This Harley had some V&H pipes onboard but we had feeling that at some point in its prior life it had had open pipes fitted, with carbs sorted to match, then put back on stock pipes when it was sold – with carb setup left as was. Its new owner took it back to where he’d bought it from and the dealer passed him off with a ‘carb balance’ to sort its rough running. There is only one carb, though…
It’s actually been in to us twice; the first time we stripped and cleaned the carb, freeing the pilot air screw to give it fuel at idle. We rode it, made some needle adjustments and it ran just fine. But what the owner didn’t tell us that it had a flooding problem that the previous dealer had supposedly looked at. As it didn’t flood while it was here we were none the wiser, and he took it away pleased after the test ride.
Two weeks later it flooded after being stood, so back it came. And we found hidden a length of plastic in the fuel line, going into the carb and blocking the needle float jet and keeping it open! We soon sorted that little mess out, and problem solved.
The carb on this Hog held a multitude of mysteries…
