What I found inside my Amal carb

"Necessity is the mother" ---
I have to admit I admire this creative "solution".
The slide seems to fit well, carb not too worn - can it be directly replaced with one of the new hardened slides?

My guess is that someone machined the slide round in a lathe and had to loose the tab. A new hard anodised slide should fit fine, although I would be inclined to buy a whole new Amal Premier carb ad they are good value for money.

Id go for the whole new carb. Ive read where some have had good luck with the Wassell clones.

Have you looked into the cost of the slide, compared to the whole new carb?

Someone certainly did improvise!

Dutch said:

"Necessity is the mother" ---
I have to admit I admire this creative "solution".
The slide seems to fit well, carb not too worn - can it be directly replaced with one of the new hardened slides?

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Are you sure that's not original?

If it’s not worn and it runs ok I’d leave it and replace it when I needed to.

Almost expert level bodge, only let down by the fact that he could have removed the screw to file the flats!

I've fitted anodised slides to old Concentrics with good results in the past, but the bodies can get very out of round, and some of mine were beyond hope.
I see a lot of bikes running without the insulating Bakelite spacer fitted, and wonder if this accelerates the distortion?

If the carbs are OK, why not use them?

If they're not OK, I'd replace with new Premiers.

Personally, I think anything in between is false economy.

Fast Eddie said:

If the carbs are OK, why not use them?

If they're not OK, I'd replace with new Premiers.

Personally, I think anything in between is false economy.

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Yep I agree
Just don't be tempted into the dreaded grey world of a single VM
Mik

baz said:

Yep I agree
Just don't be tempted into the dreaded grey world of a single VM
Mik

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I slept on that decision last night.
Ordered new Premiers this morning.

Dutch said:

I slept on that decision last night.
Ordered new Premiers this morning.

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Brilliant news!!

I replace just the slides on my carbs with the new anodized ones. Worked great.

B+Bogus said:

I see a lot of bikes running without the insulating Bakelite spacer fitted, and wonder if this accelerates the distortion?

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Wondering how this has any regard to the carb mount. The heat insulator is mounted between the manifold and the head.

Onder said:

Id go for the whole new carb. Ive read where some have had good luck with the Wassell clones.

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Hi All,
I put new Wassell EVOs on my 850MKIII . They work, but the QC is poo. One of the choke springs was covered with what looked like chromium flakes, one of the idle air jets was plugged up with swarf, and when you set the idle mix screws to 1-1/2 turns, one screw head is flush with the casting and the other is about .035" proud of the casting. On my old beaten Amals, when the mix screws were out 1-1/2 , each head was proud by almost the exact amount , approx .030". I saved $120 over the Premieres, but I would not buy the Wassels again.

Warped flanges and slides tight at the top helped seal the deal also.

Tinkerbell said:

Hi All,
I put new Wassell EVOs on my 850MKIII . They work, but the QC is poo. One of the choke springs was covered with what looked like chromium flakes, one of the idle air jets was plugged up with swarf, and when you set the idle mix screws to 1-1/2 turns, one screw head is flush with the casting and the other is about .035" proud of the casting. On my old beaten Amals, when the mix screws were out 1-1/2 , each head was proud by almost the exact amount , approx .030". I saved $120 over the Premieres, but I would not buy the Wassels again.

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I would never buy Wassel carbs but I'm glad you did so I have one more reason to never buy them.

The Premier anodized slides are crazy expensive, retailing for near $60 USD, each; chrome slides are about 1/2 that amount. Given the age and what appears to have been a poor installation, at one time or another (sealer applied to the flange), never mind the condition of the captured idle (pilot) jet. If the slides, that you have, are a good fit (not too loose or tight) and move freely up and down, with the carbs properly mounted to the manifolds you might get another riding season out of them. The repair of the slide locating pin would be considered a minor miracle if it was done on roadside, but if the suggestion of a too aggressive ride in a lathe is correct the perpetrator, well intentioned, no doubt, should have just cracked another beer. The sheet metal screw will, at some point, eat up the channel it runs in, if it hasn't already.

If your idle jets are clean or an be cleaned, then new slides, new needles and new needle jets may work wonders, but you'll be back it at much sooner than if you bend over for new carbs. I am inclined to think that any motorcycle that presents abused parts, like your carb(s), has a plethora of other issues, that will bite you, sequentially, when you least need the aggravation. New carbs would give you the freedom to worry about some other mechanical aspect of your Norton.

Back in the day when I was a 20 something, newly married with new son, I made a lot of repairs of the nature this thread is predicated on. I found that I was splitting my time pretty evenly between riding and fixing; fix one problem and another would take its place, just like marriage! So, back then the Norton ended up being a real marriage saver; it taught me a lot.

Best wishes

Tinkerbells comment regarding the Wassell QC is very interesting

i have had similar experiance with the Amal premiers pilot circuits full of swarf and main jet holders loose on arrival

Amal have been struggling to fill orders for the past 12 months delivery is very poor and the Premier price is also increasing now £150.00 incl VAT in the UK

differance is Wassell carbs are readily available next day delivery from many dealers and there is no significant differential in quality only price £90.00 VS £150.00

fit 10 pairs of wassell and 10 pairs of Amal straight out the box and the blinkers will rapidly come off regarding your poo QC claims ,bear in mind experianced re sellers will strip jet and check every Amal premier prior to dispatch so the end customer witnesses a lower ratio of issues with the Amal brand as thier established dealer network understands the nature of the product
remember good service costs ( an extra £120.00 on a pair of carburettors )


Having fitted both Amal & Wassell i would reccomend a strip and clean and check float level before fitting either brand

Once a long, long time ago, three hundred miles from home the slide locating pin disappeared(?) from my Suzuki Carb. On the side of the road somewhere in the Great Dismal Swamp I hammered in a spare needle jet and trimmed it to fit with a pair of side cutters. Worked like a charm, made it home with no more carb problems.
Ride On, Wrench On
Dave