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Replacing Stock Carb for 7/8 SS Carb

Beckysan

Member
Hey All!
I have a question, and am just looking for a little discussion. I have a 1994 Heritage Softail that I had been having some issues with. Got the major one all fixed up (turned out one of my battery cables was almost completely severed!!, but also found a leaky rockerbox) and have been riding, riding riding ever since.

The other day she started acting up again, like she was out of gas, but there was plenty. I have been noticing that she backfires every time I fill her up, and if I don't let her warm up really long (on high choke) she starts acting like that again. I am assuming (newbie here) that the pop could be a sticky float, but I am looking at the over all bigger picture here and wondering...

My bike is almost 20 years old and everything is stock. She has 33k on her, I have heard a lot of people switching over to the SS or Mikuni carbs. Would it benefit me to do this? I am looking to get another 10 years out of her (she's a ton of fun!) but I also want to take care of some of what I think could be bigger issues a hand. Or would I just be better off continuing to clean out the stock carb every season, and just keep rebuilding that one? I appreciate everyone's thoughts. Thanks!
 
Given the age of the carb I would say it's probably time for a rebuild. I would try to fix what you have instead of putting the money into the S&S one.
 
The stock carb is hard to beat. I would give the carb a good dissembling and cleaning and make sure the jets are all clean and also remove the tank and give it a good cleaning and flushing first, then put in new fuel.

While you are in there, your problem with the choke could be due to a jet that is too small (ie 42/43 stock jet). In your case a low jet of 45/46 should do a good job and not require as much choke to get it running.

Once the fuel system is cleaned, your problem should be in the past.
 
Many people like the stock cv carb and they are in most cases a fairly good carb parts are cheep and easy to get although if it is left stock may be just a wee bit weak on the mixture a larger slow jet will help a lot
after time the the rubber coating on the float needle will harden and you will leak some fuel but this is a common problem across all carbs with modern fuels
personally i prefer the mikuni hsr for my big twins as it works better in my climatic conditions and they work well straight out of the box

Brian
 
Hey All!
My bike is almost 20 years old and everything is stock. She has 33k on her, I have heard a lot of people switching over to the SS or Mikuni carbs. Would it benefit me to do this? I am looking to get another 10 years out of her (she's a ton of fun!) but I also want to take care of some of what I think could be bigger issues a hand. Or would I just be better off continuing to clean out the stock carb every season, and just keep rebuilding that one? I appreciate everyone's thoughts. Thanks!

Not sure why you have to clean your carb every season and keep rebuilding it. If it's done right the first time, you shouldn't have any problems later on, other than some gunk or debris that might find it's way in there. But if you ride it, gunk shouldn't build up, and some Seafoam would help in case it did. Check the jets like Glider said and put in a new needle valve and new gaskets. Adjust the float properly, get the stock carb working right and hang on to that bike. A '94 Heritage with only 33K is sweeeeet :s
(but if you want to sell it, I'll give you $1000 for it) :D
 
A stock C V carb is hard to beat, I would opt to rebuild it and re jet. Today's fuels will take a toll on a 94 carb IMO New rebuild kits will have improved parts to handle the added ethanol we are forced with. This is a major problem with lawn mowers and small engines also, The carbs can not take the ethanol:s
 
A stock C V carb is hard to beat, I would opt to rebuild it and re jet. Today's fuels will take a toll on a 94 carb IMO New rebuild kits will have improved parts to handle the added ethanol we are forced with. This is a major problem with lawn mowers and small engines also, The carbs can not take the ethanol:s

If ethanol is our only option, what do we do??? Add some MMO or some other additive??? Is ethanol better for fuel injection than carbs??? Rode to Oklahoma Sunday and got ethanol/alcohol free premium, but it was only 91 octane. Is that better than 93 octane with ethanol???
 
If ethanol is our only option, what do we do??? Add some MMO or some other additive??? Is ethanol better for fuel injection than carbs??? Rode to Oklahoma Sunday and got ethanol/alcohol free premium, but it was only 91 octane. Is that better than 93 octane with ethanol???

When ever you can run the good stuff, your engine and fuel system will thank you. MMO is a very good product as is Seafoam, we are stuck with this Ethanol and it will get worse IMO 91octane is OK as long as your engine does not ping, it will burn and IMO create more power than the 93 with Ethanol
 
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