Yes. Makes removing the top of the front carb while the carbs are still on the bike easier. Plus plastic isnt much of a heat sheild as I belive it is listed as that.

 

Man this sucks!!! Still havent gotten the Hawk running. Still waiting on my 178 main to come in from the dealer. I called every shop in town and not one has a Keihin series 21 mains. UGH!!!!!

 

Got the jets in She is all back together and fired up first crank once the bowls filled up. Sounds better I believe from the plugs being torqued to spec and not hand tight allowing blow by and pressure to escape. Now heading out for a while to see how my carb settings will perform.
Screws- 2.25 turns out
Needles 3 slot from top with .020 shims
#45 pilots
#175 F/#178 R Mains.
My issues were around 2500-3K, Lets see what happens.

 

Sorry, dude. I've been out to sea and not able to answer PMs or get on the web much, if any. Sounds like you're heading in the right direction. I'm concerned that you have a bunch of non-stock stuff in there (38 marked with 45?). With that who knows what else is done to those carbs. The easiest thing to do is go back to bone stock and start from scratch.

 

Greg, I did Just that. Have everything stock except the needles. So far running good. Had to adjust the idle a little. Once warmed up to temp it was about a 100 rpm high. Will be doing some riding this weekend to see how she does.

 

Well after an hour ride in traffic running between 2500-3k it still is a little lean. Pull the choke out a bit and it runs better. Runs good above 3k to redline with no choke. Might have to do some dyno tuning time to get this right. Like to know where the AFR is sitting at.
Settings are -
Screws- 2.25 turns out
Needles 3 slot from top with .020 shims
#45 pilots
#175 F/#178 R Mains.

Privious settings were -
Screws - just about 3 full turns
Needles same as above
Pilots #45F and #38R
Mains - #172 F / #175 R

I think they screws were turned so far out due to the different size pilots. Also further back in this thread I also noted that the spark plugs were hand tight in the heads. That is also fixed now they are torqued to spec. What do we think?

 

V,
Im gonna try that. Its no where near as bad as it was, but it can be better. As soon as I burn off this tank of gas I take the carbs off again and turn the screws to 2 1/2 out.
I remember from when I jetted my I4 ZX6 I leaned it just a tad on the low end cause if I ran it where the spec said to it ran like crap during the wonderful FL summers of 90-100% humidity. So Ill try the same for the hawk.
But as I said it is already better than when I started this thread.

 

Very true with all you said, I remember those days. Its been above avg air temp so far this year here in E. Central FL. And if history holds true this summer will be a bitch. So I may be where I need to be on the screws now for the up coming summer. Gonna try to bump them just a tad, no more than a 1/4 out and then drive it thru summer see how she does.

 

I have to respectfully disagree with you.... I've put #48s in every one I have tuned.

I also believe the most common tuning issue is going too rich on the top and too lean on the bottom....

 

Well I can tell its still just a tad lean on the low end. Im 2 1/4 turns on the screws and I was gonna wait till the outside temps get a little warmer. I have notice that in the morning and evening with the cooler air its at it most lean, but during the day with the higher air temps its smoothes out. Im feeling that maybe only gonna need a 1/4 turn and thats it at the most. Up top feels good and strong.
Once I set a side some funds Im gonna put it on the dyno to tune it.

 

How funny is that! Every VTR that has come through my shop with a jetting issue had #48's and the fix was to go down to #45's (stock). I've found the VTR's to be pretty tolerant of main jet changes - that is to say if you are a couple of jet sizes each side of ideal it doesn't seem to bother them.

 

What I have seen is people get in trouble when they change the mains and the pilots at the same time.

Like I stated in my set up thread, it's one or the other not both or you have problems.

So I always start with the pilots on the theory that from the factory the bike is lean on the bottom and real close on the top end.

This is to make the bike EPA compliant. The testing is done at fairly low rpms, which is also a low load situation, so you can get away with being on the lean side.

At high rpms, which is usually also a high load situation, the bike is real close to where it wants to be stock or you would start eating plugs at the very least, if not cause engine damage.

So I up the pilots one step and leave the mains alone (as the pilot adds a bit of extra fuel through the entire rpm range, not just the bottom end. Just like upping the mains helps the low end as the do flow fuel down low also) and have had the best results that way with the bikes I have tuned.

But then it's all black magic anyways and maybe my spells are a little different than yours......

 

As always good info from both of you guys!!! Thanks!!!!