

I'm sure you'll get more accurate advice than this soon.Tons and tons of helpful knowledge here.

thanks alot. It's a start. I plan on looking at the bike this weekend.

vacuum

Sounds like you may have a vacuum leak as well, check the rubber hose that runs from the intake. Also there is a rubber compliance on the intake that the carb slips into look it over real well it maybe torn. One more is the diaphragm on the top of the carb check for damage as wll as look see if the needle has been reset or damaged. Last if all else fails make sure the voes is working if it not your timing will be off under acceleration. Dutch

Dutch, I hate to ask this question. What is the voes?

I have a Vstar and did the air mod/carb jetting and never had a problem with performing the mods. I'm not familiar with a HD.

Here a link to show ya the VOES

http://www.wildwestcycle.com/f_voes.html

You'll prolly have to copy and paste it.

Thanks Lucifer. That's pretty informative. I'll have to look for that and make sure the vaccum hoses are in good shape.

Yeah its pretty in depth, you won't need all that info to test it to see if it works or not. I think you can also just take the hose off the carb when its idling to see if its working. A pic of it is easier than trying to describe what it looks like.

Throw the Dynojet kit in the trash where it belongs & go back with factory parts. The bike came with a 42 slow jet & a 160 main - put a 165 main in but do not go up on the slow - probably has a 45 in it now but the 42 is right.

If the cap over the idle mixture screw has not been removed, pull it off. Drill a small hole (carefully) in the middle, ease a sheet-metal screw in by hand, then using something like needle-nose ViseGrips, snatch the screw out - the plug will come along with it. Then ease the mixture screw all the way in & back out 2.5 turns. Do not bottom the screw down hard. There's your baseline for that bike - 42 slow, 165 main, 2.5 turns out on the idle mixture screw.

Replace the vacuum line to the fuel petcock, as fuel will not flow properly without a good line that doesn't leak & it wouldn't be a bad idea to pull the petcock, check it & clean the screen. Replace the line to the VOES.

Start the bike up & get the engine warmed up properly, set the idle speed (different screw on the right you can get to without taking the "ham can" off) @ around 1000 rpm - I tend to go a little high there, around 1100. Then ease the idle mixture screw in & out a little bit - shouldn't have to go more than 1/4 turn either way to hit that "sweet spot". And you can get one of those easy-adjust mixture screws if you want, but the CV carb is a "set it & forget it" deal.

That's it - you're done - go ride.

First Off Who Ever Did The Carb Mod's F-uped, With What Your Talking About, Some One Put The Wrong Thing In The Wrong Place, Your Prob. Better Going The Cheap Route And Just Getting A Re- Jet Kit For The Carb, And Why In The Heck Doesn't Sporty's Come With A Adjustible Carb Air Gas Mix Addjustment, F-the Epa.

Thanks guys

Art, I appreciate your input. When I did the mods on my Vstar, the guys at the 1100 riders forum said don't use dynajets too.

I'll keep ya'll posted.

You Da Man Art, I didn't know there was a vacuum line on the petcock. My XL was '91 too. I don't remember one being there,but I suffer from CRS. Is thats whats causing it to cut out? My XL gas cap left me stuck a couple of times. kinda embarrassing when I found out why it cut out on me LOL.
Why do the Stealers keep pushing Dynojet kits when they're nothing but junk?

Ooops - I suffer from "half-heimer's" - forget things 1/2 the time - the vacuum-operated petcock didn't come out 'till '95.

You're not the only one }

3 words fer ya - "profit" & "slow learners". The idea behind the kit is really old & more efficient ways of accomplishing the same thing were discovered 20 years ago.

Dealers get what - 90 bucks for the deal? Probably more now & of course labor if they put it in. When $10-$15 worth of factory parts is all you need.

On My O3, You Have Your Gas Line From Tank, Line To Carb, And Over Flow To Ground, On The Tank There Is Another Line Going To The Oil Tank That Hooks To A Mount That Goes Into A Check Valve That Continues To Hook Into A Zerk Fittin Welded To The Frame.

I get a kick every time I see your bad ass Sporty icon, Sportsterboy! I asked a friend to help me install the derby cover and the 100th Ann. air filter insert on my 2003 Sporty. Insert was easy, but after removing the derby cover, oil leaked out. We needed to tip the bike while doing it. My friend has 30 years riding experience but obviously was asleep at the wheel in this instance

Now my clutch was fukkkkkded. I barely made it to NYC Harley. They treated me like a hospital emergency case, put me in front of 50 bikes, added oil, put the derby cover back, added some motor oil and adjusted my clutch properly, (it wasn't right before, as I've learned). All this for a twenty dollar handshake!

The mechanic thinks my poor mileage would be helped with a tune up. I'm inclined to believe him after his last performance. He prefers Sporty's himself. He also told me I was riding the clutch too heavily from when he adjusted it. That what city driving will do I guess. I'm working on it....

Hey, I just started on the bike awhile ago. All is going fine so far.

I found a 180 main jet stuck in it. From what you guys said it sounded like it was running rich.

I did notice on the big black plastic cap for the slide the surface that goes against the diaphram had a deformity. Looked like it was melted by some chemical. A rag (cloth) impression was etched in the outer cap cover in the same location. I filed a slight ridge (Deformation about 1/32 high about 3/8" long flat next to the cloth mark. Maybe there was a leak in this area.

The needle in the slide had the "C" clip in the middle position with two shims on top of that. IS this the correct setting for the needle? Like I said there are three groves below and above the "C" clip

I gotta run and go pick up a jet now. I'll check back later

Thanks

A 180 main jet is too big for most 1200 Sportsters & most assuredly for an 883 - a 165 is what you want. And a 42 slow - probably got a 45 in it now. Get that Dynojet kit outta there & throw it in the trash where it belongs.

Get a new diaphram & stick it in the freezer for a while - makes it a lot easier to install without tearing & it lines up better. Get the infamous N65C needle for a 1988 XL1200 carb - have to dig out the part # for you, but it's so commonly used that many dealers know it by the N65C name.

A 180 main. I was tryin to use that memory thing again when I said the jet sizes. Turns out it's only1/2 burnt out.42 slow 180main shimmed needle and thats on a 1200XL with flowed heads. Goes like a bat outta Hell and gets good mileage.
Good tip on the Diaphram Art,I'm gonna pass that on to my wrench buds.
HellBoy seems like you have a good Dealership,very rare these days. You'll find that a lot of good wrenches prefer Sporty's.