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Samurai carb upgrades

YotaAtieToo

Thick skull
Joined
May 19, 2020
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Bonners Ferry, ID
Obviously EFI or propane is the best solution for replacing the Sami carb. But after driving Wilson's Sami with the 3k carb aka Carolla carb, I was pretty impressed. The simplicity of a cam driven fuel pump, low pressure lines and a basic carb is nice, and fits the simplicity of the Sami well imo.

Wilson got his here https://www.certifiedmachine.com/parts-for-samurais
So I followed. $230 for a new pre tuned carb, a very nice kit and great instructions. The hardest part is getting the stock carb off with all the bs attached to it, blocking the bolts.

IMO, it must be meant to be, there is no adapter, the carb literally bolts onto the stock studs and uses the stock filter hat.

I definitely picked up a smoother idle, low end and mid range power, plus a significant bump in fuel consumption.

I have heard good things about the side draft harley carbs, and I have no experience, but I'm more than happy with this set up.
 
Yes the toyota 3k and 4k carbs are the best bolt on emissions delete carbs. The only real benefits with the harley carb is it will run at more extreme angles, and the modern side draft design will atomize fuel a bit better.
 
I'm running the Certifed Machine 3K and it was worth every penny. The install is so easy and the kit includes everything needed, that anyone can do it. Mine needed no adjustments other than idle speed.

The carb works awesome off road. It struggles on steep down hills, but just run a hose from the float bowl vent to a catch can and it takes care of it.
 
Yes the toyota 3k and 4k carbs are the best bolt on emissions delete carbs. The only real benefits with the harley carb is it will run at more extreme angles, and the modern side draft design will atomize fuel a bit better.

I'd like to hear people chime in on the harley carb also. I noticed zor sells a turbo kit for the my side :laughing: for the type of wheelin I do, (lots of temp and elevation variance) I feel like the turbo carb would be a pain in the ass. But I'd be curious how it works for others.

The other benefit of the 3k is that it looks "stock" I'm going to try and smog it as is, we'll see how that goes. It should pass the sniffer much better than before.
 
The other benefit of the 3k is that it looks "stock" I'm going to try and smog it as is, we'll see how that goes. It should pass the sniffer much better than before.

Good luck on the smog... that is my only hang up on convincing myself that I need a sammy.
 
Well I’ve only had my zuk for a few months now and it came with the Harley carb kit so not much personal experience stock. My buddy has a zuk as well and his stock crb was giving him nothing but problems. He rode with me in mine and was really impressed. It doesn’t cut out at any angle and I’ve had the boys hanging off rock sliders and front bumper to keep me down.
He was looking at fuel injection until he rode with me and ended up doing the conversion. It was an easy swap for my buddies and was mostly assembled. It is the Sidewinder 2 kit bought through low range.
I went out and shot a few pics of mine. His is almost identical but maybe a newer model. They come in 40 or 44mm and he got the 44. Not sure which mine is. I do hear you need the 44 to turbo it and is well worth the upgrade also. No way would it be smog legal I got all kinds of stuff plugged up or capped off. Sensor lights on the dash.

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Well I’ve only had my zuk for a few months now and it came with the Harley carb kit so not much personal experience stock. My buddy has a zuk as well and his stock crb was giving him nothing but problems. He rode with me in mine and was really impressed. It doesn’t cut out at any angle and I’ve had the boys hanging off rock sliders and front bumper to keep me down.
He was looking at fuel injection until he rode with me and ended up doing the conversion. It was an easy swap for my buddies and was mostly assembled. It is the Sidewinder 2 kit bought through low range.
I went out and shot a few pics of mine. His is almost identical but maybe a newer model. They come in 40 or 44mm and he got the 44. Not sure which mine is. I do hear you need the 44 to turbo it and is well worth the upgrade also. No way would it be smog legal I got all kinds of stuff plugged up or capped off. Sensor lights on the dash.

What is the big regulator deal? Fuel I'm guessing?

