[Claude P]

Here is my solution to installing a carburetor intake on a FI head. I was going to drill the extra hole and tap it as directed by many people on the forum but, for some reason, the intake port would not line up directly over the gasket surface on mine. So I opted for a different solution. I used the metal tabs that are used inside the crankcase to prevent the bearing from coming out. It just so happened that the bolt holes were the right distance apart (I had two extra engines so I had extra parts). I first used one of these on each side of the intake. It worked fine until I fit the carb to the intake. The piece I had installed on the front head was obstructing the movement of the throttle mechanism so that was not going to work. I finally decided on using a piece of metal that I bent into a stepped shape at 90 degree angles. The pic should show what I mean. I then used one of the small dowels meant to line up two halves of the engine as a spacer I had to cut it down a bit. I cut the dowel just a little shorter than the thickness of the intake port so the bolt would pull it down tight. I also drilled a recess into the intake port holes into which I press fit a nut into each side that the bolt would thread into. I'm not sure my explanation is quite clear so I'm hoping the pics will fill in the gaps.

I also bought some gasket maker at NAPA. Here are the pics of the gasket maker and the solution I came up with. I haven't run the engine yet but I'm pretty sure it'll work. An advantage of doing this way is you don't have to drill into the head, you use the existing bolt holes on the FI head.

Recessed hole with nut pressed into it

Carburetor Intake Port bolted onto existing threaded holes of FI heads. Notice the stepped metal peice on the right hand side ( front of engine)

 

[DragonLady58]

Small metal burr in a 90 degree die grinder works wonders.....

 

[Rjswildbikes]

Small metal burr in a 90 degree die grinder works wonders.....

Man that looks way easier than what I had to do. But I did this on a vn900custom the heads are offset so I had to take the old manifold cut it and reuse the flanges and cut 2 different manifold flanged exhaust pipes weld them together. Then grind a hole until it looked even for both sides to receive equal flow. Then weld a new flange to that for the s&s carb to mount too.

 

[Bongopony]

sorry bu IMHO the best thing about a Nomad is the FI. No choking, altitude adjusting, or decel popping makes this ride all the sweeter.

 

[Rjswildbikes]

sorry bu IMHO the best thing about a Nomad is the FI. No choking, altitude adjusting, or decel popping makes this ride all the sweeter.

So can you tell me what ignition system to buy for my bike to run? I am replacing my ecu with the M unit so I just need ignition now ,just don't know which one is gonna be A. Easiest to install and B. What will work best for the vn900 c w carb conversion

 

[VIP854]

So can you tell me what ignition system to buy for my bike to run? I am replacing my ecu with the M unit so I just need ignition now ,just don't know which one is gonna be A. Easiest to install and B. What will work best for the vn900 c w carb conversion

I have been looking into the M unit as well. Did you ever pull this off? If so how did you go about it? I'm sick of chasing a no spark issue and sunk too much money into it to back out now. I want to just remove everything and get the m.unit blue and build a custom harness.

 

[VIP854]

What did you do about the fuel tank with the original having the cut out for a fuel pump? Did you change the tank out?

 

[Claude P]

I replaced the 1999 Classic engine with a 2002 Meanstreak one. The old engine was carbed, the new one FI. I have nothing but the intake and injectors so it would take a lot of work to replace everything to run FI. I'm worried about an air leak at the intake with the gasket I used. I'm seriously considering re-using my original heads. Anyone have any bad experiences doing the FI to carb mod?

 

[Claude P]

sorry bu IMHO the best thing about a Nomad is the FI. No choking, altitude adjusting, or decel popping makes this ride all the sweeter.

I agree but my bike was carbed so too much work to make it FI