Update from Power Apt on cast smart carbs

[jamieg45]

Wow I didn't know there was so much going on with these carbs and I thought the billet ones were lretty nice from what I have read from owners of them already. But I am a airstryker guy and when these are out and I get to ride a quad with one I mite have to have one but until then I will keep reading and watching the posts about them for now.

[ledperformance]

Its just a carburetor how much better can it be? I am not having any problems with the way the carburetors available now work! Fuel injection is much more sophisticated, but even that is no big deal. I am not against a new carb I just need a real good reason to spend any resources on trying a new carburetor.

[chrisr]

Best I can tell from what I've read and seen of them they appear to be a Lectron copy that someone is trying to improve upon.  That is fine, Lectron's patent ran out some years ago and there was room to improve .  It also appears that all the preorder customers are fitting the bill for the R&D and mold changes to the cast version.  I don't believe they are out to screw anybody and hopefully they get the cast versions worked out.  I would be interested in seeing how they perform in the hands of a few builders on here.

[rablack21]

Fresh Update!

The wait is almost over! Just got word that all preorders will be fulfilled by the 3rd week of December. Call it a Christmas Carb but I will take it!

[csides66]

Fresh Update!

The wait is almost over! Just got word that all preorders will be fulfilled by the 3rd week of December. Call it a Christmas Carb but I will take it!

I want a full report by February!! Or you could make the 4 hr. drive to Durhamtown Plantation in the next 2 months, and if you twist my arm hard enough ill go with you.

[rablack21]

I want a full report by February!! Or you could make the 4 hr. drive to Durhamtown Plantation in the next 2 months, and if you twist my arm hard enough ill go with you.

LOL. Full report may have to wait til March. December is gonna be pretty frosty. However, I will give an installation review with pics, a first kick and idling video, and a short report of just taking it down the road and back. It will probably be too frickin cold for much else. I got my first mx race of the season in March so there will definitely be a full report then.

[Allison#51]

LOL. Full report may have to wait til March. December is gonna be pretty frosty. However, I will give an installation review with pics, a first kick and idling video, and a short report of just taking it down the road and back. It will probably be too frickin cold for much else. I got my first mx race of the season in March so there will definitely be a full report then.

I was pretty excited to get that email from Liz it's been a long wait. Hopefully this is finally it. I'm looking forward to doing some testing this winter. When did you put your preorder in rablack?

[rablack21]

I was pretty excited to get that email from Liz it's been a long wait. Hopefully this is finally it. I'm looking forward to doing some testing this winter. When did you put your preorder in rablack?

I preordered around July so I am probably last on the list unfortunately. lol. But I have been following this product for over a year and a half. After trying out the billet version, I can't wait to get mine.

[Allison#51]

I preordered around July so I am probably last on the list unfortunately. lol. But I have been following this product for over a year and a half. After trying out the billet version, I can't wait to get mine.

I did mine towards the end of July so I'm right back there with ya. I haven't got to try one out yet. I'll just be happy if I'm able to spend less time jetting and focus on other things like dialing in the suspension and tire setup. If it has the added power and efficiency that they claim that will be a bonus. We both need to post a lot of pictures and vids to make all these nay sayers jealous :tongue-new:

[Jerry Hall]

Best I can tell from what I've read and seen of them they appear to be a Lectron copy that someone is trying to improve upon.  That is fine, Lectron's patent ran out some years ago and there was room to improve .  It also appears that all the preorder customers are fitting the bill for the R&D and mold changes to the cast version.  I don't believe they are out to screw anybody and hopefully they get the cast versions worked out.  I would be interested in seeing how they perform in the hands of a few builders on here.

I did a lot of testing on the Lectron carbs when I worked for Team Kawasaki in the late 1970s.  Sparky Edmonds was the inventor/mold builder/owner of Lectron carbs.  We tried every needle he made plus a lot of special needles and changes to the fuel circuits but he/we could not get the Lectrons to work as well as the round slide Mikunis on the works bikes.  I think he sold the rights and molds to someone in the early 1980s but the new company could not seem to find enough willing buyers and Lectron carbs kind of dropped out of site for about 15 to 20years.
 
The drag racing community revived Lectron carbs when they started needing 40 mm plus carbs.  Precise metering at all throttle positions is not a requirement for drag racing but a large diameter air passageway into an engine is needed.

Edmonds built another carb called the Blue Magnum which was basically a Lectron carb with a pilot and main jet with the Lectron type needle.  I think that the Blue Magnum still needed more fuel circuits like the conventional two stroke carbs to meter fuel precisely at all throttle positions.  I was told that he eventually sold the Blue Magnum molds to Edelbrock.

[chrisr]

Thats a neat tid bit of history Jerry.  It's great to have someone on here that has been so involved in the industry.

[udontknowme]

gimme a 48mm keihin and ill throw this lectron in the trash today :biggrin-new:

[JasonB]

I got the email from Liz last Saturday night too. Confirmed my shipping address and what machines I would use this on. I did my preorder late July too. To all the Nay Sayers, who cares what some of us are investing in? Not your money! All I have seen is a bunch of people bashing this and apt, gotta love it

[Pumashine]

I don't think you won't get them all I ever thought was what a long wait and they seem sweet so I hope that are good. Everyone who has the billet is happy

I believe what you are seeing is a company offering a cheaper version of billet at X price. To achieve X price the whole process must be done economically. As the carb goes from one stage to the next the whole order cannot go on until that stage is completed. Kinda like mass production but not on a conveyor belt. Any small problem will be multiplied by the number of carbs being produced.

Our  sponsor ESR went through the same problem with the cast clutch covers and center cases. Big problems arise if you get them all cast then find out for example the CB is hitting the case. Or the bearing is in the wrong location. The covers and cases took over a year to finish past the expected delivery date. Yall must be patient.

[Jerry Hall]

I am not real sure how or where Lectron measures the bore of their carbs.  Mikuni, Keihin, Delorito, Bing, Amal, Jacov, etc. have always rated their carburetor size by the minimum diameter of the air passageway through the carb.  

Recently a customer sent me a LT500 Suzuki engine with a Lectron on it.  He said it was a 48 Lectron.  I measured the minimum diameter and I think I remember it to have been around 43 mm.  Does anyone know where the most recent manufacture of the Lectron carbs takes their measurement for naming their carbs?