Anyone else finding the need for "unorthodox" jetting?

The bikes details:
-76 kz900 re-ringed 650 miles ago
-head done by Larry c( mild port cleanup)
-kn-rc2222
-4-2 pipes
-dyna s, green coils, no resistors in caps, or plugs for now.
- timiming is stock, advancer checks out
- coil mod(cleaned the harness, was still only pushing 8 volts to coils)
-carbs have been cleaned multiple times, I'm confident the are true.
-new float needles and seats, set perfectly with clear tube (let each Carb sit for 30 minutes to be sure)


The story

I haven't been able to get these things dialed in, surely due to not having proper ignition, then leaky float needles, and God only knows what else! I put chromoly rings From eBay in, and it is still throwing some oil smoke on cold startups, which makes plug reading pretty inaccurate. I got a huge improvement putting new jets in(factory sizes 115m/17.5p) but still flat up top, and no response at all from the pilot screws. I had up to a 120m in, but it would throw some black smoke when wide open at high rpms. I settled in with 117.5. I am currently on slot 4? With the needles(replaced the round brass needle jets as well, which helped). I think I will still give slot #5 a shot this week. Now for the unorthodox part, I jumper the pilot jets up to a 20, and it made a HUGE improvement, but it still popped on decel(choke would help). I was shocked to learn that the pilot circuit improved performance all the way up to about 5k rpm, and had feedback from pilot screws. Tonight I tried out some 22.5 pilots, and it was even better(still a little popping though). I mean, this thing ran like I remember it to, I broke 100mph up curry hollow road, which is probably less than 1/4 mile, and up hill. I haven't fiddled to much with the pilot screws yet, but I am currently 1 full turn out of seated. Sorry for the wind bag post, but I am pretty happy, and am really curious if I am way out in left field with this jetting. This will probably all go to hell when I re-check the valve clearences! And Larry, if you read this, I haven't forgotten that I still owe you some shims, and thanks a ton for all your help.

Guessing more fuel required for the alcohol content.

Well, The verdict is in, I tried the 5th spot tonight, and it was a slight loss of performance. So I went back to 4th, fiddled with the pilot screws, and got what I believe is Gonna be as good as it gets. I will throw in a set of 25 pilots next time I'm ordering stuff, just to see if that wipes out the popping all together, but I think the best way to spend my time is figureing out what she likes to drink fuel wise. I'm also gonna put a color tune on my wish list.

Last summer I had to increase pilot jets on a lot of vintage bikes. The kicker is they were bone stock with airbox and perhaps pipes.

We had a bit of a discussion on this a few months back. It's the gas we're getting at the pump. I don't know what grade of fuel you're running but there are other factors that can play into this. I've see improvements sometimes by dropping from 93 to 87 or 89 octane. Sometimes not near enough high octane gets sold and it sits in the tanks for a long time. I"ve seen situations where a guy puts high test in his bike and it runs worse, then drops back to 87 and it runs alright. Look for fueling stations that other bikes fill up at regularly and you know it has good high octane fuel.

I'm running 87 in my ZRX and it works great..

It could also be the carburetors are slightly restricted in the pilot circuits. Yamaha carb cleaner works great in an ultrasonic cleaner. It's water based and doesn't stink nearly as bad as some of the old stuff [Gunk] used to.