Changing EFI to CARB?

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Sep 13, 2011 | 12:05 PM

st john

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Joined: Sep 2006

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From: AZ

Changing EFI to CARB?

I am not doing it but why would you. I whould have thought EFI was the way to go because it should be adjustment free no matter how or where you ride. Right?

Sep 13, 2011 | 12:10 PM

monkey sammich

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From: Tallahassee, FL/Blue Ridge, GA

Many are exceptionally unhappy with the Magnetti Marelli Fi like I have on my Ultra. You can upgrade to Delphi FI, but I think it's about $2K to get it done. A carb can be a much cheaper option that still allows for adjustment with other upgrades.

Sep 13, 2011 | 12:54 PM

babalu

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From: Hudson Valley, NY

There are a lot of reasons to go with a carb over EFI, ease of maintenance, low cost, more authentic for a V-Twin engine, easier to adjust, easier to fix roadside if needed. I purposely sought out a bike with a carb when i bought this one used, I don't want EFI on my bike at all.

Sep 13, 2011 | 01:08 PM

soft 02

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From: TOAK western branch

Ill stick with EFI. I can make any change I want on the side of the road with my little black box and its nice not having a choke. If I want her to be fuel consevitive or run like a striped ape it only takes a minute or two. No need to swap jets or anything. I ran into an area that only had low grade and had to pull some timming out of her and only took a minute.

Sep 13, 2011 | 01:12 PM

Harley_Dude

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potato, potato, potato...................

Sep 13, 2011 | 01:24 PM

oct1949

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From: 40 miles Northeast of Indy..

Just like anything else, We all have different wants and needs.

Sep 13, 2011 | 01:40 PM

TennesseeMustangPerf

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Quote:

Originally Posted by babalu

There is no low cost issue in changing it out, the cheapest option is to keep the EFI that the bike came with... free. It costs more to actually change out to a carb. As for authenticity, I too was scared of the EFI, because I did not want to steer away from the classic Harley sound, but was surprised with how true the EFI still maintained it's sound. Can you drag an EFI down to 500RPM's to have the "hit and miss" sound like you can a carb? No. But you can get it down below 1K, much less than that and you will have oiling issues. You are right about easy tuning, that is the one benefit to carbs. EFI however, has longevity (no gaskets to leak or rebuild), but is often more expensive when you do have to fix them, on the rare occasion. EFI also has the benefits of adjusting to your changes in elevation, something that comes in handy here in the East Tennessee mountains, you can hop on and ride instead of fooling with the choke, warming up, etc., and you can get fuel economy benefits over a carb. As for ease of maintenance, fuel injection is the winner. There really is no maintenance with EFI. No rebuilds, no gaskets, etc. It is virtually maintenance free. When and if a fuel injector were to go out, they are really simple to change. It is however, more expensive to replace than a carb gasket or float, on the rare occasion that one were to go out.