A sunny Saturday in September at midday, perfect for riding to the Big Twin rally in Grao de Castellón, a 150-km ride along the coast. My '95 Harley-Davidson Softail with an Evolution engine performed perfectly despite the heat, and we practically covered the entire route at an average speed of 140 km/h.
The problem
We arrived at the event venue without making any stops, as I wanted to see the fantastic Bike Show begin.
I park the bike and while I go to get the accreditation bracelets I see how the motorcycle carburetor hangs from the engine and the gasoline ignites from the heat, just below the fuel tank... great balls of fire!!!
I react quickly and cover the flames with my jacket, managing to put out the fire. I can immediately determine the cause of the accident: the original air filter cover, which also holds the carburetor, has come loose from its metal bushings due to the heat and age, something quite typical of older Evos. Now I understand why the intake was making strange noises in the last few kilometers...
The emergency solution
At this point, the priority is to repair the fault so we can return home, holding the carburetor in place somehow.
I look for a "camping workshop" within the venue. Since I can't find anything, I head to the bar to consider other options (beers). I happen to see some local mechanic friends who had set up a small tent with a technical service and workshop within the event. They very kindly offered me their space and tools so I could perform an emergency repair on my Harley.
Let's get to work
I remove the air filter and find that the carburetor gasket has broken when the carburetor was unhooked.
I don't have a new gasket or support, so I have no choice but to improvise. I repair the gasket as best I can with a bit of electrical tape and chewing gum!
I hold the carburetor body with a couple of cable ties and remount the filter housing,
I re-tightened the assembly with a few zip ties to secure it in place. I started the engine to check if everything was okay, and voilà! It worked perfectly. I still had time to wash my hands and watch the bike show, which was very interesting in quality.
We returned at dusk without incident, the repair went smoothly.
The definitive solution
Once home, the repair had to be carried out correctly. The first thing I do in these cases is analyze what caused the failure to prevent it from happening again. Examining the original filter housing, we see that the metal bushings are simply pressed into the plastic, so if we replace the housing with the same model, sooner or later it will happen again. Fortunately, brands like Arlen Ness or Screamin' Eagle have an aluminum support kit that lasts a lifetime and also includes a reusable high-performance air filter. I choose the Arlen Ness Big Sucker kit because it also has the advantage of replacing the engine breather rubbers with aluminum channels, making the assembly more compact and durable.
The first thing we do when installing it is to change the damaged carburetor intake nozzle gasket for a new one,
and then following the assembly instructions of the kit we install the support plate, but not before putting a little sealant on the breathing screws.
We install the 3 screws that hold the filter to the carburetor and tighten everything to the recommended torque.
Next we install the filter
and the original cover.
Conclusion
We've found that we can get out of a jam with a little imagination, and that from a common fault we can analyze the process that caused it and correct it while improving the original configuration.
Frank Burguera
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