PWK United Kingdom source

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brendanq

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Hi all,

Trying to source some of the PWK carbs, i am happy to order them from abroad but i am finding it very difficult.

My understanding is Jim doesn't do them already set up anymore? so have looked elsewhere. You can get them online from steadfast but i have yet to get an answer out of them if they come similar to Jims. If i need to buy extra parts it is fine as long as i know so i can factor that into the decision on price. What i don't want is to wait a few weeks only to find i need more bits.

I also contacted JRC directly through facebook and got some brilliant info about the carbs but now i want to order some they aren't replying. And their website is near impossible to navigate to order anything.

I also contacted SRM in the UK as they advertise their selves as distributors for JRC, they took 2 weeks to reply only to say they can't help(?)

Honestly it shouldn't be this tricky to spend money. If anyone has any ideas it would be greatly received. As right now i will just buy something else, which would a shame as the reviews on here are fantastic.
 
I have some advice for you...
Change your plans and fit Keihin 35mm FCR flat slides instead.
Check out the ones on sale at cNw.
They are as good as carbs get...
 
Fast Eddie said:
I have some advice for you...
Change your plans and fit Keihin 35mm FCR flat slides instead.
Check out the ones on sale at cNw.
They are as good as carbs get...
Click to expand...
+1
My experience with PWKs on my Combat was horrible. Two months of frustration and shitty performance. BTW - i know of at least four other Norton owners who had similar issues with them.
Amal Premiers have been on my bike for couple years now with zero problems and once dialed in, the bike idles and accelerates wonderfully.
 
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again, probably not what you want to hear. I use the PWK's on 2 small bikes I have and they are fine, but no way would I use them on a big bike. Keihin 33 CR's on one bike and Amal Premiers on one Norton and Wassell Evo's on 2 other bikes. I'll continue to use the Wassell carbs,
 
Ah ok, alot of the reviews on here seemed really good if set up from Jim. If that is the case i will forget them and run away.

Probably saved me alot of hassle.

FCR's are a little out my price range sadly or i would be right there!
 
My experience with 34 mm PKW is positive. I have them on my 750 short stroke and are stays in tune.
But I had a lot of trouble with the manifolds and the rubber. It is not easy to get them mounted so they don't take in false air. My solution was to use silicone hoses with tight fit and good hose clamps. After this, no problem. My bike starts after 1-2 kicks at cold engine and first kicked with warm engine.
Runing strong and smoothly. There is no doubt that FCR is a good carburetor, but is more advanced and at a completely different price level.
 
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Not heard much about the wassell ones, they a good alternative? The website says the parts are interchangeable. But is there any benefit over premiers?
 
I have a pair of PWK carbs jetted by JS. I can pull one apart and post the jetting. Any other changes I am unsure about. I have never used them. Oddly enough, I installed them on a 600 Honda XR and it ran very strong but fouled the plugs.
 
Uk prices are not that different ? Wassell carbs are around £40 to £50 per carb cheaper than Amal premiers

with the added benifit dealers actually have stock
 
As i said it was a quick glance. So what are the experiences with them?

Info as ever for alot of commando parts is patchy at best with mixed results reported. And websites that supply parts being woeful (though they are better than a few years back)
 
Don’t know if you noticed brendanq, but Seattle says he’s got some modded for Commandos that’s he ain’t using... maybe a deal in the waiting...?
 
We used them on my grandson's junior speedway bikes for a while. The quality is questionable they wore out quickly and jets and needles came without ID numbers.
 
My set from Jim Schmidt were near perfect from day one. After fiddling with needles, the only way I improved his set up was by drilling the bodies for barbs for a balance pipe, and even that "improvement" was debatable. Simple, inexpensive, chromed flat slides, and small enough to fit in place of the Amals. When I bought them from Jim, the Premiers were not yet on the market.
 
Here's the specs to set up the PWKs

32mm PWK

Use only Special PWK needles #P11/32 available from JRC

start with130 main jet

Drill needle hole in slide to .120”

.101 needle jets 2nd needle position, or 102 needle jet with clip at top

#38 idle jet with idle mix screw approx 1/8 to 1 turn max. Change idle jets if necessary (usually smaller).

Bend brass tube inside float bowl to clear float, shake when assembled to make sure float is loose,

check idle bypass jet is clear (.016”),

Stretch idle mix and idle speed spring for more tension

drill hole in side of main jet tower to 3/32 for more fuel flow

Use 8JS float needles (from JRC) or file the 4 corners off the float needle ridges near the rubber tip so it won’t hang up.

