I'm a little confused here. I took apart my carbs to rebuild them and I found 3 brass throttle valve needles and one aluminum one. Can any of you carb experts tell me which ones are original? A wrecker I am dealing with says that the carbs came with aluminum needles, but from pictures I see of rebuilds, they have brass needles.
Carb throttle needles- brass or aluminum
- Thread starter prairiewing81
- Start date
Help Support Classic Goldwings:
roncar
Well-known member
OEM needles for 80-81 carbs have 64A stamped on them near the top and are silver colored. No idea what their composition is.
The three brass needles have D296 stamped on them. Would they be for an earlier version of the carburetor? I read a service bulletin where Honda upgraded the brass needles to the aluminum ones in early 1982, although it was on the Nighthawk. The one aluminum needle I have is stamped 64A. Thanks for the info, roncar.
Bruce
Bruce
roncar
Well-known member
from here https://www.mcbror.com/hondakeysterkits.htm D296 is the Keyster aftermarket part number for the OEM 64A.
Thanks again, roncar.
roncar
Well-known member
Mixing and matching can lead to issues. In my comparison of '78 carb kits, I found differences other than color.
Barracuda (NAPCO?), Keyster, OEM
Barracuda (NAPCO?), Keyster, OEM
Wow, I didn't think there was that big a difference possible. I can see a couple slight differences in taper and length in mine, but not as much as your examples. As Randall states, everything affects everything, and I agree with you that mixing and matching could cause some issues.
- Joined
- Dec 3, 2009
- Messages
- 22,409
- Reaction score
- 246
- Location
- Van Nuys Ca.
- My Bike Models
- 1983 Interstate
2018 KLR 650
2018 BMW S1000 RR
- My Bike Logs forum link
- https://classicgoldwings.com/forums/dan-filipi.122/
It's interesting the 2 aftermarket needles are longer by the same amount.
I had a thought, ya know these bikes are 30 years old and after the first year sold usually mod parts start to show up on the market.
Those needles in the picture are too much different to be stock replacements. I bet they were to serve a different purpose when originally designed to change the power curve. Maybe they were intended to be changed together with the jet or other mods to the carbs or engine.
Me just speculating, we'll probably never know for certain.
I had a thought, ya know these bikes are 30 years old and after the first year sold usually mod parts start to show up on the market.
Those needles in the picture are too much different to be stock replacements. I bet they were to serve a different purpose when originally designed to change the power curve. Maybe they were intended to be changed together with the jet or other mods to the carbs or engine.
Me just speculating, we'll probably never know for certain.
no this is simple the 78-79 carbs have smaller venturi than earlier yrs ...this shows the difference in that in the needles ...carb bodies are completely different ....the after market needles show the lack of actulaly knowing that there part is wrong and sold in ingnorance or plain deceaving .....
roncar":1ygo2j8w said:Mixing and matching can lead to issues. In my comparison of '78 carb kits, I found differences other than color.
Barracuda (NAPCO?), Keyster, OEM
I've done about 8-9 sets of Carburetors over the last few months and that's typical of many of the deals you find on the "net". Lots of places claim to have the part but when you look them over there are quality issues with kits. That's why guys like Randaak are the only way to go. Lots of needles out there but what cut, length, taper? Just a little taper difference can change a carburetor's function to the point of running a guy nuts. That's just one little thing. Got a little bin box growing in volume with all sorts of different pieces of various kits I would not install in my stuff. Tolerances off, fit not correct or good. and on and on. Good eye catching it. When it comes to needles, and air screws and jets it simply pays to go with OEM or a KNOW quality supplier. Lately it's got to the point that applies to the gaskets and O rings too.
Yeah, places like Randaak's are pricey but I've priced all that stuff and by the time you chase all over the place rounding up the stuff and pay shipping etc. He's right in the ball park price wise and the kits are orderly and always have what you need. It's rare to need a jet, emulsion tube as they can all be cleaned and brought right back to factory specs if you do it right. The problems come when you buy an old bike and who knows who was into the thing last or what they did. I always charge twice as much to fix stuff someone screwed up.
My challenge has been to track down the right ones to replace the wrong ones. Honda apparently doesn't sell the needles any more and with all the tampered-with carbs out there, chances of finding good used originals isn't that good.
