How much do I charge to polish a 38mm carb (pix)

[pb_paulie_b]

Speaking of billet, who doesn't love it? This is the bowl on my PWK. I still had to 600 grit it.



S&S I believe is a company that modifies carbs- like RDZ who did my alcohol conversion.

[baz]

Originally Posted by pb_paulie_b

How is that possible being the carb I did up top took more then 7 hours?

well first off . if it would take me 7 hours to do a carb i would be out of business .
how is it possible ? i have been doing polishing for i think 18 years as a full time business plus a couple more years before that as a side job . i do a couple of carbs for harleys every month , i can tell you that i have a dozen of different die grinders , 1/4 inch belt sanders , air files ,sanders
but when i do a carb all i use is a die grinder and the finl buffing on one of my buffing machine.
it is normal that if it is your first carb it takes forever to do but the next one should be faster and with time you will get faster and if you are serious about polishing you will get better tools and then after many years you will be laughing at how long it used to take to do a part .

here is what i do in 7 or 8 hours
( that is if i am not disturbed by customers every 5 minutes)

[baz]

btw SnS is a company that fabricates high perf parts for harley davidsons from carburators to engine cases ,cylinder heads and complete motors

[Maicojames]

Thanks Baz for the tips and encouragement. I plan to get more and better equipment as I go, and expect that I will need 20x what I have before I can plan on this being a serious part time business. That cylinder looks great too.

Also, I knew S&S makes Harley hi-po parts etc, thought I remembered an "S&S" kit where a 40-44 mm mikuni crab was used with their intake etc.
I was trying to get a grasp on whether the carbs you polish in about 90 min are slide type ro a butterfly pumper type, but for polishing time I guees it make little difference. I would expect familiarity does make a difference.
As such I am starting a separate log of parts, issue encountered and remedies for my reference.

Thanks again, James

[baz]

Originally Posted by Maicojames

Thanks Baz for the tips and encouragement. I plan to get more and better equipment as I go, and expect that I will need 20x what I have before I can plan on this being a serious part time business. That cylinder looks great too.

Also, I knew S&S makes Harley hi-po parts etc, thought I remembered an "S&S" kit where a 40-44 mm mikuni crab was used with their intake etc.
I was trying to get a grasp on whether the carbs you polish in about 90 min are slide type ro a butterfly pumper type, but for polishing time I guees it make little difference. I would expect familiarity does make a difference.
As such I am starting a separate log of parts, issue encountered and remedies for my reference.

Thanks again, James

yes SnS carbs are butterfly type , so they are a .bit faster to do ( about an hour)but the original hd carbs are the slider type .those take about 90 minutes
and yes familiarity does make a difference
the more you do the faster you will get .
one small trick to go faster that i still use after many years is to take a minute to look at the part and visualise how i will proceed

[FigureLLC]

Originally Posted by baz

well first off . if it would take me 7 hours to do a carb i would be out of business .
how is it possible ? i have been doing polishing for i think 18 years as a full time business plus a couple more years before that as a side job . i do a couple of carbs for harleys every month , i can tell you that i have a dozen of different die grinders , 1/4 inch belt sanders , air files ,sanders
but when i do a carb all i use is a die grinder and the finl buffing on one of my buffing machine.
it is normal that if it is your first carb it takes forever to do but the next one should be faster and with time you will get faster and if you are serious about polishing you will get better tools and then after many years you will be laughing at how long it used to take to do a part .

here is what i do in 7 or 8 hours
( that is if i am not disturbed by customers every 5 minutes)

wow, you're good. first time i looked at your website... AWESOME work!

[baz]

Originally Posted by FigureLLC

wow, you're good. first time i looked at your website... AWESOME work!

thanks ,my first part ever was a hurst shifter handle that took me hours to sand and polish by hand . back then it was trial and error no website or forum to ask questions ,you had to work with what you had until you get it right . but with the forums and everything available on the web , anyone that has a little bit of common sense and knows his way around with tools can get similar results without having to wait 20 years

[mpierich]

Originally Posted by baz

btw SnS is a company that fabricates high perf parts for harley davidsons from carburators to engine cases ,cylinder heads and complete motors

Hey baz, did you ever see anything about S&S voiding the warranty on engines and carbs that are 3rd-party polished? Seems to me there was actually something on their website at one time, and I'm pretty sure a custom bike builder I know told me the same thing. Something to do with getting grit in the assembly, and also loss of cooling capacity with polished fins on the engines (i.e. polished = less surface area).

[baz]

Originally Posted by mpierich

Hey baz, did you ever see anything about S&S voiding the warranty on engines and carbs that are 3rd-party polished? Seems to me there was actually something on their website at one time, and I'm pretty sure a custom bike builder I know told me the same thing. Something to do with getting grit in the assembly, and also loss of cooling capacity with polished fins on the engines (i.e. polished = less surface area).

no haven t seen anything about that but that would not surprise me .i know that polished = less area that is a fact but i don t know to what extent it would affect the running temp and for the grit getting in the assembly well i sure beleive that i have seen shops bring me cyl heads assembled with springs and all
and even after being warned that abrasives will hide everywhere possible , well they still put back the heads on the bike without taking them apart for final cleaning, and guess what, they tried to blame me a while later because they had to strip the motor apart for a rebuild.
i am doing an engine case today and i told the customer that i m am not responsible for him leaving the bearings in

[mpierich]

Originally Posted by baz

no haven t seen anything about that but that would not surprise me .i know that polished = less area that is a fact but i don t know to what extent it would affect the running temp and for the grit getting in the assembly well i sure beleive that i have seen shops bring me cyl heads assembled with springs and all
and even after being warned that abrasives will hide everywhere possible , well they still put back the heads on the bike without taking them apart for final cleaning, and guess what, they tried to blame me a while later because they had to strip the motor apart for a rebuild.
i am doing an engine case today and i told the customer that i m am not responsible for him leaving the bearings in

You're so right. Since the beginning I've had that disclaimer. It's crazy to polish without disassembly. You won't believe this, but I had a guy send me a whole 250cc 4-wheeler engine to polish...the heads and jugs were off, with the pistons and rods sticking out of the case. After making sure he was warned, I polished the stuff and did my best to protect the inside of the crankcase. I told him to at least flush it out...never heard from him after I sent the parts back.