After the last work session where my dad and I managed to make the clutch of his Indian Scout work again, without changing anything, it was time to take on another challenge and to work on the carburetor! Yeah, I know?! me!? Fixing an Indian Scout 741 Carburetor!?! Lol
Have you missed the part where I explain that I’m starting a new adventure with my dad? We are rebuilding his vintage bike, an Indian Scout from 1941! You can read about it on this page, which explains it all. Once done, I’ll probably go on a road trip with this bike. But that’s going to take some time…
Well, let me confirm straight away: this work session was an epic fail! We didn’t fix anything!
But, I did learn a thing or 2…
How it all started…
As mentioned in my last post about repairing the clutch, my dad thought that the carburetor also needed some TLC. He thought it might need some cleaning. So at first he just removed the gas bowl. The float valve, where the needle is, was indeed dirty. As you can see from the above picture, his bike didn’t have an air filter, which isn’t ideal. It just had a little cover on top of the carburetor, which I cleaned with vinegar and baking soda and came out soooo shiny! OK, OK getting off topic!
No air filter means anything could get in and this is something we’ll have to sort out. There are different options, so I’ll wait a bit more to decide on what we should implement.
So yeah, at first we just took out the gas bowl, but then he agreed to remove also the main body. As we were studying the bits and pieces, I turned one of the adjusting needles valve asking: what is that?
Oups! He got pretty upset!!
You see, my dad never learned how to fully used the carburetor of his bike. When he was young, he took the bike to a repair shop and the guy there, ‘magically’ tuned his carburetor and significantly lowered his gas consumption. After that, my dad never touched it again!
I was bumped. This project isn’t about upsetting him.
We put everything back together and yeah, when we turned on the engine, it was running wild. Like so fast, way too fast. Dad was by then really really upset! Silently upset, but really mad!
So I did what I usually do in those circumstance: I researched! Nervously! At that point, I had no clue how a carburetor worked. Goodness, I barely knew the engine needed air to function! Yeah I know, don’t judge, I told you I knew nothing about engines.
After a while, I finally found a decent video of a guy explaining how to tune a carburetor. I got up and… voila! After just 20 mn or maybe even less, the engine was running decently!
What a relief! YouTube and that YouTuber saved my day!
And by the end of the afternoon, I did my first test drive! But that will be for another post…
Fixing or not fixing the carburetor!
After that first tense encounter with a carburetor, I studied the topic before going back to my dad!
As mentioned before, the operation & maintenance guide and part list are so valuable. The more I study them, the more I understand, the more I see things, I didn’t see the first time I check them out. The better I understand, when I watch videos or read other sources of information.
So when I came back, I felt prepared for this first true part 1 to this ‘Indian Scout 741 Carburetor fix’!
So we took the carburetor apart again. Cleaned some more. We adjusted the float level once, twice, three times… The needle was moved around… the gasket was replaced… We didn’t take the whole thing completely apart. My dad wasn’t ready for that and I don’t think I was either!
We put it back in place once, twice, three times. At least!
The engine was running wild again. Frustration was rising!
Dad was getting upset again. Really upset. Still silently upset.
I reiterated how important it was for me to completely understand how to operate everything, including the carburetor. From what I had read, it is something that you have to adjust almost all the time. The tuning in winter is different than the tuning in summer. He wasn’t completely convinced.
Then came the point where he managed to have the engine run kind of smoothly. At first it was such a relief!
And then it became a victory! My victory! Not that I absolutely wanted the carburetor to have a problem. Obviously I would have preferred it didn’t, but from the early start, I had told my dad that there was an air leak somewhere. Again he wasn’t convinced! Yeah, my dad is hard headed!!
But there he was, the low speed needle valve which lets the air in, was completely closed, yet the engine was running! Ha!!! I knew it!! Air leak!
So finally, he kind of agreed. My brother who had come by, confirmed my suspicions and pointed out a few possible culprits. Hearing it from my brother was more convincing to him, apparently. Yeah hurtful! Understandable considering he is pretty good in mechanics but hurtful!
2nd fail
So my dad seemed to agree that maybe changing the throttle shaft and bushings wasn’t a terrible idea. The fact that the shaft wiggled a lot, was not questionable.
I proposed to completely replace the carburetor so we could continue working on the other parts of the bike. And later, fix the existing carburetor, put it back in place and then keep the other one for spares.
He agreed!?! Shocking I know!
So I ordered it and was extremely hopeful for our next work session!
And?….this was total fail number 2! I thought I had found a complet carburetor and I was wrong! Only bits and pieces came, not a complete carburetor. Sh*t!
Now, to be totally fair, it was entirely my mistake. These were pricey parts but still for that price, there was no way to get a complete carburetor. I just had assumed wrongly.
Fear not, because all is not completely lost. The package included the throttle shaft and bushings we need. Some gaskets we didn’t even have. A new float which my dad has already installed. It isn’t made of cork like the original one, which is too bad but the cork was damaged so it had to be replaced. And a few additional bits.
The package may not have included a complete carburetor but I have a feeling the parts we received are just what we need! Now, I’m waiting for part 2 of ‘an Indian Scout 741 Carburetor fix’ and I do hope I will be able to report it was a complete success!
Things I learned
The most important thing I’m learning is patience. My dad always says that after it spent 40 years in boxes, to rebuilt his bike once, he had to take it apart 10 times. Now I understand!
I clearly also have to have patience with my dad. The more we work on the bike, the more I’m eager to see the day where it is completely redone. But since it’s actually not the main goal of the project, I have to remain patient with him as well. He is a stubborn man!
Yeah, ok, I now kind of know how a carburetor works. And I think I’m ready to replace the throttle shaft partially thanks to Pacific Mike:
I’m becoming a bit scary! Watching mechanics video on YouTube and finding pictures like these ones beautiful? What is happening to me?! 😉
You can now check how it went the next time we worked on the carburetor. It’s in carburetor fix – part 2… Yep there will be a part 3!
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