87 Heritage, where is my voes?
 

I was rebuilding my carb this weekend and noticed the vacuum hose from the intake was attached to nothing. Finally figured out that it should go to the voe switch. Looked in the factory service manual and it gave me nice schematics but no pics or location for the switch. I plugged the vacuum port but want to reconnect the (or a new) voes. Anyone know where this switch might be on the 87 FLSTC?

Some aftermarket ignitions dont use it so that may be why it is gone. Should be near the top motormount if I am correct..at least it was on mine.

That's where it is on mine too.

+1 on the top motor mount location, it can be hard to see with the tank on. If you aren't using it, you should cap off the vac line on the carb

On my 1991 FLSTC it was on the top motor mount and disconnected due to aftermarket ignition.

I had to change mine a couple of years ago, as the diaphragm had rotted, causing a vacuum leak and erratic running.

Getting it out of there was a horrible job. You could see it, but couldn't get any tools in there to pry off the stupid clip ring that holds it on the bracket. I ended up pulling both tanks and removing the upper motor mount, so I could remove the bracket holding the VOES. Maybe not a "horrible" job, but a lot more involved than it should have been.

By the way, how do these aftermarket ignitions get away without a vacuum advance?

By having programmable advance curves.

So how do they vary the timing for speed/engine load? I've always understood vacuum advance/retard to be a good thing. Just about every engine has used it since they took the manual spark advance lever off the Model T steering wheel.

The way my brother said it once is that vacuum advance was for mileage and mechanical advance was for power.


I know that probably isn't what you want to know but that is how he explained it to me.


He was a much better mechanic than I will ever be.

On my 87 Heritage , if you remove the air cleaner assembly you should see it sitting there. It is over by the upper mount. With the A/C out of the way, you can get at it to put the hose on. I replaced the hose on mine not long ago. If you don't see it with the A/C removed, then someone else has already removed it for you.