After fitting the Advancer you may have to go up a grade of gasoline. I can run fine on Regular(87) however when it gets hot out I get some slight pre-ignition in the summertime. I use mid-grade(89) with the advancer on there to eliminate it. Remember you should use the LOWEST octane level that you can that doesn't give you pre-ignition anything higher is not only a waste of money but will give you less power and encourage coking. Also if you use the larger pilots in the kit(I don't recommend it) you need to turn the mixture screws 1 1/2 turns
in to achieve the same level of fueling at idle. For example:
15 pilots(stock) with holeshot kit 3.75 turns out(counter clockwise)from LIGHTLY seated and work up or down.
17.5 pilots with holeshot kit start around 2.25 turns out from LIGHTLY seated and work up or down.
For the record, Dale recommends using the larger 17.5 pilots if your under 3000 ft altitude which I am however it was rich as hell and harder to tune in. The best I got was around the 2.25 or 2.5 turn mark with the larger pilots however it was weird, Super rich down low. Try both if you like but if you want to do the guarenteed way use the stock pilots at 3 3/4 turns out from stock. That should get you close. However if you feel like experimenting by all means go ahead, just because the larger pilots were too rich on my bike doesn't mean that they won't be perfect on yours, especially if you're on the coast. For fun I'm going to experiment with the K&N panel filter in the springtime but I need to order larger jets as even the richest main jet in the kit is slightly too light with the K&N panel filter.
Remember,
DO NOT USE the K&N panel filter with the standard stage 1 kit. I've been very very close with the jets in the kit using the larger pilots and the largest mainjet but it gets a little rich down low and lean up top. You should use the OEM filter only with the holeshot kit unless you're like me and are experimenting. If I can get the Holeshot kit to work with a K&N filter I will post the settings(my guess is a 115 size mainjet with some stock pilot combo)so if people want a few more ponies with their holeshot kit they can. I've definitely had more power with the K&N filter in my experiments but the fueling wasn't as clean as the standard holeshot stage 1 setup. As I said, I'll try again with new jets in the spring for the hell of it to see if I can clean it up.
If I had to do it all over again I would use the stock pilots at the recommended level then go from there. If I needed to turn out the screws past 4 turns, only then I would consider going up on the pilots. All bikes are different and they need more/less fuel depending on temperature and altitude. I've seen some guys here use as low as 3.25 on the stock pilots to as high as 4.25(I would go up on the pilots at that point) turns out. There are alot of guys here that will help you out. And I agree with txbanditr oil temp or pressure gauges are more bling than zing, I wouldn't waste your money on them. Maybe if you had it hopped up for drag racing with GSXR cams and a stage 2 with full system with nitrous or some crazy setup then it might be worth it but at that point you'd be into the thousands of dollars and a couple hundred bucks for an oil temp gauge or oil pressure gauge will be the least of your worries
Opps sorry a couple of more tips. When putting the advancer on there put the bike on the side stand so most of the oil is on the left hand side of the bike, you may want to put some newspapers down as well to catch any drips. That way you don't have to drain the oil out of the bike.
If you want instead of removing the carbs all together you can just loosen the throttle cable enough to slide the carbs in the boots either left or right and tilt them so you can get the floats off and the mains in there without having to remove the carbs, however it is advised you take them off entirely at some point to check float level.