Jetting '83 1100 GL

[1948man]

'83 1100 GL. Ive got a Vance and Hines 4 into 1 and Ape PODS. Stock otherwise except for what PO has done to the needle. I guess that makes me Stage 3. OEM was a 115 main jet and I have 122.5 ordered. OEM for Pilot is 40 and I'm thinking 42.5 but Z1 is temporarily out of stock. I can order from Sudco if 42.5 sounds right for the pilot. PO has removed spacer on the needle and didn't bother to replace with any washers. After I take out the top circlip and plastic needle (emulsion tube?) I have smaller circlip on the brass needle, one tiny washer, and then spring. The base of the emulsion tube is pretty thick, but I guess that doesn't count as a spacer. I guess my questions are.....

1. Does 122.5 for main and 42.5 for pilot sound about right for jetting? Z1 has 45 pilots if that's not too big.

2. If I stack enough tiny washers to equal about 3mm (seems like I remember reading Steve said the spacer is about 4mm) on top of the small circlip will that be a good starting point? I have a little flat spot arout 3500 rpm.

[blowerbike]

you are only st.3 if someone purchased a st.3 jet kit.
if you do not have adjustable needles then you need to purchase a st. 3 jet kit.
this saves you from buying mains/pilots and is the only way for your bike to carborate 100% from idle to redline.
dynajet wants you to have stock pilot circuts in your carbs before installing there products.
shimming your needles will not fix the transition problems you have when the air box is removed.

[1948man]

Yeah, I guess I shouldn't have ordered the 122.5 main but it is on the way and only a few bucks. The bike didn't hesitate as bad until recently and I thought with the carb cleaning and new jets maybe I could shim the needle and have something good enough to live with. I can always get a needle later. I checked and shimmed my valves and they were crazy tight. The bike was so out of whack that it's hard to figure out what to blame or get a baseline. I do realize that an adjustable needle is the best for a persistent stutter in that rpm range. Are my jets the right size?

[blowerbike]

its not just having adjustable needles...the shapes are totally different that a stock needle.
you run smaller mains because of this.
i'm not sure what to tell you on your jetting right now.
FYI
st.3 kits are just a little over a hundred bucks...
money well spent.

[rapidray]

One other thing, after the valve adjust have you synced the carbs? This will have a pretty good affect on how smoth the engine runs. Ray.

[1948man]

Thanks, I was planning to sync after the dip. I have always felt that I was doing things half-a$$ed if I didn't get the carbs truly cleaned and the valves adjusted. Then I figured while I had them down I might as well rejet. The stock jetting can't be right for a bike with PODS and a 4 into 1. I'm new to all this and I'm sure it shows. Jim M

[1948man]

I think I misread the part about the stock spacer being 4 mm. I think actually what was said was that 4 small RadioShack washers equal the stock spacer.

[1948man]

Synced the carbs. I removed the stock spacer on the needle and the hesitation is gone. I figured I would get a couple of larger main jets and try them. I'll probably get a dynojet but wasn't in a hurry to spring for it because my bike was making some "cam walk" type noises and I wasn't committed to putting too much into it but the carb sync quieted it down a bunch. My larger mains still gave me the impression it was weak and lean on the high end. I finally dug up the old original 115 mains and compared them to a 132.5 from Z1. The 115's had obviously been drilled out at some point. A finish nail that measured 161 wouldn't fit thru the jet but another item that measured 150 fit thru. Darn!! I figure that 115 has beed drilled out to approx 155. Seems awful high but I put the big ones back in temporarily and the bike pulls real strong. I guess I should just go ahead and get the dynojet now. Plus do some plug chops and see just how rich that 155 puts the high throttle.