S&s

I have a friend that has an 87 Sportster with an S&S carb on it. For some reason he cannot get it dialed in. the bike has been apart for a long time and he just got it back together. Actually, he turned it into a bobber using the tins and seat from my bike when I bought it. He stopped by with his bike and he was riding around with the choke on about half way. Even after it was warm. what could be the problem???

Now that you mention vaccum leak that makes sense. He can be kind of crude in his methods. He was saying that he sucking gas from the tank with the petcock closed. Could this be an indicator???

Could also be an intake leak, he needs the choke on to try to compensate for the air being sucked in, leaning it out so much it wouldn't run without the extra fuel the choke gives.

I had suggested that it could be jetting, but for some reason he doesn't think so. OH Well

Sounds like a intake leak....I had trouble dialing in my S&S on my 75 Sportty I had a "E" shorty.I ended up getting a CV carb...runs so much better now...Good luck...

He is running a petcock that I gave him off of my bike because he bought of all of my tins, so I threw the fuel valve in. I kid you not, he came by with the bike and he told me that the valve was closed, but still drawing fuel. I will let him know what is being said here. He is rather stubborn though.

How is the propane affecting the intake?? Is it taking the O2 away???

'87's had a gravity feed petcock...is the year you gave him a vac operated one??

I believe that mine was a vacuum operated one. It is the stock petcock on a 96 Sportster.

I am to that point already to say the hell with it. I guess he is going to miss out on a lot more riding if he does not want to listen to anyone. I guess it is rough to know everything???

LMFAO!! :roflmao: Depends on what CB real name is?? LOL

I have a friend that has an 87 Sportster with an S&S carb on it. For some reason he cannot get it dialed in. the bike has been apart for a long time and he just got it back together.

XXXMAN: Any carb that sits for a long time, more than a couple of months, will usually gum up from the old fuel. The slow speed jet for a Sportster is about .0265 or .028 and can easily plug up. Remove intermediate jet and clean the center of it plus the air bleed holes located on the side of the jet. This jet controls engine operation from off idle to 3000 RPM.

Actually, he turned it into a bobber using the tins and seat from my bike when I bought it. He stopped by with his bike and he was riding around with the choke on about half way. Even after it was warm. what could be the problem???

XXXMAN: If the enrichener/choke needs to be on to run then the carb is not delivering fuel in the idle range. The idle mixture screw at the top of carb controls this. If the idle mix screw isn't adjusted right, 1-1/2 to 1-3/4 turns out from from bottom is correct, it won't idle. Remove idle mix screw and see if the hole into carb bore is open and not gummed up. It can be cleaned with a little carb cleaner, GUMOUT, and then blown out with compressed air. If this doesn't help the 'O' ring mounted in the carb flange may be old and flat and could be causing a vacuum leak. A sign of a vacuum leak would be that the idle mixture screw has to be turned way out to provide more fuel for the extra air. If vac leak is real bad then the enrichener may be needed too.

If you can't figure it out we have been rebuilding S&S carbs for about 8 years and there isn't a problem we haven't run across that couldn't be fixed. We build custom S&S carbs for high performance and can provide them in S&S finish, powder coat finish, chrome finish and polished finish. Carbs can be sent in for repair or exchanged within a couple of days. Check our website: www.xxxcarburetors.com or call M-F at 936-788-3245.

Thanks for the pointers on the carb. It sounds like the S&S's are a little more touchy than the CV. I do not think that he did everything that you said he should check. I can always ask. His bike was apart for a long time.

HotRoadKIng, no I do not believe he got it done correctly. Last time that I talked to him about his bike he said that he had the carb off and cleaned it really good, but when he put it back together he said that it was better but still had issues.