Hey guys, new to the forum here and would love to bounce something off of you knowledgeable folks. Well I've done tons of reading and most of it has been pretty much what I already knew. Haven't really come across my specific problem though. Have '79 80" Shovelhead, S and S Super B carb(so just has enrichener no choke), running points set up. When the bike is warm it will start one kick no problem, or you just tap the button and it starts within half a second. Problem is when it's cold. Turn the gas on, lift up the enrichner, give it about three to four prime kicks then turn the ignition on once it's at TDC and give her a good boot, and all I can usually get out of it is a small cough. When I electric start it cold it takes about four to five revolutions and fires up. Had the bike for about five years now and have always seemed to have this problem. Most of the work has been done by myself or my dad who has 30+ years working on his own Shovelhead along with others. Any suggestions would be great.

 

Make very sure of your tune, points setting and advance unit condition, biggest issue I see with points shovels is the cheap *** black advance units being bad and the cam lobes that come with them being out of spec badly. Also once she's running do an intake leak check, use a can of brake cleaner and give a couple shots around the clamps and where the butterfly shaft comes out of the carb body on both side, B's are know to wear bad in this area.Only take a little air sucking to throw you off.

Next is skip the 3 or 4 prime kicks even with a B a properly tuned shovel can be a 1=2 kick bike, mine was that way for years even punched to 88". Set the Enrichener, crack the throttle a hair if any and kick it over key on. B's do the best with a .031" intermediate and 70 main and set the mixture screw just a hair to the rich side. If the bikes tuned right it should be about 1-1/2 turns out from bottomed give or take an 1/8 turn.

 

Ah yeah I haven't replaced the rubbers on the intake ever and I've personally had hem ft a couple times. Didn't look horrible but doesn't take too much for vacuum leaks. I'll also look at my carb and see if she's worn somewhere, I think I have a spare B body laying around I could always try if need be. It's definitely tuned right in he spot you're referring too. Other than this small starting issue she runs like a dream. I'll try skipping the priming next time and see what happens and go from there. It's my daily driver to work so that's my easiest thing to start with. Also forgot to mention it's a Leineweber L3S cam, not sure it matters but more info is always better.

 

Got 3 partners all running B's set like I described and they all do it 1 or2 kicks every time, I used to do bar bets with mine.

 

Twizted, any suggestions re good quality manufacturers for points, advance units and related components?

 

Points look for Blue Streak or similar the import stuff has gotten real bad. Advance units I use Rivera, All ***** and there a few other name brands with the bearing & washer setup for the flyweights, the bargain units are junk today. Points & condenser try to find and old Napa auto parts and take the old ones in see if they can match you up.

One the main issues besides the weight wearing out fast is the cam lobes on those imports are all over the place spec wise. You set the points on the skinny lobe then roll her over to the fat side and it will be way off. I've seen them closed to almost 1/8" open brand new.

 

on my 76 i use blue streak, 62 chev 6 cylinder points and condenser. the points are exactly the same as the HD points. the blue streak condenser is slightly longer than the HD one but you can still squeeze it into the cone.

 

Couldn't remember what years they matched with, thanks.

 

Awesome guys, checked for vacuum leaks but couldn't seem to find any. Tried kicking it without the prime kicks and it seemed to work way better. I think I'm still treading the fine line between the enrichner being on or off for starting now. Hard to tell what's too cold and what's too warm. Morning when I go out to the bike it can be between 10-23 degrees Celsius. After work it's usually around 25 this time of year so I didn't use the enrichner and she fired up, but then stalled out on me. Could possibly have the idle set too low, hard to know without a tach. But I've fiddled with t a few times and it seems if I go any higher, when I come up to a stop it can hang up and idle way faster than I want it. I feel I stick it in gear and let the clutch out a bit it usually goes down, but who wants to fiddle with their hand shifter while you're sitting at the light in traffic

 

Sounds like you need to fatten the mixture screw just a hair, S&S B's don't like lean conditions, it's the lack of an accelerator pump.