tk-22 pod filter *stock* exhaust jetting

Hello all! been reading this forum for some time but only now finally becoming a member.

Browsing through several threads, Ive found info regarding jetting the tk-22 carbs on a 550 with stock airbox and aftermarket exhaust, and pods paired with aftermarket exhaust, but not the pods and stock exhaust. My bike runs ok completely stock but my plan is for this bike to have tenure in my garage and Ive muscled the infamous air boots enough

Ordering from Jets R Us, Im aiming for keihin 98 main jets, and dont know if i should stick with stock 32 and raise needle, get teikei 32.5 or if 35 would be too big of a jump.

Second opinions before i click the button? thanks

Save yourself and your bike a ton of grief and just buy new air ducts. New ones are very pliable and easy to install. Besides, how many times do you really need to remove the carbs on a stock bike? I've owned my KZ650 for 40 years and only removed the carbs 2 times. Ed

I purchased a new set when I first got the bike and the year round heat of Texas and the dry of have already made a noticeable difference them. I'm keeping them for storage, but they're coming off the bike and the pods already shipped.

This bike is on deck for a few other system refreshes as it is. TB

loudhvx may have jetting info on his motorcycle stuff page. see links in his signature.

Unfortunately, or fortunately, depending how you look at it, I've never jetted a stock exhaust to non-stockmotor/intake. We did jet a standard kz550 motor with pods and a mac exhaust using all stock jets and needle by just raising the needle a half step. It worked in Illinois but our weather is cooler. It was a tiny bit on the rich side during cruise. In Texas it would be even richer, and with stock exhaust, probably richer. Idle and hard throttle were fine. The mac doesn't breath a lot under hard throttle.

Every situation is different so I hate trying to guess, but if it was me, I'd probably get the 35 pilots. You might not keep the stock exhaust, so it would be good to have even if you end up keeping the 32's in the bike. In hot weather, the 98's may be bigger than ideal, but will prob work.

One thing to keep in mind is that the throttle stop, from the factory, is usually set to open the cabrs beyond fully open. This means the last little bit of throttle travel adds more fuel, but does not add additional air. The AFR takes a nosedive towards rich for that last 2% of travel. This might fool you into thinking the main is too rich. Because of that I always set the throttle stop to no more than full open, or even a hair less is fine. My site shows how to check and adjust this.

However, all that said, if you are in a really dusty environment, and you are keeping the stock exhaust, I would probably keep the air box. There are some tricks to getting the carbs off/on with the airbox in place. Once you know them and have a little experience, it's not all that bad... just another skill to have. I probably posted the method a few times on Kzrider. A search might give some results. If not I can write it again.

My site also shows some examples of tools you might want that allow you to work on the carbs without removing them from the bike. But you have to set the carbs up the first time while they are off the bike. I replace all the bowl screws with stainless allen heads. I also make the bowl surfaces perfectly clean and put antiseize on the gasket so they come off like new every time and can be reused numerous times. (I antiseize the screws too.) When everything is clean and new, the screws don't have to be super tight to get a good seal.

Exhaust may come in the future but not in the budget at this second, I think I will stay at 32 for now. Definitely should've mentioned I am moving to Utah so might my 3500ft jump in altitude compensate enough? This fact totally slipped my mind. Its been 2 separate endeavors in my head. maybe i should go 95 on the mains?

As for Allen head hardware, its been in the back of my mind because I've not yet bought any JIS screwdrivers and previous owner stripped a few case cover screws. Will go on the list.

I've only messed around with jetting near sea level, so you may want some advice from someone who's been higher up.

I'm at 3211 ft above sea level, and back in '82 when I was running pods with a Kerker K-series pipe and street baffle, and I ran 105 main jets, with the jet needle on the middle clip. It made good power, but I went back to an airbox after 4 months for consistent carburetion.

Tbug15 wrote: I purchased a new set when I first got the bike and the year round heat of Texas and the dry of have already made a noticeable difference them. I'm keeping them for storage, but they're coming off the bike and the pods already shipped.

This bike is on deck for a few other system refreshes as it is. TB

Could the drying-out of those expensive rubber carb boots be accelerated by the Ethanol in our gasoline?
Whatever the cause, I replaced those pita rubber boots with aluminum ones.