I believe there is an intank filter behind the petcock. Get a manual....makes it more fun.

 

Considering a bike leans on curves and you go up and down hills it's hard to imagine the orientation of the carb much matters unless you're being downright silly about it. If anyone with moderate understanding of what they are looking at would say wtf then that might be it, but, otherwise, it seems you can rule that out.

 

a huge improvement can be made through replacing the needle. don't remember the part number right off hand, but it fits the early sportsters. same carb body as what you've got. and the carb is held in the intake manifold with the use of the cylinder head vent bolts and the air cleaner backing plate. a tip, use a little vaseline on the rubber grommet that goes into the intake manifold so you don't squish the grommet out of shape causing more problems. damm, wish you were closer, those are simple carbs.

 

i found the part number for the right needle that will wake up your carburetor. it's for a 1988-89 1200 sportster, it's part number 27094-88 . the local harley shop that i deal with has it in stock, is an easy replacement, and makes a great difference. there is a small screw at the bottom of the carb that you gotta remove to access it, and it's the idle mixture screw. if you got the stock main jet, you should be okay, they're a bit rich to begin with, so with a free flowing exhaust and aircleaner, it will be about right. the aforementioned needle controls mixture in the 1/8 to 1/2 throttle. get the needle, it's cheap, and a great improvement. i like those older keihen carbs.

 

I will look for a fuel filter.

As noted in the earlier post, I did drill out that EPA plug and have been adjusting that idle air mixture screw. I have been incrementally adjusting it out to see if I can get richer... not much improvement. Are you saying to replace that needle. I did see on one site that there is a special screw designed for fine tuning with out a screw driver (has a knureled thumb head). Is that the "needle you are talking about"?

I'm wondering if there is a piece of debris caught in the float inlet. Also should have looked at the accelerator pump closer, and although I cleaned the jets I should have made sure they didn't have debris in the tubes, etc. Probably need to tear it apart again. I called a couple places for the rebuild kit but not in stock... will probably order online. Do you guys know anthing about a "Stage 1 Kit"? Should I get that too? I'm also wondering if that vacuum diaphram on top might have a hole in it and should probably take it apart and inspect... or the vac line coming in... vacuum raises the slide... right?

There has been some improvement and seems to get a little better each time I ride. As long as I raise the RPMs slowly, it doesn't seem to sputter and cut out as much. It seems the problem is mostly in midrange.

Thanks again guys!

 

take the carb off, disassemble everything, clean it properly, and at the very least, replace all the "soft" parts.

a dealer can print off an exploded view of all the parts and where they go.

sounds to me like the acc. pump ain't working, or the slide is not raising. there's a very small orifice in the bottom of the bowl that feeds the acc. pump and it gets plugged up easily.

don't get a "stage 1" kit, they are a waste of $$, the slide "kinda" works on a vacuum, but not via the vac. line on the back of the carb, that goes to your voes switch, which could be acting up too....

the knurled head idle mixture screw kept turning itself out for me.... junk IMHO....

the needle that emwolb is referring to is called the jet needle, it hangs down from the slide into the main jet well.

good luck!

K.