Hi all, anyone had any experience with the new Wassell Evolution carbs, supposed to be an alternative to Amal Premium. I need a pair on my Bonnie, wasted my time and money on full overhaul kits, no improvement. I can only fine old mixed reviews on the earlier Wassells. Do I replace with Amals or Wassell at a third of the price???
www.burlen.co.uk seem to be the current manufacturers of Amal carbs. It seems that resurrecting old worn out carbs is usually a bit of a waste of time - they can be re-sleeved (allegedly) but even then this may not be enough. The slide will work better but then there is the rest of it to sort out - probably. I believe someone herein did get a pair of new carbs (from Burlen?), but IIRC one was not working properly which was then returned for exchange, since when all has been sweetness and light - possibly ... or not. Pretty sure it all worked well after the initial hiccup.
I've no personal experience of Wassell carbs, but have been told that they're not good with ethanol fuel if the bike is left unused for long periods with fuel in the carbs. This is because ethanol attracts water vapour which is left behind when the fuel evaporates and this causes corrosion which blocks the pilot jet fuel passages. You could try JRC carburettors, which are American, but supplied by Brill Bike Parts (http://brillbikeparts.co.uk) jetted for a range of classic British bikes. They cost more than the Wassels but are a lot cheaper than new Amals. It depends on how important originality is. The JRC looks like a Dellorto.
I have just sent back a Wassell carb that I purchased for my T100C Trophy, to be honest the item looks smart but the quality is utter crap. These are meant to be a bolt on item, just swap for the Amal. Not so. Firstly when trying to fit the throttle cable into the slide, it won't fit. Not good when you have the spring all compressed and trying to slot the cable nipple into a slotted hole. On further inspection the casting of the hole on the slide is not round but slightly oval. This is not ''flash'' but a bad casting. So I ring up Wassell and get told by their technical department to run a drill through it in a hand chuck '' to clean up the flash'' my point that it's not ''flash'' is ignored. With the hole in the slide drilled out to accept the cable and the carb put together it's now time to mount it onto the inlet studs. Oh no, it's so badly cast that the carb only goes on 1/2 inch. On examination the casting is slightly different to the old Amal so the mounting holes don't quite line up. At this point the carb goes back on the box to be returned to the unfortunate retailer. I feel that when an item is sold as a direct replacement I shouldn't need to undertake remedial work to bolt it on. Then there is the question of what the insides of the carb will be like, if it's as bad as what I have dealt with so far it will be a miracle if the engine starts at all. Long and short of it .... buy these carbs at your own risk, the one I got is so bad it's scrap metal only.
