Since last I posted I had put several hundred miles on my B6 and I knew something was wrong. Prior to installing the stage 1 kit I got from Holeshot I had cleaned the carbs, blown air and carb cleaner through all the jets and fixed the choke rack that was installed wrong. I knew the PO had been into the carbs but I didn't think it was anything too serious. More about this later. I got the bike going and it ran OK but not great. I have no prior bench mark for this bike have never owned one or even ridden one. My verdict was that it was not as crisp as if should be. From all that I knew and read, the bike should be super lean but it was running rich.
I installed the Holeshot stage 1 kit, which made an already rich condition worse and it ran worse. I knew, from the terrible gas mileage, that I had a fuel problem but where was it going? Off came the carbs again. I figured I missed something. A forum search turned up a post that suggested checking for wear in the needle jets. (not the needles but the jets they slide into.) The post said that sometimes, in high mileage bikes, these openings wear oval and start to run rich in mid range. At this point I am grasping at straws so I am going through looking at each carb, #1, fine, #2, fine, #3 fine, #4 no jet at all. What? Yep, the jet was gone. I hadn't noticed it because I wasn't looking for it. I had taken it for granted that it had a jet in there. It is the #4 plug that has always shown to be rich. I was just dumbfounded. The needle on #4 was just going up and down in a barrel. I can only surmise that changing main jets from 92 to 95 (as are in the stage 1 kit) made that condition worse as well.
I ordered a needle jet from BikeBandit.com. The jet came in the mail today and I cast off all work (I work out of the house) and ran to the shop. I installed the jet, reinstalled the second spacer under the needle (I had removed this thinking it might be the problem) and put everything back together as per the stage 1 kit spec sheet. The first impressions are promising. On the dirt road the little minx wants to squirt sideways on throttle. It wants to loft its front wheel too which it has never really wanted to do. A fast ride around the block shows good throttle response, smooth power, smooth cruising speed and a lot more lower end. It is not torque exactly but it has more grunt out of corners in second and third. I love it when they just run better and better. Now it needs attention to the pilot jet settings and I think I need to sync the carbs again. (what a drag.)