How much is that kit? The 3k kit is only $230 shipped :grinpimp:
 
I put in a 44mm kit from Myron at zor - was night and day compared to stock. I'm pretty novice at wrenching and was a fun quick project. You can add the turbo later if you want or buy my setup in a month or so, looking for a 1.6 now
 
Yeah it’s a fuel pressure regulator. Kit is spendy I believe around $700.
 
I'd like to hear people chime in on the harley carb also. I noticed zor sells a turbo kit for the my side :laughing: for the type of wheelin I do, (lots of temp and elevation variance) I feel like the turbo carb would be a pain in the ass. But I'd be curious how it works for others.

The other benefit of the 3k is that it looks "stock" I'm going to try and smog it as is, we'll see how that goes. It should pass the sniffer much better than before.

I've run a couple HD Carb kits. Dad is still running his and loves it. I turboed my kit . I would call it finicky. I couldn't keep the skirts on the pistons. Just swapped in a turbo 16v, we will see how long I can keep it together
 
I've run a couple HD Carb kits. Dad is still running his and loves it. I turboed my kit . I would call it finicky. I couldn't keep the skirts on the pistons. Just swapped in a turbo 16v, we will see how long I can keep it together

I was mostly worried about it running well at elevation. We sometimes snow wheel up to 7k ft. Sometimes it's full power and sometimes you need to idle along. I'd hate to be trying to adjust the carb while everyone else is having fun.
 
Stock Sami fuel pressure is too high? :laughing:

if you are running on a 1.6, it would be electric pump and must for the reg. The harley carb only needs like 1-2 psi. I believe there is a CJ fuel filter or something that will regulate the pressure down for a stock sami mech pump.

I homebrewed a harley carb kit on my last 1.6. It ran fine, but had issues with the fuel bowl needle seat not holding. I also couldnt find a complete choke cable so had a rigged setup that was finnicky. My carb was a cheap used one i picked up. A buddy installed one on his 1.3l with a homebrew elbow and it ran like a rocket, esp when he added springs and weights in the dizzy.
 
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I was mostly worried about it running well at elevation. We sometimes snow wheel up to 7k ft. Sometimes it's full power and sometimes you need to idle along. I'd hate to be trying to adjust the carb while everyone else is having fun.

CV carbs are a pretty tolerant to altitude change. The Harley carbs are pretty closely related to the carbs on KLR's. I drove My KLR from sea level to 14K in Colorado without a jetting change. You could tell it got fat over 10K, but it wasn't unreasonable. Half turn in on the idle mixture really helped the bottom end,

The stock manifolds suck. Fuel distribution between the cylinders is pretty mismatched. Cutting up a stock intake to run dual 40's would result in much better fuel distribution and power.
 
Fwiw, it also cold starts 10000x's better. That was a huge issue before. It would always fire but not idle until I reved it to 3-4k for 5+ minutes :laughing: when I first did the 3k it was better, but still wouldn't idle for a few minutes. I figured out I was actually over choking it. Now it fires right up 1st and idles great. The manual choke is pretty nice, it actually warms up super fast now.
 
CV carbs are a pretty tolerant to altitude change. The Harley carbs are pretty closely related to the carbs on KLR's. I drove My KLR from sea level to 14K in Colorado without a jetting change. You could tell it got fat over 10K, but it wasn't unreasonable. Half turn in on the idle mixture really helped the bottom end,

The stock manifolds suck. Fuel distribution between the cylinders is pretty mismatched. Cutting up a stock intake to run dual 40's would result in much better fuel distribution and power.

Really wouldnt be much different than building an exhaust header. Biggest hurdle is dealing with the water jackets.
 
Really wouldnt be much different than building an exhaust header. Biggest hurdle is dealing with the water jackets.

Converting a stock manifold I don't think you would need to mess with the water jackets.
 
Converting a stock manifold I don't think you would need to mess with the water jackets.

Maybe not. It has been a while since I have examined a 1.3l manifold, but I know the upper rad hose is connected to both the 8v intakes.
 
My buddy Jared and I designed, and showed Myron how to turbo his Harley carbs. Our samurais were the first to run the turbo Harley carb, as far as we know.

The kit works, but it is pretty finicky. There’s always break up/hesitation between vacuum and boost.
 
