Harley Keihin Carb clean

Posted on January 11, 2019 by Motopsycho

Another bike left to die

This patient is a 2000 Harley Davidson FXST Softail standard. I realize this isn’t really vintage but it is 19 years old. Picked up not running, coated with a quarter of an inch of dust, 2 flat tires, and a tank full of stale gas it is in dire need of some attention before it’s too late. After making sure it had compression and spark I was ready to tear into the Harley Keihin carb.

Harley Keihin Carb on 2000 Twin Cam Softtail

First thing was to remove the air cleaner than go to the other side of the bike to loosen the enrichment(or choke) knob so you remove it cable and all with the carburetor. After this pop the carburetor out of its spigot.

Once you have the carb loose unhook the fuel line and throttle cables.

Take the Harley Keihin carb to a work bench where you have plenty of room to spread out the parts as it is disassembled.

Make note of the numbers on the carburetor as they might come in handy when you need to get parts. Then pull the enrichment plunger out and set it aside.

Take the accelerator pump housing, diaphragm & spring off the bottom of the float bowl.

If the previous mechanic would have used a top shelf screwdriver like this Vessel Impacta shown here I wouldn’t have had to replace so many of the screws.

Harley Keihin Carb float bowl screw — Yes these are JIS screw

With the float bowl off inspect everything well and make note of what parts are where.

There was a little damage on the mixture screw tower from the plug being removed. Normally there’s a cap over this that you have to drill a hole in & use a wood screw to pop it out. If you live in an emissions inspection state the cap has to be replaced with a new one. If I lived in an emissions inspection state this carb body would have to be replaced.

Harley Keihin Carb pilot mixture screw — someones been in here before

first remove the float & float valve, followed by the main jet & emulsion tube.

then take out the pilot (idle) jet.

Next up is the idle mixture screw, first screw it all the way in slowly & count how many turns it takes to bottom out, and make a note of it. Then remove the screw completely.

There are four parts to the mixture screw assembly on a Harley Keihin carb. 1. the screw itself 2. the spring 3. a small washer & 4 the o-ring. Chances are that the o-ring & washer will remain in the carburetor body & you’ll have to use a small pick to carefully fish them out.

Harley Keihin Carb pilot mixture screw parts

Moving on to the top cover remove it,

and then set it & the spring off to one side.

Pull the slide out, inspect the needle (metering rod) for wear & check the diaphragm for holes.

I always push the needle jet that the metering rod passes through out of the body so I can inspect it too. Since I clean carbs in a heated ultrasonic cleaner if I don’t push it out and keep track of it, it’ll probably fall out any & I’ll have to go fishing for it.

Here’s a shot of the float chamber with all of the removable parts out.

Since this is only a repair job & not a restoration this carburetor only got a cleaning, no vaporblasting. This body was in nice shape & looks decent with only cleaning. If you’re working on a crusty old pile of junk and want your parts to look good again please see my vaporbasting page.

The next few pictures show this carburetor’s parts laid out in the order that that they go back in. Make sure you carefully inspect all parts and replace any that are not usable especially the rubber pieces.

Re-install all of the internal parts,

Harley Keihin Carb jets, float mixture screw & enrichner

and the mixture screw being sure to set it as it was before. If you think it was wrong verify the setting with a good service manual.

Harley Keihin Carb pilot mixture screw assembly

Then set the float height.

Carefully line up the accelerator pump rod through it’s hole in the float bowl & reinstall the bowl. Don’t forget to put the bellows on as shown before the float bowl.

The rest of the accelerator pump arts should be reassembled to the carb now.

The last couple of steps are reassembling the needle to the slide making sure to put any spacers that may be present back where they were to start with and then putting the slide back in the body, with the spring & then re-installing the cap.

Once this is all done it’s time to put the carburetor back on the bike, fire it up and make any needed adjustments. I hope you have found this pictorial overview of a Harley Keihin carb helpful & interesting.

Peace Y’all ‘Psycho

2nd Annual Rails & Roads Show Results!

Posted on September 14, 2018 by Motopsycho

Now that the 2nd Annual Rails & Roads Show is in the history books it’s time for me to let those of you who weren’t able to make it or stay to the end what happened.

Last year we didn’t have any Kawasaki motorcycles at all but this year Team Green was well represented by some fantastic machinery including an H1R road racer

First I’d like to thank everyone who came out & brought a bike. Second I’d like to thank our generous sponsors & door prize donors;

1. The Motorcycle Law Group

2. Carolina Honda

3. T&T Distributing

4. Grainger

5. Bryan Bentley (Swamp Fox Motorcycle Restoration)

Over 300 people cast ballots for their favorite motorcycles in each category this time. Thank to all of you as well. Some of you may have noticed that on show day I was a little bit sick as I’m suffering from a sinus infection that made speaking and thinking difficult so I apologize if I made a mistake or 2 . Without any further ado let’s get to the results of this years show.

Class 1; American

In the right of the photo above is our third place winner, the 1989 Harley Davidson FLHTCU of Glenn Black. On the left side of the photo is the Second place winning 1977 Harley Davidson XLCR owned by Keith Seymour. First place went to the stunning red 1952 Harley Davidson K model that belonged to Carl Senne shown in the center above. Unfortunately no Indians ,Popes or Excelsior Hendersons made the show this year.

Class 2; British/European

Last year this class had a good mix of iron from across the pond, but this year only 1 Moto Guzzi showed up to stave off the British domination of the class. Third went to Ben Doar’s 1966 BSA Thunderbolt. In second place was the 1969 BSA Thunderbolt of Scott & Robin Dials. First place went to the bike featured above, an immaculate 1928 BSA Sloper owned by Robin & Scott Dials.

