SEAL-rider
Active Member
I realize there are many threads that discuss the Super E carb and the considerations around transitioning from Super E to G; but I hope my short story might help new folks making carburetor decisions. My 2005 Chopper came with an E carb with restrictor plates and all the other wonderful tuning decisions the EPA could muster. Working with Curtis at Wild Steed Worx we fixed many issues, and upgraded to 585 cam with a Thunder Heart programmable ignition which combined for noticeable improvement. But the bike just seemed to be starving above 4k and rich below. It had horrible decel pop below 3k. We tried various jetting combinations but Curtis continued to council the need for more air - ie more carb. So I looked at the Triple X. There were valid reasons to go XXX Super E and equal arguments to go to the XXX Super G carb. I also considered just a stock G carb. In the end I chose to send a stock Super G to John Sachs. John focuses the budget on functional benefits so I saved money. In other words, he doesn’t send out a highly polished carb like the Triple X, but he does an awesome job boring it out and adding the ThunderJet among other upgrades
Thunder-Jet? There are many debates and opinions on the need or benefit of the TJ, but it just made sense to me. Where a 78 jet might be rich at 3k, it provides the needed fuel above 4k. But the 76 while perfect below 4k is starving above. Hence the Thunder-Jet. It allows you to drop the main jet and fill in all the fuel you need at higher RPMs. Sounds great in theory, but I had many people tell me it was a dumb idea and why did I think I knew more than S&S engineers.
Well, the result is nothing less than amazing. I am riding a new bike. All decel pop is gone. I can’t tell the difference in the smoothness of 3500k or 4500k. It just pulls and pulls with seamless transitions between jets. I started with a 31/78 100 Thunder-jet. It felt a little flat above 4k so I dropped the main to 76 and upped the TJ to 120 thinking I needed to compensate to maintain the top end (wrong). Finally, I settled on 31/76/100TJ. It is amazing. As if I had an underweight starving Greyhound that I fed for the first time. It just runs like a beast.
Thunder-Jet? There are many debates and opinions on the need or benefit of the TJ, but it just made sense to me. Where a 78 jet might be rich at 3k, it provides the needed fuel above 4k. But the 76 while perfect below 4k is starving above. Hence the Thunder-Jet. It allows you to drop the main jet and fill in all the fuel you need at higher RPMs. Sounds great in theory, but I had many people tell me it was a dumb idea and why did I think I knew more than S&S engineers.
Well, the result is nothing less than amazing. I am riding a new bike. All decel pop is gone. I can’t tell the difference in the smoothness of 3500k or 4500k. It just pulls and pulls with seamless transitions between jets. I started with a 31/78 100 Thunder-jet. It felt a little flat above 4k so I dropped the main to 76 and upped the TJ to 120 thinking I needed to compensate to maintain the top end (wrong). Finally, I settled on 31/76/100TJ. It is amazing. As if I had an underweight starving Greyhound that I fed for the first time. It just runs like a beast.
