I'm new to the message board and a new rider as well. The Savage is my first bike. It's a 2001 and I bought it direct from a suzuki dealership with only 20 miles on it. I originally didn't think I'd make any changes since I was a first time rider and it was basically a brand new bike, but having 3 cycle enthusiasts as best friends seemed to take me in that direction faster than expected. When riding with some of the guys, they kept saying how quiet the bike was. So they encouraged me to drill some small holes in the baffle to give it some more volume. Soon after doing so, I noticed I was getting some pretty loud backfires once in a while. They would only happen when I roll of the throttle. I briefly tried getting rid of it by adjusting the mixture screw without success. So, I ended up purchasing a Dynojet Kit and K&N filter thinking that it may help to correct the backfires, and if it didn't, then at least I'd have a little more kick. The backfires were not corrected. In fact I think they got worse. So, I figured I'd change the exhaust all together while I was at it. If I was going to have to fine tune it to get rid of the pops, I might as well have a more desirable exhaust as well. So, I bought a screaming eagle off of lancer. Not as simple an installation as the sportser instructions implies (
http://suzukisavage.com/cgi-bin/YaBB.pl?board=tech;action=display;num=1114360126). But I managed to make it work. The stock muffler has a slight bend where it connects to the header pipe, so I had a friend weld a piece in to give it the necessary angle to send it straight back like the stock one. Works and sounds great. I also made a good seal by purchasing the stock gasket and inserting it into the new pipe.
Anyway, back to the problem. So now with the Dynojet kit, K&N filter, and Screamin Eagle I still can't get it to stop popping. I get lousy gas mileage, a little black smoke out the pipe, blackened spark plugs, and frequent backfires. So, it has to be too rich. Which I don't understand because I installed everything as directed. I tried dropping the needle and going to a smaller main jet and it seems to have made the backfires and popping worse still. Now it backfires or pops almost every time I roll of the throttle to shift gears. I'm at a complete loss for how to fix this? Maybe someone has the same set up and could tell me their settings? Help me please!!!!