Hi guys, new to the forum and Savages. A little background; I just picked up a 2003 Savage for my girlfriend last week from a fellow who purchased it new for his wife to learn to ride but never did. This bike had 237 (yep, 237!) original miles, and had been kept in a garage. It had been through several moves and seem to have been forgotten for some time. It didn't run, had a dead battery, but it turned over when jumped. I paid a grand total of $625 for this bike and took it home. When I got it home I realized the CDI box had been jacked from the bike, and the carb was full of ethanol gunk. $49 CDI box, a carb cleaning, and a battery and our Savage is up and running hard! I've put a little over 100 miles on it with no serious problems so far.

On to my questions. I feel like the jetting is off on this bike. I am at 500ft elevation, the bike SEEMS (I'm no expert) to be lean. It was a constant backfireing/popping on decel and after revving. It's no an occasional pop, it is consistent. Also, acceleration is strong up to about 80% throttle, but at WOT it seems to strain and lose power. I want to add a pipe with weld-in baffle as an exhaust instead of the stocker, and replace the air filter with a cone filter, so should I adjust the jetting while the bike is in stock form to get it right as is, or go ahead and swap the exhaust and breather and re-jet for the final product. And does anyone have a good starting place for my jetting at my elevation?
Thanks for the help.



TL;DR/Cliff notes. New Savage's jetting seems lean on top end and has constant decel pop. Need suggestions on starting point for re-jet and advice on jetting before or after intake and exhaust upgrade.

Like riding a flying pony  

For you elevation I would recommend a #50 or #52.5 pilot jet, a #150 main, and 3 number 4 machine screw washers on the needle in place of the white spacer.  If you still have a lean surge at light throttle settings, remove 1 washer from the needle and try running 2 washers.  Adjust the idle fuel mixture screw for the smoothest running - you will need to drop the rpm a bit lower for the adjustment (800 rpm) - but be sure to set it back up to 1,100 rpm so the cam will be properly lubed.  A higher idle speed can also help to reduce the backfire issue.

Even with a properly jetted bike - the backfire on deceleration is somewhat inherent in the big single, and you can reduce the problem by avoiding the situation that causes it.  Don't let the throttle snap closed when you shift gears - just slowly roll the throttle off and don't let it close completely.....leave it open a slight amount (you will learn how far you can close it to shift smoothly and quietly).

Same thing for when you are decelerating......don't close the throttle completely - roll on just enough throttle to cut down on the noise.  You don't want to open the throttle so much that you are making power - just enough to stop the noise.  (It is all part of being a good Savage rider).

metalbrian45 wrote on 07/18/17 at 06:56:39:


No.....don't "reject" my suggestions!

The jetting I suggested is a good starting point...and likely may be where you stay.  I went through a long process of going up and down and mixing and matching.....and I have suggested what turned out to work well on the stock engine in my 500' - 800' elevation riding area.  That jetting also works well with the DYNA muffler.

The nylon washers are not the recommended ones - those are only being used by folks who can't find the steel ones at their local hardware store.

holy cow, what a deal.  and it flys

I would LOVE to put a cone filter and a header wrap on my bike - I love the look. But, having done some reading (on here, and the Interwebs in general) I just can't do it!

I appreciate 'style'. But, style that is meant to make a bike look more 'high performance' but will most likely undermine performance/longevity, is just something I can't bring myself to do,

Here is a YouTube video that explains the issue with drag pipes, and other muffler options.  Although it is for Harley bikes.....our engine is essentially half a V-Twin.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KjKUKhHQLHg

M-B45,the Dyan muffler is a good move, for a couple of reasons, one is they weigh about half as much as the stock muffler ( the savings in weight is like getting 1 hp for free) and they have less backpressure and when the carb is rejetted and you do the spacer mod you'll gain 1or 2 more horse power (and a better ,deeper sound)without any sag in the torque curve .You may think the Dyna doesn't look good but it looks much better than the huge stock one .A cone filter mounted on the carb won't do as much for performance as a K&N slide in replacement for the stock filter or an Oldfeller's home made filter (see it in the Tech section,at a cost of about $10).