Hello all, I've been lurking here for a while now but thought that I would finally say hi and introduce myself. A few months ago I got bit by the bug and was trying to choose between a 2009 S40 and a 2009 GZ250. Both had 3,200 miles and both were garage kept, with the S40 being 200$ more than the GZ250 (after negotiation, both owners came down substantially from their initial offering prices). After vigorous research, I joined two Savage/S40 groups on FB and their members vehemently steered me towards the S40. I came home a couple of weeks before Xmas with the S40 and I'm very glad I did. Since then I've replaced the mirrors with larger ones, and found a pair of OEM saddlebags, owners manual, Clymer manual, Dyna muffler, and Raptor 660 petcock off EBay. I don't want to do anything drastic to the bike, other than the Versy cam chain tensioner, K&N filter, re-jet, and Dyna muffler. I mainly want to do the re-jet and filter/muffler so the engine will breathe the way it should instead of the lean stock setup.  My hometown is 1,500 feet above sea level so I'm curious as to what Lancer will advise me as far as the re-jet combo goes. In any case, I thank the mods for letting me in and I can't wait to learn as much as possible about this bike, I've only had it a few weeks but it's really grown on me. Cheers!

saddlebags

first purchases

Since then I've replaced the mirrors with larger ones,

Why? Once it's in the mirrors it Only gets smaller..

The stock air filter does a good job and is not anything that needs changing to make the bike run better( it supplies enough air even to work with most mods) a change in jets ,  the white spacer mod , and a Dyna muffler,  will have the bike running much stronger.I'd look at doing these first. welcome aboard!

I'm not a fan of K&N , ( they use cotton as filter material- which absorbs water)  but about the worst thing you can do is mount it directly to the carb. I'd keep some or all of the stock hose that's between the carb and filter and mount the K&N to it. this allows the air flow to straighten before entering the carb and should work much better.
      The K&N is very open ,so you'll need to adjust the fuel screw to set your idle mix, do the spacer mod , and change ( at least) your main jet (larger). Be aware that the bike's screws are J.I.S.(Japanese Industrial Standard)  , philliphead screwdrivers can be used if the point of the driver is blunted (filed or ground) so that the blades fit down fully into the slots.
      None of the procedures are hard but I'd research the pitfalls(drilling to deep to remove the cap over the mix screw/ striping the heads on the tiny screws on the plate holding the needle jet- spacer mod -all soft brass). How you mod the spacer and what size jets you use will depend a lot on your mods and elevation above sea level .