So, currently a “1969” registered CA77, which was dormant for awhile was delivered from OC this week. It arrived with the top half of the carb attached to the air filter tube and cable, but was missing the float, needle and bowl.
I ordered a big batch of cables from www.classichondarestoration.com, and started in on the remains of the carburetor while I waited for parts. I discovered that the slide needle had NO numbers stamped on the place just below the clip notches. That usually means that the needle came from a Keyster kit, which usually have a DXX number stamped on the part. I scanned eBay sellers and just one had new OEM needles for sale for $20, plus shipping. In this case, the number was 22401.
A while back I also was given an early round bowl CA77 carburetor, but it was missing the top, slide and needle. While I had the ultrasonic cleaner working, I decided to clean both carbs at the same time. The last known part number ends in 030, which means that there were three versions made for the 305 Dreams. Apparently there was no 266-000 version. I was well aware of the round vs square bowl options, but had never really closely inspected the other differences.
I discovered that the main jet holders were threaded differently.
Looking at the pilot screws, one had a notch for the o-ring and the other one didn’t. Looking at the carb bodies where the pilot screws are installed, one was clearly machined for an o-ring and the other one was threaded all the way to the top.
Different machining on the air mixture screw ports.
I discovered that this late carb had a flapper door choke plate vs the early solid plate type.
The floats are obviously different but the early rounded floats can be replaced with square bowl floats with no problems. The latest floats are actually labeled 286 for the CB250 version of the CB350 twins.
The flame arrester screen on the early bodies were pushed on over the intake opening, whereas the later ones were nestled inside a machined surface of the carb throat.
As I concluded the cleaning of all the parts, making sure that the jets were open and the various air bleed ports and bowl vent passages were open, I tried to install a spare float bowl from one of the 250-305 CB/CL square-bowl carbs I have lying around. When the bowl was fitted to the body, it stopped short of meeting the gasket surfaces. You could hear and feel that something was hitting up inside the bowl. Looking closely, it was apparent that the float bowl overflow tube was striking a portion of the bowl roof! All the float bowls I have handy were all the same except for ONE. This bowl had an overflow tube that was just flush with the gasket surface of the bowl, instead of the others which are an 1/8” proud of the gasket surface area. That bowl fit right onto the carb body allowing the clip to secure it to the gasket. The odd thing was that the bowl didn’t have a drain screw at the bottom.
The first generation round-bowl Dream carbs had a straight out screwed-in fuel line fitting. It had to be removed before the carb could be installed or removed, as it hits the frame, preventing removal or installation. This late mode. carb came with a banjo fitting like those used on the CB/CL carbs. The last square bowl carbs have been seen with a short pushed-in fuel line fitting. The jets are all the same JIS thread pitch types, but one wonders if the later replacement carbs, issues after the end of production and during the transfer from JIS to ISO thread pitches might have some surprises awaiting the owners.
So, that’s the scoop on Dream carbs, as far as I can tell. Apart from jetting components, the CA72 carb body would probably suffice as well. Both are 22mm mixers. Honda did offer some C/CA72 Dreams with an unusual Mikuni carburetor option. The suffix for those parts ends in -005 vs. 004 for Keihin types.
Bill Silver aka MrHonda
05/2026