Class 3; Japanese 1-200cc

This tends to be my favorite class probably because I own at least 4 or 5 small displacement machines. Third place went to Gene Morgan and his 1983 Yamaha MX100. Everybody loves a Honda CT70 and Dan Mcqueen took 2nd place with his very nice 1973. First place went to bike pictured above, the exquisitely restored 1965 Honda CB160 belonging to Bryan Bently

Class 4; Japanese 201-600cc

Folks I have a confession to make, I really screwed up this class & that’s why you see 2 pictures above. It was hot that day, and if you were there you know that I was sick but there really was no one that I could hand my responsibilities off to. A serious clerical error was made while I was in a fog of antihistamines & borderline heat stroke. I was so excited to see the Hercules & it’s Wankel engine that when I asked the displacement the owner said it was 300cc, so my fevered brain stuck it into the Japanese medium size class. Hercules is an orphan brand but it’s a German brand not Japanese. Even so the results of the voting will stand & I’m not going to change a thing, just wanted you to know how a German built motorcycle wound up winning a Japanese class. My apologies to anyone who is upset with me & I shall endeavor to do a better job in the future.

At any rate class 4 finished up like this third place went to the fantastic Kawasaki H1 of Chip Tucker. In second place was the fantastic 1971 Kawasaki H1 of Mike Mcsween, (see above) In first place was the 1975 Hercules of Ryan McKeitham

Class 5; Japanese 601cc & up

These are the big boys, and there were some truly heavy hitters at the Rails & Roads Show this year. No Kawasakis were present last year but this year they made up for it with a vengeance.

3rd place in this class went to Kent Mangold’s 1979 CB750. 2nd place went to Chip Tucker and his gorgeous 1975 Kawasaki Z1B. Chip also took home the first place trophy with his 1983 Kawasaki KZ1000 Eddie Lawson Replica.

Class 6; The Motorcycle Freak Show

Open to any truly custom motorcycle from anywhere this years class had winners from 3 different countries. From China was the Hardknock Kikker of Mike Krenger in 3rd place. From England came the 1969 Triumph TR6 of Steve Pope and the 1st place trophy went to well done Bratstyle 1972 Honda CB350 owned by Dave Mims

Last years best of show winner was a highly customized Honda but this year it went to the beautiful old 1928 BSA that won the British /European class. I’d like to thank the Dials for bringing it to the Rails & Roads Show, and we hope to see you again next year.

Let’s not forget the important part, we were able to present the South Carolina Railroad Museum with $501 in donations to go towards their operational expenses. And we are making plans for 2019 but are planning to move the event a little deeper into the fall to hopefully avoid the scorching hot temperatures next year.

Restoration in progress at the SC Railroad Museum

A Quick look at Harley’s Street 750

Posted on December 23, 2014 by Motopsycho

I took a quick trip to Charleston S.C. this past weekend, mainly so could spend the gift certificate from Low Country Harley Davidson that I won at the Rockabillaque bike show, and so the Mrs. & I could have a nice romantic lunch at Gilligan’s restaurant in Monck’s Corner on the way. Low Country is a very well set up dealership with a large bike showroom that actually takes precedence over the boutique gift & t-shirt portion of the store. Yes the other merchandise is housed in an impressively sized store with a very upscale appearance, but it is clear that the bikes come first when you walk in.

There was one bike in particular that I wanted to check out, Harley’s Street 750 & 500 models. They had one of each with the 500 sitting at the front of the showroom and the 750 off to one side on display in front of a Christmas tree, at the entrance of the boutique.

Unfortunately, it was pretty well being ignored as most customers seemed to head straight to the baggers. Yet even with the improvements that created the liquid cooled “Rushmore” line of motorcycles the fact remains that this is the most advanced engine that HD has released since the V-Rod or the short lived Buell 1125. With liquid cooling and overhead cams it steps firmly into the modern age of motorcycling. I do realize that all of my fellow Japanese iron riders will yawn with boredom at the thought of a mere 57 rear wheel hp (as measured by Cycle World here), but when compared to other mid size machines with a similar design focus, based on unique or classic styling, beginner friendliness, and character it compares very well. Bikes such as the Triumph Bonneville, Moto Guzzi V7, and Honda’s new series of 700cc machines such as the NC700 have similarly modest horsepower. The folks that buy these machines are not after barn burning power, but unique styling combined with ease of use is the name of the game.

If these bikes were available through the rental program, I would rent one and try it out, perhaps I can snag a demo ride on one somewhere. After throwing a leg across it and sitting on it I really liked my first impression. Even though it seems small compared to all of the big bikes in the showroom, for a genuine vintage rider like me it seems perfect.

the Motopsyco on Harley’s Street 750

Let me be totally 100% honest with you, I really do not like to ride cruiser or touring style motorcycles. Chrome don’t thrill me & I thoroughly despise floorboards, forward controls, and infotainment systems on motorcycles, after all when I ride a motorcycle I expect it to entertain me without any outside help. The street 750 &500 models will probably be available in other colors soon enough but the murdered out appearance of the current model really turns me on, as do the mid controls and the bikini fairing reminiscent of the 77 XLCR.

Harley’s Street 750

I have the feeling that I could live with one of these in bone stock form at least through the first summer. But as soon as the wrenching season hit it would wind up with my laptop plugged into the first aftermarket injection controller I could find. Then I would have to dig up a wrecked CBR/GSXR something or another and con one of my machinist friends into helping me swap the forks & wheels onto it, along with some taller shocks & lower handlebars.

Yes I know the target market is beginners who are planning to move up to a big twin from Milwaukee, not nutcase rat/brat/cafe racer fanatics like me. This little twin is really cool, and I think it’d be fun to cut it up and make it into something KUSTOM! The only thing I wouldn’t change is the color scheme.
Peace Y’all