I'm running the Certifed Machine 3K and it was worth every penny. The install is so easy and the kit includes everything needed, that anyone can do it. Mine needed no adjustments other than idle speed.

The carb works awesome off road. It struggles on steep down hills, but just run a hose from the float bowl vent to a catch can and it takes care of it.
Can you post a pic of the float bowl hose that you install? TY
 
As I am sure you’ve heard. People love the stock carbs if they work right, ya leave it alone. Mine never worked right. I’ve had the same samurai since 2007. Went from stock, to Weber, to Harley, and then to propane. Obviously not the answer you wanna hear, but I wish I went propane right outta the gate.

The Harley carb was good when it was good and really bad when it was bad.
 
As I am sure you’ve heard. People love the stock carbs if they work right, ya leave it alone. Mine never worked right. I’ve had the same samurai since 2007. Went from stock, to Weber, to Harley, and then to propane. Obviously not the answer you wanna hear, but I wish I went propane right outta the gate.

The Harley carb was good when it was good and really bad when it was bad.

Like I said in the op, no carb is going to compare to efi or propane. But not everyone want to deal with the hassle of mounting a tank, or swapping all the wiring for a little trail rig.
 
Like I said in the op, no carb is going to compare to efi or propane. But not everyone want to deal with the hassle of mounting a tank, or swapping all the wiring for a little trail rig.
Heard. Just my 2 cents. The Harley carb ran good when it did.

I got my entire got propane kit with a tank and brackets for $270, so it was a no brainer for me.
 
My Harley carb worked the tits. major major difference in performance.

I had to use a fuel filter from a Jeep Grand Cherokee. It has a return on it. The stock setup the mechancical fuel pump off the motor just kept feeding the carb and it gush out one of the holes. there was no...overflow? The Jeep setup once it reached a pressure or something, it'd loop it back to the tank.
 
I have not been happy with my 3K swap. Granted I used the Certified Machine kit but sourced my own CCP carburetor off eBay. has a lot of trouble returning to idle after being on throttle, zero top end power. I suspect it's running lean, but who knows. Other times it seems like it's running way too rich. Has anyone pulled one of these counterfeit carbs apart and messed with the float level, power valve or other parts? I'm either going to save up some $$ for a real Toyota one or go to a Weber. My old Tintop ran great on road with a 32/36 and could actually do freeway speed. Offroad however it sucked.

I had a great running Chinese carb on an aircooled VW, kinda surprised the 3k carb sucks so much.
 
I have not been happy with my 3K swap. Granted I used the Certified Machine kit but sourced my own CCP carburetor off eBay. has a lot of trouble returning to idle after being on throttle, zero top end power. I suspect it's running lean, but who knows. Other times it seems like it's running way too rich. Has anyone pulled one of these counterfeit carbs apart and messed with the float level, power valve or other parts? I'm either going to save up some $$ for a real Toyota one or go to a Weber. My old Tintop ran great on road with a 32/36 and could actually do freeway speed. Offroad however it sucked.

I had a great running Chinese carb on an aircooled VW, kinda surprised the 3k carb sucks so much.
I got Weber you can have, it was off a samurai motor I got that is switching to propane.
 
I have not been happy with my 3K swap. Granted I used the Certified Machine kit but sourced my own CCP carburetor off eBay. has a lot of trouble returning to idle after being on throttle, zero top end power. I suspect it's running lean, but who knows. Other times it seems like it's running way too rich. Has anyone pulled one of these counterfeit carbs apart and messed with the float level, power valve or other parts? I'm either going to save up some $$ for a real Toyota one or go to a Weber. My old Tintop ran great on road with a 32/36 and could actually do freeway speed. Offroad however it sucked.

I had a great running Chinese carb on an aircooled VW, kinda surprised the 3k carb sucks so much.
Only thing I can add is fawk antique fuel dumpers, go EFI and never look back as there’s way too many plus reasons to go EFI.
• best cold starting
• best throttle response
• best fuel mileage
• best off road on steep off cambers and bouncing
Just some of the benefits
 
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