Still ain't quite right

Haven't been on here in a while, but I gotta question.
Last year, I put some Emgo pods on my bike, to go with my MAC header, and I went from 110 mains to 115's.
So far the only way I can get it to run halfway decent is to have the needles only out about half a turn. But I still get some deceleration popping in the pipe, and some flatness on acceleration. If I roll it wide open in top gear, it'll accelerate, but when I ease off it a little, I'll suddenly feel some more power coming on. Kinda like when you hit the powerband on a two stroke.
I ran into a couple guys with KZ's last weekend, and one of them, sorry, forgot his name again, said I should probably go on up to 120 mains. I was thinking maybe 117's.
So with 115's, needles out half a turn, and still a little lean, which size should I try? I haven't messed with the pilots or slide notches yet. Hopin I can get around that.

BTW, it's a stock 1980 1000LTD.

riverroad wrote:

Haven't been on here in a while, but I gotta question.
Last year, I put some Emgo pods on my bike, to go with my MAC header

If I really hated somebody.... and wanted to torture them and drive them crazy..... that's the formula I would use.:laugh:

Wired George is the expert on jetting in such configurations, he will be along soon to give the diagnosis.

BTW, when I put a MAC 2-1 on my 750 the only way I could get it to run was to rich the needles 2 slots and crank up the pilot jets about 10 points. YMMV.

:laugh:
Somehow, I knew that was coming. It had the Mac when I bought it, but it had the airbox w/110 mains, and it ran great. I still have the airbox, and I'm tempted, but the pods just look so COOL. Plus, I do like the sound of my Mac, as ugly as it is.

riverroad wrote:

:laugh:
Somehow, I knew that was coming. It had the Mac when I bought it, but it had the airbox w/110 mains, and it ran great. I still have the airbox, and I'm tempted, but the pods just look so COOL. Plus, I do like the sound of my Mac, as ugly as it is.

I like the sound of my MAC too. That's about all I like about it..... that and the fact it doesn't block the drain plug like the old Kerker clone did.

One of the really old pros on another board said there is no way to fully dial in pods on the bigger fours like 1000-1100, have no idea if that's true or not but nearly every post I see about pods is all about how the bike suddenly started running terrible with the pods....

They do look cool, just be careful if a truck passes you on the highway because the sudden loss of ambient air can make the bike lose power. Seriously, I have read that several places....

One thing: I would set the fuel levels first to make sure they are right, that can screw things up.

riverroad wrote:

Last year, I put some Emgo pods on my bike, to go with my MAC header, and I went from 110 mains to 115's.
So far the only way I can get it to run halfway decent is to have the needles only out about half a turn.

Is that an air screw on the side of the carbs? If that's an air screw, it indicates the pilot jets are too small.


riverroad wrote:

But I still get some deceleration popping in the pipe, and some flatness on acceleration.

On mine, decel popping was from the pilot mix being too lean. YMMV

riverroad wrote:

If I roll it wide open in top gear, it'll accelerate, but when I ease off it a little, I'll suddenly feel some more power coming on.

That sounds lean because I think when you ease off the throttle, the piston drops a bit reducing the airflow through the carb bore. Sounds like you need bigger mains to me.

riverroad wrote:

I ran into a couple guys with KZ's last weekend, and one of them, sorry, forgot his name again, said I should probably go on up to 120 mains.

I would guess about the same. It sounds like you are not real close to optimum and a 2.5 change isn't that much. On my bike, the mains only come in steps of "5".

riverroad wrote:

So with 115's, needles out half a turn, and still a little lean, which size should I try? I haven't messed with the pilots or slide notches yet.

Good move, you have to get the right main jet first. The right main should give hard, strong power at full throttle from about 1/2 redline RPM all the way up. If it's dogging out, it's not the right main jet.

On mine, the needle position mostly affects throttle response in the 2K - 4K range from a small throttle opening. If you get a hesitataion, raise the needle.

The pilots affect idle and operation from 1K to about 2500 at light throttle openings.

YMMV

Thanks bountyhunter. Yeah, I'll go ahead and order the 120's. And I've already discovered that strong crosswinds mess up my carbs.
Now I'm just wondering if those expensive K&N pods run any better than my Emgos. I have heard that the Emgos are made of paper and will get trashed the first time I get caught in the rain.
As non perfect as she's running right now, she's still pretty quick. I was at the only light on the river road yesterday and a late model mustang pulled up next to me.
Light turned green and he took off hard. So I hammered mine and shot out about fifty car lengths ahead of him, then slowed down. Well I guess the nimrod in the Mustang didn't think he lost that one, cause after I slowed back down to normal speed, Mr Mustang flew by me like we were still racing. I'm like, whatever dude.