Reply To: ’56 RDE-18 doesn’t want to start

[frankr]

Mumbles wrote:

The RD and Big Twin carbs don’t have a seal or gasket on the nozzle. It’s a machined fit.

Here’s a parts manual for you.

To be more specific, the RD & Big Twin models with an adjustable high speed needle did not have, nor need a nozzle gasket because any leakage there is compensated for by adjusting the needle. On the other hand, later models with a fixed high speed jet do need the gasket because you can’t compensate for leakage. Summing up, it doesn’t really matter whether or not you put a gasket in the adjustable ones.