HOW TO: Sporty EFI to Carb Conversion on a budget!!!!

[gravitywerx]

alot of people interested in doing this and a few months ago i was one of them. after you get to a certain point on an efi, no matter what you do you still have a ton of wires etc that are just ugly. no way around it. i had my harness as bare as it gets and was just not happy with it. There is the option of the s&s carb kit and the ammp3 ignition for those of you that have about $1200 laying around. i did not so i did mine on a tight budget. i used the money from selling the parts on ebay i took off. my bike is an 07 883c. i did all the buying different parts and researching so you dont have to. here ya go. any questions just ask me.








the first thing i did was take off the factory air cleaner and intake manifold and throttle body. sold it on egay for $200. this took me all of 10 minutes and i had never done it before. very easy. hang on to the flanges and dont put those on ebay, youll need them.







then i ordered a cv carb and a manifold. i ordered a few manifolds but the one that fit best was from an 04-06. harley part number 27023-99a. i tapped and plugged the whole for the mass air flow because you wont need it. you may choose to weld it up but cast aluminum doesnt weld very well. any oem harley cv carb should work. mine just happend to be from a 99 softtail. you will have to rejet more than likely. i relocated the choke cable





then i got the mooneeyes air filter kit and breather bolts from the 33 classifeds.
then bolted it on. now remember that the manifold will need the flanges from the efi throttle body. use.





on an 04 up sporty it uses a crank sensor and so because of this you have to use an aftermarket ignition module. the other option is to change out cams and cam covers from an 03 older but thats a ton of work and could get pricey. there is a ammp3 ignition from germany that is about $700 so i went with the tunderheart for less than half of that. there are pros and cons to both so do your research but both will work. the thunderheart comes with the module, coil, wires and software. very nice unit. i mounted mine next to my battery. and modified the mount i had on my factory coil.


at this point i was probably going to reuse the efi tank and weld up the tank and put a bung in it for a petcock. but then i saw how much they sale for and decided to purchase another tank. i went with the throttle addiction skinny sporty tank and love it. best quality tank i have seen. i bought about 5 tanks and this one made the cut. you may also want to look into pingel. they make a petcock conversion for the efi fuel pump. but it is pricey and you can sale the fuel pump for what a new tank cost. up to you


then i wired it up using bare minimum. the ignition was a snap to wire. first bike i have ever wired and it was pretty easy.

here is a tally for parts...add it up if you like
intake manifold -ebay-$60
thunderhert ignition- $260 (amazon)
breather bolts $35 (fellow 33er)
moon eyes air filter kit- $35-lowbrow
throttle addiction tank-$219
i had tons of wire and the fittings and hose i used to plumb it laying around. but that stuff is not bad.

here is what i made on the parts on ebay to fund my project(this is how i have funded most of my bike and including the cost of the bike i have not hit $10,000 yet)

efi tank $250
fuel pump $175
throttle body and manifold $175
ecm and tuner $250
tsm $50


only factory thing i retained on the bike as far as electrical goes is the regulator. good luck with your builds.

mike

[LargeThin]

Holy shit!
Thanks for the write up.
If my math is correct, you made $291 after everything.
That's so awesome.

[Nosebleed]

Good stuff man. Did you sell your fuel pump to SINTAX? Man, there was another dude on here a few days ago that did the conversion but opted for the "spend $1,200" route. I bet he'll be pissed if he sees this.

Way to go for doin' it on the cheap, ChopCult style!

[Saltytonk]

Good job! awesome write up!!!

Question .... when you went with the thunderheart ignition .... does it still use the crank sensor on the front of the cases? Or does it eliminate that?

[thathinchguy]

Good stuff man. Did you sell your fuel pump to SINTAX? Man, there was another dude on here a few days ago that did the conversion but opted for the "spend $1,200" route. I bet he'll be pissed if he sees this.

