I run the legendary N65C needle in my Lowrider and just for ***** and giggles I put a shim under the needle to see what would happen.

Well it now produces a heap more low down torque, so much so that with Mrs Spanners on the back today it pulled like it was being ridden solo.

The moral of this tale?

Never be afraid to experiment

 

Cool! Have a question for ya. Put a modified cv on the Lowrider, few months back. Runs great, no coughing & spitting back, but one area I would like to improve on. Gas mileage. Getting around 34-35 mpg.
I feel I can get a little better, but I don't know at what point the main jet comes in at. I prolly average 75mph on highway, 2800-3500 rpm's. Do I need to reduce the main jet size or take some shims out from under the needle? There's 3 under it, now.
Thanks for any suggestions.
Ride Safe,
Harold

 

Main jet is only working fully once you are over 3/4 throttle...reducing the main jet does affect the needle slightly too but I reckon 3 shims is over the top.

Do a plug chop at cruising altitude and see what colour they are.

Thing about Harleys is that power = fuel consumption, especially if you use the power.

 

Plugs look real good. End of electrode is light tan color.Base of plugs have just a little soot all the way around the base. Timing mark is right at the 90 deg bend of the electrode. Had the bike on the dyno & dialed it in & have been riding these last few weeks. Runs real well. Overall satisfied with the carb, gets better mileage than the S&S that was on it, but dyno graph shows the air/fuel mixture from 2700-3500 rpms are right at 12, so I think I have a little room to play so I can squeeze a little better gas mileage out of her. Bike is not stock. Have modified S&S heads. Bigger intake valves. Evl 5005 cam. Have a #50 pilot & if I had to convert it to metric, a #220 main(.086 thouands). A #200 main is .0787 in standard. Bob Wood labels his main jets in standard instead of metric.If you had to lean it out a bit, to reduce gas consumption , where would you reduce? Sorry to hijack your thread, but I saw you were on, & if anybody could point me in the right direction, it would be you. I could call my indy, but I wan't to try this tomorrow, & he's not open.

Ride Safe,
Harold

 

I would lean it out on the needle....

 

Thanks!
Ride safe,
Harold

 

Spanners,

Funny thing, I just added one washer to mine this week as well, total improvement, got rid of the very slight and intermittant hesitation I had with a 40mph rollon and just improved throttle responce all over the upper band.

My bike had a CV carb with a Thunder jet, dyna jet, and real large aircleaner, it ran rich but pulled awsome from down low all the way to the century mark, I really never used WOT at all, no need... But it produced carbon and around town riding required constant blipping the throttle to clear things out.. Few years ago I picked up a brand new CV carb, new in the factory box, 100 bucks... So I jetted it 46/175 with the sporty needle and it ran really good. Just this week I added one washer and the thing went Ape-S.. and it does not load up down low... I may have lost a little on the top end but the bike just runs better on the road... You are never done with these things...LOL

Ds

 

What thickness of washer? I'm running that needle also.

 

The ones I have are all between 17 and 19 thou or 0.43 -0.48mm

 

I would have pegged a 220 Main Jet as way way too big!....