Due to the slow economy that show is now called "As the World Stops Turning"....stay tuned!

 

Glad I'm providing you guys with some entertainment! LOL Bout to dive in again. Update 5? 6? coming soon!

 

Needle valve is out. There is a very small ring around the rubber point where it seats but nothing I can feel with my fingernail passed ever so gently over it. Float does not have anything in it when shaken. Not sure if this needle valve needs to be replaced or not based on that finding. tech23? o/d? Others?
Gonna go blow out some passages and await verdict on this needle valve. Also remove the enricher and blow in there as well. Check to make sure all the holes in emulsion tube or open.

 

Everything back together. Turned on the gas! Pulled the choke and after a couple of turns she fired right up. Let her run about 10 seconds on full choke then inched choke in all the way and she kept running. A little rough though....maybe came off choke a tad early but good news is she remained running without any throttle so that is progress. Gave her a few doses of light throttle and she responded. Shut her down as I figured if fuel is contaminated didn't want to run it long.

Pulled oil dipstick and it was apparent that oil level had risen some. Seemed rather thin. Draining oil now while I eat lunch. Oil in pan smells like it has some gas in it. Will install new filter and oil and fire her up again. Will take her for a spin to get oil up to temp and see how she runs. Will report back then!

 

Sounds like youve got it whipped.

 

hard to comment on the needle valve without seeing it.

if the carb is still off the bike with the float bowl off, you can test it -

connect a section of fuel line to the carb inlet & while gently holding the float up(closed) fill the carb with fuel. with the float in the closed position, there should be no fuel passing. let the float down & fuel will pass.

turns out i was wrong - as far as i could tell from the diagram in the manual, there is no o-ring around the needle valve on these carbs. - unless it's part of the needle valve??

while you're in there, you may want to check the float height. should be a spec. for it in the manual.
checking can be tricky if you've never done it. carb has to be tilted to where the float just touches the needle valve.

record your main & pilot jet sizes for future ref..

one thing jumps out at me - you mentioned rust colored gas after initially pulling the carb.. does the tank have rust inside of it? strainer on petcock possibly blocked causing a low fuel situation?

vacuum petcock makes it a bit of a pia to check. you either need to connect a vacuum source to it to test flow, or remove it to clean & inspect.

 

Ok! Got the oil/filter changed and fired her up. Took her on a about a 6 mile loop to get her up to temp and check for any oil leaks. When I got back the idle was pretty low and she would almost stall after coming off throttle. So adjusted the idle up a bit till she was running smooth. Rolled on the throttle and she would settle back down each time just fine. Guessing that on carb removal idle adjustment is not out of the ordinary after reinstalling(?).

She smells like she is running a bit rich but not sure if more than before. Plan to run a couple of tanks through her considering no more issues and check mileage and the plugs after that second tank. Put some Seafoam I had in the garage in her to finish out this tank. Figured if anything lurking or possibly some water in that last fillup that it would take care of it maybe.

Good news is she felt pretty normal on the throttle as I put her through her paces on the short ride. And YES, I turned the fuel off upon getting her back in the garage! LOL In fact, I turned the fuel off and ran a bit off as tech23 suggested as she will be parked for a few days while out of town.

Funny side note: I had the fuel off when I went for my test ride. Just down the road from my driveway she started sputtering. WTF?!?!? Oh know...then I realized I had not turned on the fuel! LOL Reached down and hit the petcock as she was sputtering along and she caught and off we went. Have to admit I was a bit worried when I felt her cutting out!

Thanks for all the help guys. I really appreciated it. First time to do much wrenching on the Harley and I enjoyed it but told my wife I would starve to death as a wrench as it took me forever to get something like this simple carb work done!

Have a good weekend, everybody. Keep the rubber side down!

 

Don't you just love a Happy Ending!

 

Did you learn to cut off the fuel petcock as a habit?

 

First guess,and the very reason why you should get in the habit of shutting the fuel off after every ride.