I have a 2000 low rider that I bought 2 years ago. The dealer I bought it from thought that it had sat for some time before they got it and sold it to me. From a cold engine, it starts OK with the choke on and I have to mess with the choke to keep it running. It takes about a mile riding before I can push the choke all the way in and it stay running. After its warm, it normally idles fine but occasionally it will idle down and i need to goose it to keep it going. Riding down the road its pretty good, occasionally, I'll get a pop back through the AC right off idle if I open the throttle quickly. One other thing, i noticed is that at interstate speed (60 to 70 mph), my fuel mileage is really low. I burnt a gallon of gas in 28 miles.

I have no idea what jetting is in it, mixture screw is 2.75 turns out. Bike is equipped with slip ons, high flow AC and cam upgrade (not sure what grind).

Is it high time I just tear into this thing and rebuild it or is this par for the course on a carbed bike? I've had 2 other Harleys before this one but they were both EFI.

 

Don't tear into it - take your time! You can buy a rebuild kit, which will provide new gaskets, rubber parts etc, all the things that go bad over time. Carbed bikes have been with us since just after the Ark was built and they can run and ride just fine, its EFI who is the new kid on the block! See what its running like after the rebuild. If you have a local indy it is worth considering getting him to tune your bike, if necessary. Its amazing what an expert can do!

 

Update: I pulled the carb off and opened it up out of curiosity to see what jets were in it. It has a 45 pilot and a 185 main, needle doesn't appear to be stock and it is spaced up with a thick washer. No numbers on it. Carb is absolutely filthy so it's due for a good cleaning and new gaskets at a minimum

I talked to a local indy who said he could go over it and he has an ultrasonic cleaner to clean all the gunk out of it. He said between 75 to 100 dollars if I bring him the carb. He said he could get it close and I could bring the bike by in the spring for him to fine tune. Good deal, bad deal?

 

Seems fairly reasonable to me.

 

So after more reading and YouTube videos, I ended up doing this myself. I tore it all apart and found that the slide was toast, over drilled and lots of wear on the sides. The mixture packing was shot as well as the fuel inlet needle. I cleaned it up using a 1:1 concoction of hot water and generic PineSol. An hour long soak and an old toothbrush got most of the crud off. More brushing and a couple more soaks had it looking like new. I did have to rinse it out several times with clean water to get all the soap suds out, followed by a good hosing with an aerosol carb cleaner to ensure all the water was out.

I ordered the Premium Tuners Kit from CV Performance which comes with new jets, needle, spring, emulsion tube, EZ adjust mixture screw and EZ adjust idle screw. I also got their solid brass fuel inlet elbow, new slide and a rebuild kit. The new slide, as it comes, has some burrs on it from the casting. A quick filing along with 220 grit sandpaper and steel wool cleaned these up quickly. Reassembly was a snap following the directions in the CVP kit. Its now back on the bike and ready for fine tuning in the spring.

I did have one issue when i tried to fire it up, the accelerator pump wouldn't work. Either the check ball or the brass weight was stuck, I guess I didn't get that rinsed out good enough. I had to pull the nozzle out and spray some WD40 down in there and let it sit to free it up. Once that was fixed, the bike started right up.

 

Nice work! Sounds like a nice and reasonable once over to me. Spring time tuning...in the meantime, while the bike is sitting, make sure you have some fuel stabilizer in the tank and that it also has stabilized fuel run thru the carb. Your jetting sounds about right, maybe a little fat on the main jet if the rest of the engine is stock. 28 MPG is a little low but it all depends on the type of riding you do.

City vs country roads, highway, aggressive style riding or casual cruising, etc. So watch your your mileage this spring and take note the the mileage with the type of type riding and see if you get a pattern and improved mileage with type of riding. YD

 

Thanks Yankee Dog. I've always put marine grade Stabil in all my small engines, year round. This past summer, I started running ethanol free gas and Castle 95 additive at the advice of my local Stihl dealer. He said I'd never have a fuel related issue running that combination.

My engine is stock except for gear drive cam setup, however, I dont know what grind they are. I put a 190 main in it, which is stock, and a 48 pilot as recommended by CVP. I think my low fuel mileage was attributed to the needle that was in it. It was an adjustable with the clip in the 3rd slot down and a thick washer underneath it. I'm going to run a few tanks through it and keep track of my mileage and fuel usage to get a more accurate number.

I'm really anxious to get it fine tuned and out on the road. I'm in PA so I'm probably looking at at least 2 months before I'll be able to get it out.

 

I agree with non-ethanol fuel...I make sure the tank is full with non-ethanol based, and a splash of stabil for the winter nap as well. Cheap insurance. Just realized your a twin cam, so your jetting is probably real close. And, yes, that needle was probably a big contributor to your mileage issue. Good luck with it. YD

 

So, how did the tune go? I am thinking of doing the"carb rebuild " myself..

 

It went pretty good. I took it for a 2 mile ride to get it warm, had to adjust the idle up to keep it running. I started at 1.75 turns out on the mixture screw. With the bike running, I turned the mixture screw out until it started to stumble, which was at about 2 3/8 turn so i put it at 2 1/4 turns and re-adjusted my idle to around 1000 RPM. I took it back out and it ran good. I didn't' get to ride very far that day but last weekend I took it out for a 55 mile jaunt and it ran really well. It seems to run a little cooler now and it definitely idles better, which was my main issue. The 2 1/4 turns out makes sense to me, CVP's instructions say that Twin Cams typically have a sweet spot around 2 1/8 turns out.

All in all, I'm very pleased with the results and I'm proud to say I did it myself (with the help of YouTube and forums like this). I just wish I had done it sooner.