Also you will need a special idle mix adjustment screw with a longer head on it from JRC. I would cut a slot in the head and soft solder a short wire in the slot so I could reach in between the carbs to turn it for adjustment.

FLOAT LEVEL - Hold the carb upside down at a 45 deg angle so the pin in the float needle doesn’t compress. The float should be 3 to 4mm below the top of the central casting or lowest part of the aluminum carb body (not the main jet or the hex shaped main jet holder).

Use aircleaner K&N RC-2380

**********************************************************

Some people couldn't tune them. I asked them to return them for testing. I put em on by test bike and they tuned & idled perfectly. After sending them back the same people still could not tune them even though they could tune Amals (PWKs have subtle tuning characteristics). So I gave up on them and went to Genuine Keihins which tune very easily.

Keihin CRS 31 & 33mm smoothbores are worderful but they require a lot of modification to fit a Norton. They are a tight fit.
Keihin FCRs are also very good but they are physically huge, look a bit weird and the slides rattle and make the same sound as detonation. You can't get them smaller than 35mm and they are a very tight fit.

Amals and PWKs are the only small body 30 to 32mm carbs that will fit a Norton well and look decent. The PWKs will blow away the Amals performance wise (flat slides) and they stay tuned - but only for those who have an ear for tuning carbs. They require all the modifications mentioned above to work on a Norton. They don't work for people who try to tune them the same way you tune Amals. When I first starting dealing them they came from JRC with the "OKO" brand name milled off and the bell mouths remachined and that fooled me for awhile. They are Chinese knockoffs of a 28mm PWK carb body but enlarged to 32 or 34mm throat with two screws holding down the top lid instead of the original style PWK screw top.

If the PWK idle mix adjustment makes no difference at all from closed to 1 turn (too rich even after changing to smaller idle jets) then the idle jet body tower is defective - about 1 out of 100 carbs can have this problem.
 
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jseng1 said:
...


Some people couldn't tune them. I asked them to return them for testing. I put em on by test bike and they tuned & idled perfectly. After sending them back the same people still could not tune them even though they could tune Amals (PWKs have subtle tuning characteristics). So I gave up on them and went to Genuine Keihins which tune very easily.

Keihin CRS 31 & 33mm smoothbores are worderful but they require a lot of modification to fit a Norton. They are a tight fit.
Keihin FCRs are also very good but they are physically huge, look a bit weird and the slides rattle and make the same sound as detonation. You can't get them smaller than 35mm and they are a very tight fit.

Amals and PWKs are the only small body 30 to 32mm carbs that will fit a Norton well and look decent. The PWKs will blow away the Amals performance wise (flat slides) and they stay tuned - but only for those who have an ear for tuning carbs. They require all the modifications mentioned above to work on a Norton. They don't work for people who try to tune them the same way you tune Amals. When I first starting dealing them they came from JRC with the "OKO" brand name milled off and the bell mouths remachined and that fooled me for awhile. They are Chinese knockoffs of a 28mm PWK carb body but enlarged to 32 or 34mm throat with two screws holding down the top lid instead of the original style PWK screw top.

If the PWK idle mix adjustment makes no difference at all from closed to 1 turn (too rich even after changing to smaller idle jets) then the idle jet body tower is defective - about 1 out of 100 carbs can have this problem.
Click to expand...

So i assume Jim; that the ones purchased from were checked out and did not suffer from the idle mix defect.

I have a set purchased from you that will go on the dunstall norton once it is back together, hopefully in the spring...
 
850commando said:
So i assume Jim; that the ones purchased from were checked out and did not suffer from the idle mix defect.

I have a set purchased from you that will go on the dunstall norton once it is back together, hopefully in the spring...
Click to expand...

After selling about 100 sets, one set came back from a customer who couldn't get them to idle. One carb would not lean out on the idle mix adjustment and I had to replace the tower with the idle passages. I doubt that you have a problem with yours as this was a fluke - a plugged passage or a defect. If your idle mix changes when you open it from completely closed then you are fine.

Its not a perfect world. I have seen defects in Amal carbs and I have received genuine Keihins with incorrect jets installed. When I worked at a bike shop a set of Mikunis arrived once with the main jets rattling around loose in the bottom of the bowls.
 
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thanks; i could not see myself doing another set of anal's . and the pwk's have some inherent japanese design quality, which makes them an affordable choice.
 
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