I thought if it was brownish it was running rich and purple/blue was lean?

If you are talking about the head pipe, the chrome discolors when it gets hot. Lean running makes the bike run hotter. I’ve seen Savages discolor the head pipe all the way back to the muffler joint.

OK just ran it with a 55 pilot and 155 main, at first the idle wanted to sound like a Harley but I got that squared away, then dropped it in the first and holy nuts she’s running like she supposed to. backfire is all but gone, with a 35 pilot and 158 Main, every time I would downshift it sounded like I was being chased by the Taliban. Now there’s no popping between gear shifts..

Gary, its a PWK 40mm I have it on the fourth groove towards the rich side

Dude, please don’t take offense.  I can’t understand half of what you ask.  It’s also very frustrating to go through a lot of trouble to provide you with detailed advice only to have you completely ignore it.

First, your plug looks OK except for some balls of crud in the shell.  Hopefully those are combustion products and not metal.  Metal balls usually accumulate on the ceramic insulator when you have problems with overheating and/or detonation, but I suppose they could also accumulate on the metal shell.  I assume you are running unleaded pump gas.  Your color looks OK as best as I can tell from a photo.  Also, plug color checks aren’t much use unless they are performed in a specific manner, which I’m not gonna go into.  For now, let’s just say that aside from the balls on the shell, it doesn’t look like anything bad is goin on.  But if the balls are metallic, you might be hurtin it.  Keep in mind you were runnin it with the main jet closed off by the drain plug, so any metallic deposits might have accumulated during the time it was grossly lean.

I circled the balls in yellow.  Sorry, I can’t enlarge your photo, don’t know why.

You say you are running a #35 pilot jet in your PWK.  That should be correct.  Based on what you say, it sounds correct.

Your needle jet size is unknown, and your needle size and taper are unknown.  I can’t help you with the needle jet and needle because I have no idea what you are working with.  Based on what you say, it sounds like the needle jet and needle are working good.

Reply #19 today:  “holy nuts she’s running like she supposed to”.

I continue to be totally bamboozled about your main jet.  A #155?  A #158?  What are these jets?  Where did you get them?  Are they Keihin jets?  Mikuni jets?  Custom handmade jets?  For example, a Mikuni #155 hex jet for a VM has a .044” hole, while a Mikuni #155 large round jet for a BS40 has a .064” hole, while a Keihin #155 long hex jet for a PWK has a .060” hole.  What sort of #155 main jet do you have in there?  Picture please?

I’m glad you are having fun with your Savage HotRod.  It sounds like the PWK works good.  Do I have that correct?

I guess I’m a huge proponent of learning the hard way. Do you not, and I repeat do not buy jets from Amazon. Do as drag bike Mike says and get them from a reputable place. Also, DBM you’re gonna love this stuff. I’m sure you were familiar with how far out my main jet was sticking into the bowl cap? I had taken the Main out 100 times… than the last time I take it out this little fella falls out behind it.

Also here’s a picture inside of my lower G.I.

(inlet side of muffler)