Poor Gas Mileage On 65 Pan

[SCOOTERMAN]

I CAN'T SEEM TO GET ANY KIND OF REASONABLE MPG FROM MY '65 ELECTRA GLIDE. 25 MPG ON A GOOD DAY...WHAT KIND OF MILEAGE ARE OTHERS GETTING?
MY MOTOR WAS FRESH LAST YEAR...COMPLETE REBUILD..TOPEND, BOTTOM END WITH BALANCING. I RIDE IT CONSEVRATIVELY.
I HAVE DONE THE USUAL CHECKS...CORRECT OIL, TIRE PRESSURE,CHAIN ADJUSTMENT AND SPARKPLUSG(3-4). I AM USING OEM SOLO GEARING.
I HAVE EXPERIMENTED WITH THE HIGH SPEED CARB ADJUSTMENT, AND IT DOES NOT SEEM TO IMPROVE THE SITUATION.
MAYBE...COULD THE ORAFICE (JET??) IN THE BODY OF THE CARB...WHERE THE NEEDLE END OF THE HIGH SPEED ADJUSTER SITS, BE OVERSIZED BY WEAR OR MAYBE SOMEONE ADJUSTED IT BY TIGHTENING IT WITH PLIERS? IF SO, IS THERE A CURE?
PLEASE, I AM OPEN TO AND SEEKING THE ADVICE OF FELLOW MEMBERS.

[T. Cotten]

My wife doesn't get a whole lot better with her '65, but it is a tired old full-dressed rat pulling a sidecar!

Before any other tuning experiments, it is very prudent to pressuretest your installed manifold with a constant 15psi of air and dilute dishsoap sprayed around it.
(I have even found leaks to the port from the pan cover screw above it by this method.)

Once you are certain of a drum-tight manifold, then we inspect the carb:
The manifold flange should be flattened by grinding, such as by rubbing it upon a sheet of emery on glass. (The phenolic block and double gaskest allow for a great deal of warpage from fastener stress, particularly at the idle gallery plug.

Then look for wear at the throttleshaft/bushings. Airleaks there combine with wear into the bore from the throttledisc to create gas-sukking difficulties.
Similarly, daylight around the outside of the venturi will decrease efficiency enormously, and is often overlooked in a rebuild.

And last but not least,
The greatest gas-sukkers in a Linkert that I know of are un-responsive brass boatanchor floats. (But I guess it is spam to bring that up, since I make the only gas-proof ultralight floats for Linkerts and Scheblers. Shame on me.)

[INLINE4NUT]

First,25 MPH on a 1965 Panhead???.....Doesnt sound all that bad, Im sure it could be better but then why check MPH if the bike is running just fine?I for one have never checked that as long as the MC runs sweet!
Now Mr Cotten I thought spam was something you fry in a pan..on the stove! HA!HA! couldnt resist!Now for those wonder floats....I e-mailed you about them...would love to test a few out on my old bikes I wont record MPHs but sure would spread the word back east if they run as promised!

[LouieMCman]

I have a stock (linkert carb) '65 with all the options and have checked MPG loaded and empty at 38 MPG. It's all in the carb...

Louie

[T. Cotten]

I am very curious as to what kind of mileage was expected when our machines were new.

An issue of the Enthusiast featured a '65 that pulled a cabincruiser behind it from the Great Lakes to Alaska, with only brake problems on the trailer(!)
If anyone could reference this for us, or other contemporary performance data, it would be very much appreciated.

[INLINE4NUT]

T COTTEN,
if Im not mistaken and Ill look I do believe I have that issue!
I still dont believe I got 38 mpgs with my 1965 FLH that had 2500 miles on it when I lost it in a fire at a Harley Dealership 6 years ago! But then again Ive never really cared about gas mileage on an MC,and Im not so sure Id put to much faith in reference material rom that era,may have been inflated as a buying gimmic. But I guess it would be better than nothing!

[Perry Ruiter]

About a year or so after the Berlin wall came down, my wife and I did a month long "Fly-n-Ride" out of Frankfurt on a new Harley decker. Probably half our time was spent in the former DDR (aka East Germany). I had prepared myself with stock answers for the questions I expected to be asked "How much does it cost", "What's its horsepower", etc.. However, the number one question was, "What's its gas mileage", to which I had to reply "I don't know, I just fill up when it needs it". More often than not, they'd look at me incredulously and walk away shaking their head ... Perry

[INLINE4NUT]

Perry now thats REAL MPGs !!!

[SCOOTERMAN]

THANKS TO YOU ALL FOR THE INPUT, ADVICE AND IDEAS FOR MY LOW MPG PANHEAD. BY THE WAY...MY 65 ELECTRA GLIDE IS IN THE LATEST AMCA MAGAZINE.
THE SECTION SHOWING "RIDE YOUR ANTIQUE MOTORCYCLE TO WORK DAY" MINE IS THE LAST PAGE OF THAT STORY "BEST GROUP EFFORT" I'M BOB ROPER..STANDING WITH MY BOSS IN FRONT OF MY BLUE AND WHITE '65. GRANTED I'M NOT SO GOOD LOOKING, BUT THE BIKE IS.
INTERESTINGLY TWO OF MY CO-WORKERS HAVE '65 ELECTRA GLIDES. MINE IS RIDDEN, THEIRS ARE SHOW QUEENS.
RIDE A PAN..BE A MAN...RIDE A CONE...YOU RIDE ALONE.
T. COTTEN....I WILL BE IN EMAIL CONTACT WITH YOU ABOUT THE LINKERT FLOAT.....THANKS AGAIN FOR ALL THE HELP.