Great to hear that you seem to be on the mend with your bike. Having owned Harleys since the '70s a common sight (and sound!) is a near stock bike with a badly set up S&S carb. Despite that I like them so much I bought mine with a 107" attached! My bike has a G, but the later S&S 111" has an E, which indicates the power range your carb is suitable for. I suspect it can be correctly set up to run right, which the info on the S&S site should help you with.

If your filter cover has any holes drilled into the interior of the air filter, in other words admitting air direct into the carb, chuck it and get a fresh cover.

 

Thanks grbrown, yes I bought a new tear drop air filter cover (man they're expensive!). I did review the S&S website and did a basic set up with their video which was great but i'm hoping the mechanic can set it up a little more precisely! The PO had obviously set it up wth bells and whistles, S&S carb, S&S air filter, Iridium Spark plugs, Straight through drag pipes but it didnt seem to be synchronised at all so hopefully when she's all back together I will notice a difference.

Just got a bit upset at being told she was too old to handle the power!

 

Based on those plugs it looks like the motor is running too rich with possibly too much timing..

Add: Plugs may be too hot also..

 

 

An S&S E is not too big for an 80"er. It all depends on what heads, cam and exhaust your running and the the proper jetting.... Do you know what you have in the motor? I know you said the rings are shot but I'm curious as to what your compression was? Before condemning the carb you need to know what all is in the motor... Any History?

I do not see anything wrong in any of the pic's you initially posted... It all looked normal. Also you don't need the iridium plugs. Standard BPR5es will do great at .038" gap....