I made my first post to this board last week, but I've been reading for quite a while.

Now that I might actually become a Savage owner, I wanted to review the various modifications suggested on this board, only to find that the best 'tidbits' are scattered throughout the board, and hard to find. So I thought I'd do my best to give a summary. I'm not a mechanic and have very little skill with tools, so please correct me or clarify where needed. Maybe if I do the footwork - and get it right, this post, or some revision, could be placed in the Technical Documents section?

The '95 and later Savages are not tuned for best engine performance. This is due to various EPA regulations. Making a few changes can significantly impact the performance of these machines.

First, a few things can be done to the carburetor to minimize backfiring and effect low to mid-range response. A white spacer on the main needle in the carburetor can be filed down to 2/3 to 1/2 thickness (affecting mid-range), and adjusting the idle mixture and idle speed screws will help low-end response. This thread covers how to make these modifications in more detail:

Mid-Range Power & the White Spacer (Backfire)

The stock muffler also gives a bit too much back-pressure to the engine, limiting performance at the high-end of the throttle. Replacing the muffler with a high-performance one will decrease the backpressure a bit, and give better high-end response. Because the dynamics of the change of air-flow thru the engine with a new muffler, the carburetor may need to be re-jetted. Commonly suggested replacement mufflers are Sporster (from a HD), Supertrapp, Jardin, Raask, Screamin' Eagle, and MAC. There is no single article on this board discussing the relative merits of each of these, however, there is one with sound clips:

Savage Sounds (mufflers)

Many users choose to replace the stock air filter with a K&N filter to further improve the air flow. They do this along with the muffler replacement, since it usually requires a carburetor re-jet as well.

How to remove snorkel & replace with K&N

However, some are concerned with the larger amount of dust and dirt that a K&N allow into the engine and choose to stick with stock filters:

Why some avoid K&N filters

Additionally, the handling of the Savage can be improved with new rear shocks and a Super Brace on the front forks.

In addition to handling and performance, many would like a trip odometer. A good thread covering that topic can be found here:

Trip Meter Ideas

Another thread with a GPS solution is here:

Electronic accessory

All in all, the general consensus of the Savage is that it's the VW of motorcycles. Easy to work on and can be made much better than stock.

Tim

Yeah - there are TONS of threads regarding the spacer mod, but I figured the first article covered most of the details.

What I'm trying to do is get an article together that covers the main issues for the n00b, so it won't take a week of reading all the posts all over the board to figure out what needs to be done. Kind of 'cook down' the wisdom in all those threads to something that will answer 80% of the questions asked, and even BETTER, give the n00b a direction to head even if they don't know what questions they should be asking.

Tim

Good job and idea to simplify and compose mods.  

http://suzukisavage.com/cgi-bin/YaBB.pl?board=tech;action=display;num=1124016763

thats the spark plug door mod i beleive

I've been thinking about what kinds of things are reasonable to put on the mod summary list. As a new owner (soon), it seems that most of the new owners would want to fix the backfiring issue. Next they learn that the top end can be increased a bit.

Obviously they might not stop there. Mods range from convenience, such as the spark plug door, to very personalized mods, such as adjusting the seat height or forward controls to accommodate a taller rider.

Instead of putting all of the mods here, I wanted to concentrate on mods that would be of interest to nearly all Savage owners. I think everyone would agree that the white spacer and mixture mod, while not quite must-haves, are so worthwhile that other than voiding a warranty, are hard to argue against.

Since I haven't begun maintaining my bike, I really can't judge some of these. So do you think the spark-plug door belongs here in the must-have's section? Is the seat height mod only useful for tall riders, or is it a good adjustment for everyone?

Oh - I'll update the the original post to include the K&N/cone filter suggestion.

I sure hope you get the bike. If you take it to a bike shop for carb job, oil change, valve adjustment they would do the spacer mod and jet change for you, while they have the carb off. Maybe you could print one of the posts so the mechanic can do the mods. Good Luck

Reelthing wrote on 12/31/69 at 16:00:02:


I agree completely. My goal in the summary post is "ya know, now that you have this nice shiney bike, lots of things can be done to make it even better, and more of an expression of you. Here's where you can find the juicy bits".

The main reason I include the links is to give them direct access to the good stuff - all opinions, good and bad. Notice I included the remark that some don't care for the K&N mod. Others feel the spacer works better for them at 2/3 width than 1/2. Once someone gets a taste for it, I feel they are more likely to continue digging for other things.

Tim