Once again I have taken a simple, straightforward, process and complicated the hell out of it. My exaust pipe on my 03 is a nice gold color and I was told I need to adjust the carb to richen (is that a word?) the mixture. I have been getting small backfires, but not enough to really bother me.. I took Lancers trusty carb adjusting advice, drilled out the brass plug... and... and far as I can tell... turning the pilot screw all the way in or 5 turns out does NOTHING. I can't tell that the engine in increasing or decreasing with any of the adjusting. Is it supposed to be a noticable jump? How far out do I need to turn the thing? The original adjustment was 1 turn out. Maybe I am not turning the idle screw out far enough???

What next?

Thanks.

Oldfeller--FSO wrote on 06/23/08 at 13:49:33:

Not quite right (close) 3 turns out and you no longer are engaging the spring/o-ring that keeps tension on the screw to keep it from vibrating out and onto the road.

You need to listen carefully and in a quiet place.  If in doubt, set by backfire on shut down.  Turn in till you get it, out till you don't.  Also if your idle speed is high, the idle circuit may not be fully in use.  Turn the idle low (900 - 1000 rpm's) and the mixture screw will be more effective.

Doug A wrote on 06/23/08 at 13:24:00:


I have been frustrated by this too.  I have fiddled with that thing endlessly and could never hear a difference.  Recently, I started removing things from inside my muffler.  Now it sounds pretty cool, but I was getting exceptionally loud blasts every time I'd decelerate.  

Tonight on a whim I stopped at a Yamaha shop to see if maybe they had a Mikuni jet laying around.  Local Suzuki doesn't stock them.  Yamaha had 5 huge bins of them.  Every size from 0 to howitzer.  So I bought a size 50 pilot and crammed it in the carb after mutilating several screw drivers.  PRESTO!  Now I can tell a definite difference when I turn the pilot air screw.  Too far out, I get smoke and stumbling.  All the way in tight, the idle is still picking up a little.  So  I set it at 3/8 turn out and pulled more muffler off.

I figure I'll stike a balance soon.   I'll see how it does on the highway tomorrow.

With mine, even after the white spacer mod and Lancer's carb tune, I'd still get a little "grandma fart" on shut down. Just a little pffftt. I think J Mac is right. You don't ever get the back fire totally gone.
Ride safe,
Jay

Sweet! No more backfire. I ended up turning it out 1/4 and the shutting it down to check the backfire. I set it at 2 full turns out. I think I'll leave it alone and take her for a nice ride.

Thanks for the help!

Hey guys and gals,
If I put the sportster pipe on, what kind of carb adj. would I have to do, any air filter change? I definitely have the gold pipes from over richness, but I guess I need that to stop people from thinking i'm packing a .45!