Way to go for doin' it on the cheap, ChopCult style!

not pissed. the amm-p3 is really slick. has a 5 year warranty too!

[Branner]

Gravity: Would this be possible to do on a 2010 Softail? My father-in-law wants to ditch the FI and go with carb and this would be a good project for him. Nice write up, thanks for posting.

[slimpickins]

How much was the carb?

[punkrod]

Good used CV carbs go for about $100 give or take about $50.

Great write up especailly about selling off the parts to buy what you need. I factor that into all my work.

[gravitywerx]

Good stuff man. Did you sell your fuel pump to SINTAX? Man, there was another dude on here a few days ago that did the conversion but opted for the "spend $1,200" route. I bet he'll be pissed if he sees this.

Way to go for doin' it on the cheap, ChopCult style!

yep. he bought it for his build

[gravitywerx]

Good job! awesome write up!!!

Question .... when you went with the thunderheart ignition .... does it still use the crank sensor on the front of the cases? Or does it eliminate that?

it uses the crank sensor. the ignition was super easy to work with and has two wires that run to the crank sensor wires on the bike

[gravitywerx]

Gravity: Would this be possible to do on a 2010 Softail? My father-in-law wants to ditch the FI and go with carb and this would be a good project for him. Nice write up, thanks for posting.

i am not a softail expert but there a way more people doing it to bigger bikes. google it

[gravitywerx]

How much was the carb?

crap...knew i missed something. i paid a 33er $60 for the carb. but that was a deal. plan on spending 110-200 for one. still cheaper than $1200

[gravitywerx]

not pissed. the amm-p3 is really slick. has a 5 year warranty too!

it is a good ignition. the tunderheart has a 3 yr warranty. also, if you have to use a warranty from germany, goodluck on that. i can almost buy 3 TH ignitions for $700 and to me the price difference and warranty made up my mind for me. one con to the TH ignition is it does require software to time the bike correctly and the ammp3 does not. to me, $700 was not in my budget. did lust after the ammp3 but this was on a budget...

[gravitywerx]

Holy shit!
Thanks for the write up.
If my math is correct, you made $291 after everything.
That's so awesome.

i forgot to add the price of the carb which can vary. and most people will have to buy wire, connectors etc but that stuff may cost you $50 on the high end.

also, i used the factory throttle cable. worked great.

[gravitywerx]

had some messages fr a few more pictures. here is a shot of the manifold where i plugged the mass air flow sensor. i used red locktight. the other is how the coil is mounted. also , the vent on the carb is plugged off.

[hf1200l]

Good thread you got there! I'm doing the same conversion soon on my 2010 1200L.. I got the manifold off a 2005 1200C, should work with my efi stock flange, right???

[Nottso]

3 months ago, when I sent you that tuner for free, all I asked was that when your build "outgrew" it or if you couldn't use it you would hold onto it and pass it on to the next guy in need instead of selling it. And then you turned right around and sold it .

Shame on me for being a dumb fuck I guess.

[Nosebleed]

Burn.

[samsquamsh]

thanks for the write up

[gravitywerx]

3 months ago, when I sent you that tuner for free, all I asked was that when your build "outgrew" it or if you couldn't use it you would hold onto it and pass it on to the next guy in need instead of selling it. And then you turned right around and sold it .

Shame on me for being a dumb fuck I guess.

really? really? yeah you are a dumb fuck for speaking out of line. you sent me a teclusion box which i never used. i bought a harley super tuner pro jackass.....thats the tuner i sold. i paid $350 for it and sold it for way less on ebay because it had no reserve. the teclision box i gave to a buddy who works on motorcycles. he will use it on something for someone one day. i could ask for it back and send it to you but im not now. but he could sell it for all i care. ill let you know if he does so you can scold him too. i understand where your anger was coming from but i think you owe someone an apology. jk man, i forgive you. i get mad sometimes when i dont know the whole sotry and put my foot in my mouth. its all good