First let me say I know this topic has been beat to death and I've searched and searched on here and other sites and soaked up a bunch of info. With that being said I'm still undecided. Currently my 03 fatboy with TC88 only has a SE air cleaner and new (not even installed yet) V&H short shot staggereds. I was told by the previous owner that the bike had mild SE cams but I have no way of knowing and it doesn't really sound lopey. I know right now the CV with some work would be fine however I'm really drawn to the quicker throttle response I've read about with the Mikuni. Also due to my gear head nature I know I'll be into the motor probably next winter. I've almost made my mind up to get the mikuni I guess I'm just looking for either back up on this decision or a good argument to keep the CV and mod it. I can get the mikuni for 250-260 and I've seen alot of the parts available to mod the CV (slides, jet kits, etc) will eventually set you back 100 bucks or so. So tell me what you think.

 

I did the switch to the 42 and its been OK, you will need to add about 100$ for a tunning kit too. and an OH gasket set cuz U will wear out a float bowl gasket dialing it in.

the 42 is more suited for a 95 but you can adjust it to work. I had to put the 150 main in to get the A/F ratio right, and even my HQ 95 dosnt want much more fuel than that.

Then come the many needle adjustments to get the thottle responce just right. (just did another today).

they are easy to understand. but you must develop a stragity for tuning, and I recomed writing all your adjustments in a log and only doing one at a time.

the main is the easiest, then the idle and the needle adjusments if required.

 

Ok thanks, see this is the kind of info I was looking for. Most of the other posts just say it's great or I didn't notice a difference. Thanks for posting your opinion along with how you reached your results. I've tuned many flat slides on two stroke motors but this whole harley thing is new to me so I'm just looking for real world experiences. Thanks again.

 

this months American Rider mag has a good article on the Mikuni's and how to set them up. That being said do this first and see what you think. Make sure your carb has stock main 190, stock slow 45 or maybe get a 46 from someone like drag specialties or dennis kirk (the 46 is not a standard size so most shops don't carry it), get a needle from an90's fxrp the needle is an N72Sharley part #27178-90, get the slide spring from the dyno jet kit and for maybe $10 you will have quicker throttle response. The spring is lighter and shorter and allows the slide to come up quicker. Lots of people have the cv too rich and that bogs it down so your throttle response is slower. It is easy to check to see if you have SE cams. pull the cam cover off and look.

 

What am I looking for on the cams, is there a part# stamped in them?

Thanks for the tips, I think I'm going to try and tune my CV a little before I dive into the Mikuni.

 

Well I should have been paying closer attention. The SE cams are marked on the lobes but probably hard to see without pulling cam plate. An easy thing to check is pop one of the push rod clips and see if it has adjustable pushrods. Most shops install adj pushrods when they do cams as it saves a little time and adds another part to the cost. Chances are if it has adj. pr's it has the cams as you were told. if it does not have adj pr's it still might just not as likely. The other thing is you could have a base line dyno run and that would indicate if you were stock cams or not.

 

OK thanks.

 

I just sold my Mikuni on Ebay for $190.00, and went back to the CV and didn't miss a beet. I've had them all S&S , Mikuni, and CV. The CV with a $40.00 HQ jet kit will make it run Just as good if not better then the others as long as you know what your doing.

 

Today I took the CV off for a look, all of the cheap mods (slide mods, washer trick and the mixture screw has been made accessible) have been done. I called the dealer that built the bike and he told me it had been dynoed for optimum performance. I'm switching to V&H short shots staggered from cycle shack pipesmainly for looks but the carb shouldn't be too far off. It has a 195 main and 45 slow jet. BTW no aftermarket cams.

 

I took off the CV and put a 45mm Mikuni on my 95".This was a major improvement over the CV. The throttle response is GREAT. I have some pretty big cams in my bike but I still think you will be happy with the Mikuni over the CV. Easy to tune on the dyno also. Goog Luck!