A sunny Saturday in September at noon, perfect for riding a motorcycle to the concentration of the Big Twin in Grao de Castellón, a walk of about 150km along the coast. My '95 Harley-Davidson Softail with Evolution engine responds perfectly despite the heat and we practically made the trip at about 140 km / h on average.
The problem
We arrived at the event venue without making any stops, as I want to see the great Bike Show begin.
I park the motorcycle and while I go for the accreditation bracelets I see how the motorcycle's carburetor hangs from the engine and the gasoline ignites due to 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 verify the cause of the accident: the original air filter cover, which in turn holds the carburettor, has come loose from its metal bushings due to the heat and accumulated years, something quite typical in the old “Evo”. Now I understand why in the last few kilometers the admission made strange noises ...
The emergency solution
At this point the priority is to repair the fault to be able to return home, holding the carburetor in some way.
I'm looking for a "campaign workshop" within the enclosure. As I can't find anything, I head to the bar to shuffle other (beers) options, and coincidentally I see some mechanic friends in the area had set up a small tent with technical service and workshop within the event and they very kindly offered me their space and tools to perform an emergency repair on my Harley.
Let's do it
I remove the air filter and check that the carburetor gasket has broken when the carburetor is off the hook.
I don't have a new gasket or support, so I have no choice but to improvise. I repair the joint as I can with some duct tape and chewing gum!
I fasten the carb body with a pair of zip ties and mount the filter housing again,
passing some flanges again so that the assembly remains in place. I start the engine to see if everything is going well and voilà! It works perfectly. I still had time to wash my hands and watch the bike show, with a very interesting level of quality.
We returned in the evening without incident, the repair worked without problems.
The ultimate solution
Once at home I had performed the repair correctly. The first thing I do in these cases is to analyze what caused the breakdown to prevent it from re-producing. 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 incorporates a reusable high-performance air filter. I choose the kit Arlen Ness Big Sucker because it also has the advantage of having replaced the engine breathing rubbers with aluminum channels, leaving the assembly more compact and durable.
The first thing we do when we install it is change the batter carburetor intake nozzle gasket for a new one,
and then following the assembly instructions of the kit we installed the support plate, not without first putting some Sealant on the breathing screws.
We install the 3 screws that attach the filter to the carburetor and tighten everything to the recommended tightening torques.
Next we install the filter
and the original lid.
Conclusion
We have seen how to get out of a predicament with a little imagination, and that from a common breakdown we can analyze the process that caused it, and correct it while improving the original configuration.
Frank Burguera