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Tools, workbenches, and parts
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The carburetor tub
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 Here are the contents of the first tub laid out. There must have been a dozen throttle cables and I already have a bunch of those in the throttle tub, so that is where I will put these cables.  The second tub had more air filters, petcocks and a bunch of carbs. |
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 This filter backing plate is for my K-Model restoration, so I put it on that workbench.  At the bottom of the second tub was a bunch of carburetors and a paper air filter you can cobble into a Sportster aftermarket filter housing. |
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 Since this is going to be the carb tub, I started with a nice layer of early model butterfly Keihins, six of them to be precise. For a simple carb the Keihin works better than a Bendix or S&S. It has an intermediate jet that helps you dial the bike in for good driveability all around. The only problem with this carb is that the black plastic fuel inlet elbow always cracks and leaks, and I mean always.  To the early model Keihins, I add two constant-velocity Keihins like used on late models. It is the only carb better than the butterfly Keihin. Downside is that it is way bigger and with a rubber manifold you have to support the air filter with a bracket. |
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 A bag of manifolds, including some steel ones. I guess they are "correct" for certain years, but I think the aluminum ones work fine as well. Pro tip is to always mount the manifold separate from the carb so you can feel inside as you tighten the clamps. Also if remounting the heads or top end, you actually tighten the manifold clamps before tightening the cylinder base nuts or the head bolts. This way the angle of the intakes on the heads lines up to the manifold before you nail everything down.  And a big bag of manifold clamps. For O-ring manifolds, you need the stainless steel S&S clamps like on the top right. With those, you don't need to support the carb with a bracket. With a rubber-band style manifold you always need to bracket up the carburetor. |
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 A bag of butterfly Keihin parts.  A bag of brass elbows you use to replace the black plastic leak-o-matic ones on the Keihin carb. Be sure to get 5/16 like the fuel line and don't get barbed fittings. The barbs will scrape off pieces of the hose and the chunks are certain to get into the carb. Same advice for oil lines, no barbed fittings. And that tip comes direct from racer Vance Breese. |
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 Another bag of Keihin butterfly carb parts and a rebuild kit. You need the Viton rebuild kit with this crappy gas we have today.  This batch of petcocks will go into the other tub, but this baby is for the K-Model as evidenced by the threaded fitting for the fuel line.. |
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 On top of the carburetors goes the bags of manifolds and clamps.  This back is a bunch of metric screws for the Keihin butterfly carb that I got from Mr. Metric in San Jose.  Another bag of Keihin butterfly carb parts.
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 And more Keihin butterfly parts.  I tossed all the Keihin parts into the tub.  The carbs faced outward, so I can see. |
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| [Update:] I did these posts to remind me what I own after I
unpacked from the move to Florida. Turns out having the pictures of what is in the tubs has been a great help figuring out where the heck things
are and what I still have versus what I have sold on eBay. There have been several times when I needed some part, and rather than go dig through the box, I could just look at these pictures. I am lucky to have them on a website where I can see them anywhere, but you could take picture like this and keep them on your hard drive to remind you of what you have. Also, if a Hurricane hits, I will be ready for the insurance, since I have pictures of all this stuff. The latest use I had was looking for a carb needle for my 1979, that has been acting up. I thought it was ignition, but now it looks like a sticking float needle. I found some pictures here, but I knew I had some new rebuild kits somewhere. Turns out there were in some gasket drawers I made up. I will post that soon, but it was just so nice to know where everything is without digging through boxes. Since it was so nice to know I had some floats in this carb box, I took the time to organize the baggies I had tossed in before, that you see above. Now I have some set up like as follows. |
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 Here are some used screws, to complement the brand new ones I bought from Mr. Metric. There are some larger screws in here, maybe for a Bendix or Tillotson.  Here is a bag of jets and idle mixture needles, and the little rubber plug that covers the main jet.  A bag of accelerator pump parts, and the little O-rings that seal off the housing. |
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 Here are some floats and needles and pivot pins, as well as that little screw that holds in the pivot pin.  Here are some throttle shafts and choke shafts and a bunch of stuff stripped off carbs I had to throw away. These new gaskets were in this tub, I will put them in the gasket drawer. |
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 Here are some used gaskets, I tossed these back in this tub. I guess this is the 'last resort tub" for carb parts.  Here are a bunch of Keihin float bowl O-rings. These swell and are a
pain, so I will put this batch in the gasket drawers, even though some
are used. |
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 Some used flange gaskets and the 5/16 hose to 1/8NPT elbow you need to replace the cracked black plastic fuel inlet used on Keihins for 30 years. My 96 cracked too.  Some odd-ball stuff. Some wire hose retainers, I see a gearcase vent elbow, and some other stuff that does not go anywhere else. Having this stuff organized helped me get the carb on my 1979 sorted out. It trying two rebuilt kits, the needle in the Biker's Choice kit worked bettery than a factory kit. Then I had to try a couple of floats and lots of messing around until the carb would no overflow or stick shut. What a pain. |
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