Bike has Edelbrock Qwik Silver II carb. I have never seen one nor has anyone around here so I have no shop help available. When bike is cold choke is not enough to get it cranked (it has a choke not an enrichner). You have to remove the air cleaner an cover the throat with your hand. After about 10 minutes of cranking it will fire and quit. It does this 10-15 times and then will start up. I then must hold the throttle about 1/8 open and run it about 45 sec before it will idle. Around 1000 rpm. After it idles and warms up (400-500 rpm) the bike suddenly increases idle to 1200 rpms. If I turn back on the idle adjuster it drops to 200 rpm and dies. Edelbrock has been no help, called their 800 # and got directed to a diagram. They discontinued this carb so no one in tech can help. Has anyone here ever worked on these? Should I scrap it and go with a CV?

 

yes, I'd swap it to a cv, lots of info available on line, check for one on ebay

 

For all the trouble and effort you are going to have to go through to get that carb to work, I would scrap it and pick up a used CV. I've seen like-new CV's on Ebay for around $100. Jets for the CV are available everywhere. THe Edelbrock just sounds like it is too far off to even know where to get started with it.

 

I think it's a great, underrated carb. Sounds like yours needs a rebuild, I'm not sure if Edelbrock has rubber parts available but that's what I'd do first. The CV is also a fine carb but it's no E-brock... Biggest complaint I ever heard against this carb was the strong throttle return spring. Also some have had problems with tuning them but I've been very fortunate with this carb, I've had it on other 80" motors and it's always been super easy to tune.. I'll be very sad if you come back and tell me a rebuild kit is no longer available...

 

Just a bit trivia...re: Quicksilver carburetors.....
In 1995, at the Edelbrock booth in Sturgis, I had the pleasure to meet Red Edmonston......
He told us that his Quicksilver carb had been bought out by Edelbrock the year before, and Edelbrock had then hired him to stay on in the R&D department.
My friend and I were both riding FXRs, and Red had told us that most of the testing done on various Edelbrock products, and the Quicksilver, was done on FXR test bikes. We were able to talk to Red one on one for 40 minutes or so......when asked about good engine combinations, pipes, cams, compression ratios/headwork, etc.....Red would just smile and say that he couldn't tell us what the R&D department was running on their FXRs.....but, he did tell us what combinations didn't work....very enlightening.....
Red was very open and straightforward, one of those genuine people that you have the pleasure to meet every once in a while.....

 

Check the throttle shaft for play. As previously stated they had one hell of a spring on them and they had a tendency to wear out the shaft/housing causing play. This play would make the idle change and drive a mechanic absolutely nuts. I was never a fan of these carbs. Hope this helps.

 

Shaft is ok. First thing I checked. Had an S&S B with a worn shaft. Running a can of sea foam thru it to see if it helps. If not I'll go to a cv. No indy shops up here want to fool with it.

 

Gonna go with the CV. Edelbrock is no help. Was on the tech line with them 2 hours today. First 2 guys I talked to never heard of this carb. 3rd guy kept sending me stuff on the performer series. Two completely different carbs. He kept saying they are basically the same. So thanks everybody.

 

Idle air bleed screw is missing. Gonna see if Edelbrock has a replacement.

 

Greetings Bama..... I just joined the forum. I am running one of these carbs on my '85 FLH. Yes, the return spring is killer. This carb was on when I purchased the bike. I've put some miles on it and haven't had any other issues. I haven't had this bagger for long and didn't need to dig into it anywhere as of yet, but I have fiddled with the idle already. It does appear to be unstable at idle. I'll get a high idlle and then blip the throttle and ensure the throttle returns fully and get a correct idle. I have been putting off pulling the air cleaner cause I'm thinking I'll want to fix/buy something before I throw it back together..... $$$$ I have had a weber on a nice swept fwd tunnel ram intake before. I'm keeping my edelbrock until I buy another weber...... Let me know how it works out for you.... I'll take pic's when I pull mine.