Thanks, Dave! I appreciate your input. Today will be the warmest day of the year so far. It's time to finish jetting and start riding!!!!!!!

I'll suggest a couple of things...
Stay with the stock 35 pilot. Anything bigger is almost never needed and you loose fuel mileage.
In simplest terms, think of the needle as the fine tuning between each jet size. Clip on the 1st groove near the blunt end is the leanest and clip on the furtherest groove from the blunt is richest. Stay with the 3rd or maybe 4th groove.
Since someone else has been in the carb I would suggest checking your float level using the on-bike method in the manual. Just to be sure. That was my problem with getting my jetting correct and I had been checking the float level using all of the off-bike methods.

Best advice; spend a few bucks for a dyno run with the afr readout. That will tell you more than anything else. Here is the link to all of the Utah shops that have Dynojets...
http://www.dynojet.com/dyno_centers/motorcycle_dynocenters_output.aspx?state=UT

we are jealous of his good looks !!!

BigBoyinMS wrote:
.

Best advice; spend a few bucks for a dyno run with the afr readout. That will tell you more than anything else. Here is the link to all of the Utah shops that have Dynojets...
http://www.dynojet.com/dyno_centers/motorcycle_dynocenters_output.aspx?state=UT

+1 on the Dyno But I would take care of any exhaust leaks first. IMO Knowing your AFR is the only true way of propely tuning your bike. You might do fine without knowing. But you will never know if your cheating yourself out of performance or MPG without it. I have done a few Dynos due to changing exhaust and after seat of the pants and sparkplug color jetting. Always got it close But there was always just a little more I could get. I got tired of paying for Dynos so this yr I installed a wideband AFR meter. Now I can tinker all I want and I will know exactly where my AFR is in any range. I can change my jetting for performance or economy at a moments notice.

Heeey... Tel us more about this AFR meter Dave.

Spydr

Long2Ride wrote:
Jona wrote:
long2ride, I think they may need the year of your ride, don't ya just love jetting

No, not really. I have a nice burn on my arm from getting too close to a hot exhaust. And how many times can you pull an air cleaner or remove the tank so you can get to the carb and remove the bowl and unplug and loosen the carb heater without breaking something. Then, exactly what are you looking for with the WOT test. It all seems so subjective to me. I'm just about ready to spend the $140 at the dealer and have them do it but then there's no guarantee that they can get it right either. They will probably find something I broke or installed wrong so they can charge me twice what they quoted.

By the way - it's a 2007. Do you think they care about the color? I have to be careful. I don't want them to start into me like they do you. I'm wondering just what you did to them to deserve all the beat down? They're probably just jealous of your good looks.

Tuning a carb is not subjective at all, it's all about engine theory, combustion, and a few other odds and ends. Elevation does play a role also. as well as temps and humidity play a role.

For ideal combustion an Air Fuel Ratio (AFR) is 14.7, but for air cooled engines it is better to be a bit richer for cooling purposes. For max Tq a richer 13.5 AFR is needed, and for WOT a mix of 12.5 to 12.8 is recommended for cruisers and can go richer for race bikes as well. At WOT richer again to aid in keeping the heads cool and prevent detonation. There is no right or wrong for the most part since there is a spread in AFR values for each ckt tuned. As an example, cruise (65mph as per Mikuni tuning manual) a AFR between 13 to 14 is fine, of course at 13 it will use more gas than a 14AFR. In my bike a 13 gets me 40mpg a 14 50mpg. I will not go past that 50mpg threshold for myself, but that is what I choose.

Not all jets and needles are the same, there is no standards in different manufacturers jet kits. So in order to get you to a start point, it would be beneficial to know what needle and jets you are using. Main jet does not play a role in the idle ckt (pilot ckt)

Needle clip placement has more to do with aceleration.

Easy install. Just had to weld a o2 bung in the exhaust. The one I bought has everything built into the gauge so the is no external box to mount. It gives you AFR readings in real time. I'm gonna adjust my ranges at about 40 MPH in 3rd gear so that my afr is around 13.8 So that i'm in my max TQ range. This can be done with the pilot jet size. And set again at about 70 MPH so that it is arount 14.5 or so for max hwy MPG. this is done with the needle setting. You can adjust the PMS and watch the gauge change to set it at 12.8-13.5 at idle. That is where mikuni recommends. I'm going to the 13.5. You would be shocked to see how many changes the AFR goes thru in a normal ride around the block. But now with the Gauge I can adjust anywhere I want by changing jetting configurations.I can also easily adjust for any changes in the weather when the seasons change.

So your AFR is displayed digitally, what is the indicator around the outside of the meter? Is it an analog display of the same information? Who is the manufacturer?

Yes the outside lights up around the gauge and changes color to let you know when it is lean or rich or in a stoich range. It is made by Innovate. This is the one I bought.
http://www.amazon.com/Innovate-Motorsports-3845-MTX-L-Powersports/dp/B004MDXVRU

davej....can your machine make it stop raining in Seattle??? Please!!!