Pods vs stock airbox.....happy median?

650ed wrote: I suspect for any advice to be meaningful it would be important to state what motorcycle you have.

I have seen on other forums posts (from people who really know) indicating there are some bikes that never run "right" with pods. And there are some that do... eventually.

The point is the length and taper of the needles is cut specifically to match the airflow of the total system... and even minor changes throw it off. You can shim the needle up and down as a gross adjustment but you can't change it's taper or length.

I was surprised when I bought a set of slides off a 1980 750 twin (diaphragms on mine were toast) which used the exact same BS-38 carbs as on my 1979.... and found the slides and needles were slightly different to accomodate the different exhaust that year. And I could not get the new slides to run right until I changed back to the old needles and also enlarged the hole in the slides to match the old one. Surprising how tiny a mod can totally screw things up.

Good discussion! While I do like the look of pod filters, I think I will just go with a K&N replacement seeing as there is a 50/50 split :laugh: . When I get more proficient at maintaining and tuning carbs, I will switch to pods to see for myself what everyone is talkin about

bountyhunter wrote:

650ed wrote: I suspect for any advice to be meaningful it would be important to state what motorcycle you have.

I have seen on other forums posts (from people who really know) indicating there are some bikes that never run "right" with pods. And there are some that do... eventually.

I have read the same thing which is what prompted me to ask on here vs "overall" to see if there was a specific "KZ" answer.

Another question, maybe needing a new thread but.....by me adding a MAC 4 to 1 exhaust, will I be able to adjust the carbs and get the bike to run right without needing to buy additional parts? Assume the stock air box is kept.

That shouldn't be a big deal. In fact, depending on the baffle you may not need to touch the carbs. Maybe someone on this site with a MAC and stock airbox will chime in. Ed

I just finished building a cafe racer for a customer with a MAC pipe and pods. The only thing I had to do to tune it was put 17.5 pilot jets in and 105 main jets. Bike is a 1977 KZ650B1 with VM24 carbs, thing runs great.

The Mac pipe I used, with an airbox, required more jetting on the pilot than most Kerkers, along with a typical main upjet. But this was not a CV carb.

w8lifter21 wrote: Another question, maybe needing a new thread but.....by me adding a MAC 4 to 1 exhaust, will I be able to adjust the carbs and get the bike to run right without needing to buy additional parts? Assume the stock air box is kept.

I put a MAC 2-1 on my 750 twin and it runs well on the stock jets. My MAC pipe doesn't flow any better than stock. No power increase on mine. If you take the baffle out or modify it then you might need bigger jets.

the k%n is a pain in the a$$ to oil, cleaning is ok but you need to put the oil on the surface the air will be going into. on my 750 it was a round filter that needed to be oiled on the inside, so get a brush.

where does a guy get some velocity stacks? :kiss: