Hiya, I have a 2002 low rider which I have recently bought. It had been stood about 4 months or so.
It has an S&S super E carb on it, which I need to tune - bike fires up with choke/ enrichener fully open, but wont idle. I rode it round the block for the first time about a week ago, and every time I stopped at a junction it would simply stall. So I figure that its probably running too lean?, I will have a play with the carb as soon as the rain lets up enough!

My main question is this - as I rode it round the block, the engine didn't seem quite right - (apart from the above) - hard to explain exactly, but it felt sort of dry? it felt like it was running dry, with a sort of slight clicking sound almost as if it was just catching on something. Does this sound like anything you have come across? sorry it sounds so vague!

 

Sounds like your idle jet is gummed up. Run a tank of Carb cleaner or Seafoam thru it.

 

Cheers Ranger, i'll give that a go

 

Seeing that you just bought the bike I would drop the bowl (very easy on an S&S) and pop the intermediate jet out as well as the main and make sure their not plugged and you can clean the bowl at the same time.. here's a link to S&S quick tuning guide...

if you need more in-depth go to S&S's website they have a lot more instructionals....

 

Remove the carb and dissassemble and soak it overnight in a carb-cleaning solution.
Scott

 

okay, so I stripped the bowl off, and the air cleaner backplate.... gave them both a good clean, cleaned out both the jets too. for some reason the header breather tube wasn't connected to the backplate, and the breather hole in the plate had been filled with sealant? is that a mod that i'm not aware of?? I cleaned that out too, and attached the breather hose properly. the intermediate jet is a 02795 and the main jet is a 072.... put everything back and reset the screw positions. with a bit of tweaking, I've got her started up, and ticking over okay at approx. 1100 revs. Accelerator seems responsive enough through the range. I'm happy with where i'm at for now, but needs a ride out to iron out any running issues. fingers crossed for when I take it out..!!

 

I have not heard of a .02795 jet for an intermediate S&S jet.. Seeing that you have a 2002, I would assume it's an 88"er. At the minimum you would need a .0295 intermediate.. The 72 is probably good depending on any mods to the engine.. 1100 rpm might be a tad high.. 950 should get you there.. As for the breather, yes the PO vented the breather to atmosphere and should stay that way..

 

Hi Hotrod! thanks for your help - I used your printout to help me with the set up, so thanks for that!
My bad with the intermediate jet - too many digits - it IS a .0295 jet. You are correct, it is an 88". I have been told by the PO that it is a stage 2. Should that make a difference to the idle speed? also, when I put it back together I connected the breather to the backplate again..... should I go back and disconnect it and plug the breather hole in the backplate again? (and just for my education, what does that do?)
Thanks again!!

 

Diverting the breather to the atmosphere instead of back into the carb keeps the oily mist OUT of the carb and piston bore.
It's an EPA thing.
I see you're in the UK, and assume you don't have inspections or the PO would have been nabbed before now.

 

Ahhh… I see! Thank you for that - i'll disconnect that breather pipe again then!