I have a 1989 HD Electraglide Ultra, and it was the last year that they came equipped with the old style butterfly Keihin carburetor. It ran fine, but wanted to upgrade to the CV style but was hesitant because I didn't want to lose my cruise control which is a 1st generation that they don't make anymore. I do a lot of long distance riding and I really like the cruise control.

Anyway after searching I found a used CV 40mm Keihin carb on ebay that had the cruise control bracket that I needed. I also purchased a RevTech high flow air cleaner and backplate bracket, manifold, CV Performance fuel elbow, James seals and a set of Screaming Eagle slip ons that I got off of Craigslist. Then I dropped it off at my local Harley dealership that quoted me 2.5 hours of labor to install, dyno, and tune.

We got really bad weather for a long time and I was really busy with work so it didn't bother me too much that they didn't return to bike to me for over 3 weeks (is this normal?).

Then the service manager said that because it was an older model bike the quotes labor rate was wrong and they ended up putting 8 hours of labor into it. I just was nice and told them that I understand however wan't in my budget to pay for 8 hours labor. If they had quoted that to me originally I wouldn't have brought it in. He says "How about you meet me half way then?" ….ummm no.
Anyways I paid for 2.5 hours and it was fine. They did a good job and the bike runs freakin' perfect.

I wouldn't claim a huge increase in performance per say but everything just runs way crisper and overall just feels like a new bike to me so I am super happy with the upgrade.

My total cost for this buying some of the parts used.
Parts
carb $75 ebay
manifold $100 HD
air cleaner and bracket $50 J&P
seals $15 J&P
fuel elbow $20 CV Performance
slip on pipes $120 Craigslist
Labor including Dyno $270
total price of parts: $385
total upgrade parts & labor $655

I was pretty price conscious, so this would be a rough estimate of what you would spend for this type of upgrade. Obviously you could eliminate the labor cost and just do it yourself.

If you just wanted to do the carb only you would still have to buy the manifold, air cleaner and back plate, and the seals which cost me a total of $240.


Worth it, but my dyno numbers were pretty lame at 62 horsepower and 70ft lbs of torque. The good new was it hit these peak numbers early in the rev range and maintained them so it's a very smooth ride without any flat spots. It runs awesome I must say!

 

Congrats , throw a ev27 or vthunder 3010 in that thing and it will really come alive . Chad

 

I have to agree I had any 89 also was going to put cv carb on. But deal with a ev27 came by it does come alive if I didn't wreck it I would of put a carb on



Sent from my iPhone using two left handed thumbs

 

You overpaid for the manifold, but you got a steal on the carb. It took me a while to find one with the cruise bracket also. Congrats.

 

Mine's an '89 FLHS, and did the carb conversion 2 years ago. As you stated, just smoother across the board, it's a good mod.

EV27 and 10:1 with new rings, headwork, last fall, managed to get the 2k break-in completed without giving into impulse too much. The brief times that I've ridden since then makes me suspect that you would like these mods as well.
Definitely puts a smile on your face.

 

The carb conversion was the first thing I did to mine back when I first bought it and it made a big difference. Cam and exhaust are definitely the next steps.

 

I put the killer cycle CV on my 1988. Great modification. I'm going to pass on the cams for now. My indie guy told me that the engine would go a lot more miles with less trouble if I just stayed with the stock cam. I want to put another 100,000 on this bike if I can before tearing into the engine (which is a MoCo refurbish 30,000 ago).

 

Interesting thought on the increased wear due to a cam change. Anyone else have any thoughts on this?

TBC, sounds like the perfect modification for your ride. It's not always about the numbers. I've put a Mikuni on a Sportster and now on my RK and they both feel "snappier" for lack of a technical term. I didn't do before and after dyno runs but I don't if the numbers changed much.

 

Bet it also got rid of the "Keihin Cough" too.