Calling Carb Gurus-Can a Car Carb go on a motorcycle?

[alex2445]

Ok the full question is "Can a car carburetor go on a motorcycle? why or why not? and if so why hasn't it been done oem?" I just had this random thought as to why car carburetors and motorcycle carburetors are so different and it seems like having to adjust a cars carburetor would be easier than adjusting 2+ motorcycle carburetors. Thanks guys!

 

[cqyqte]

Yes provided you position the float in the same attitude as it was orignially designed to function. Many custom motorcycle builds have used Webers and Dellorto as well as Strombergs as a means of feeding the engines.

 

[teazer]

Short answer - no. Longer answer - it all depends on the bike in question and the carb.

Let's start with teh ridiculous. Let's say you have a spare 4 barrel Rochester off an old 350 Chevy and you want to put it on a CB200. First off it's downdraft and so it would have to be mounted above the motor - not so good. Then there's 4 barrels to tie in to two cylinders and that would be a nightmare and any one barrel would be too large.

So the packaging issues include manifolds, downdraft or side draft, where it would fit etc. Performance issues would include appropriate size and availability of jets.

For years, people fitted Weber side draft carbs to Honda CB750s and there are a few on Goldwings too. That's always possible but setting them up is more trouble than it's worth. Back in the day there were few to no options for carbs, but now we have flat slides and round slides form Mikuni and Keihin plus aftermarket suppliers like Lectron.

I want to say that Read Titan used a Weber on their 8 valve CB350 prototype motor but it has been decades since I saw the pictures and that mental photo is fading.

Back in the day people tried SU on Triumph twins and other side draft carbs but that was becasue there were no other options.

So yes it is possible with the right carb and bike, but there's not a lot of point with so many bike carb options available.

What bike and carb combo were you thinking of?

 

[alex2445]

I was just wondering in general, but there was a thought in the back of my head(like the very back) of putting one on the cx500 that I want. Mainly I was just wondering if it would help with performance, and etc. Also I asked my Dad about it and he said it was probably for more adjustability to each cylinder(at least that's what I think he was getting at and I don't think he understands motorcycles as well as he does cars), which I figured was an incorrect. Anyways it was pretty much just one of those things that you randomly think up and wonder about. But thanks for the information, maybe someday i'll experiment with this idea

 

[alex2445]

Also teazer I'm not so sure that it would make a huge difference if it was a downdraft carb because I've got three briggs and stratton motors that run with downdraft carbs (i'm assuming that's what they are because the air filter goes on top of the carb), but then again briggs don't run that well, they're like the harleys of the agricultural motor world, just not as bad. But I'm not so sure that the carb is the big reason for their not running well, then again I could be wrong I'm only a noob. And thanks again for the info