Time for me to chime back in on the PWK stories.  As some of you will remember, when I bought a PWK 40 from Ebay, I won the crappy carb lotto and got one in very sketchy shape.  DBM and I had a lot of messaging back and forth (along with some parts), and I ordered some jet selections from Jets R US and got another rebuild kit to replace a cracked float.  At this stage of my build, the carb and all the bits ended up on a shelf in a box to await the assembly of my engine.

The other day while sipping on some cold beverages, the unpleasantness of my PWK experiences drifted back to the front of my mind.  And I remembered how inexpensive these carbs are.  Hard to complain considering the price.  So in my mind it couldn't hurt to try again!  This time I ordered one from JFG Racing (where DBM had gotten a couple) since he had really good luck with them.  In less than a week I had another PWK 40 carb in my hands.  Impressive shipping time!  But...  as a wise man once told me, you don't get a second chance to make a first impression.  This is the condition of the box as delivered....

Surprisingly enough I have not found much damage to the carb.  Here is a view from all four sides.  It has markings that were not found on the Ebay carb, including the size above the "PWK" casting.  To me that is a good sign.

It is apparent that the plating on the slide is much better quality than the previous carb.  There are a few small nicks and scratches around the flanges on both ends.  Nothing that can't be easily smoothed out with some fine sandpaper or a jewelers file.

Closer inspection showed the clear difference on the bore of the carb body.  On the top is the JFG Racing carb, the bottom is the crappy Ebay carb.  You can see that the carb body bore is a smooth transition from the taper to the minor diameter going through the carb on the JFG Racing carb.  The crappy Ebay carb was bored out and left with the transition from machining where it meets the intake taper.  Hmmmm...  Me thinks the Ebay carb was turned into a 40 mm bore using a smaller carb body?

I still need to do a complete tear down of the JFG Racing carb and measure out all the parts.  So far, The newer purchase from JFG Racing seems like a higher quality PWK to me.  More info to come after I crack this egg open!

LANCER wrote on 06/04/22 at 14:05:34:


Believe it or not these two carbs were very close to the same price!  Sketchy one off Fleabay came from China, the better quality from JFG Racing shipped out of the USA.

JoG - the carrier was UPS.

I will post any feedback on the internals on my build thread once I crack it open.

Very aware of the Chinese factor. I was just wondering if I drilled out the needle jet to accommodate a DGK needle would I run into problems.?

"I was just wondering if I drilled out the needle jet to accommodate a DGK needle would I run into problems.?"

My goodness Duderino, please don't do that.  Follow Sneezy's advice.  Put it back to the way you had it.  You said it was runnin good.  Drilling a needle jet will send it to the grave.

Wow Sneezy!  That is one hurtin shipping container.  Both of the carbs I got from JFG Racing were double boxed and brand spankin new.  That thing you got was obviously used (fuel in the bowl).  I might also add that both the 36mm and 40mm were shipped from China.  Looks like maybe all the supply chain issues are catching up with us.  These things are clearly a crap shoot.  Maybe you received a carb that somebody returned.  The price is right.  I think you can make it work.  But sendin you used stuff in a crushed box is pretty low.