Unclear on needle shimming on VM 26

[jknappsax]

I see people suggesting that you remove the plastic spacer above the needle, and substitute washers in its place. I have a midrange rich condition, and I was planning on dropping the circlip one position, and then shimming between the circlip and the forked follower, in essence dropping the needle by 1/2 a position. I understand removing the plastic spacer and using washers totalling half the height of the spacer to enrich the midrange, or dropping the circlip down one position and shimming to achieve a 1/2 half lowering of the needle. Am I looking at this all wrong? I would figure that the plastic spacer should be at the top, against the underside of the slide. I would greatly appreciate opinions. I've done searches, but never found the rationale of the first method over the my somewhat unclear reasoning

[Big T]

Your confusing the VM and BS carbs

The procedure you mention is for the BS carbs

On your VMs, the needle has slots for the clip

Pull the slides, pull the needles and move the clips up one notch (thus lowering the needle)

Reassemble and you're good to go

Also, with 900 posts, you should know to put your bike in your signature (rant concluded)

[49er]

You can and sometimes need to use a shim/washer on VM carbs to achieve the correct AFR in your midrange performance. If you're marginally too rich, drop the needle by one notch then place the washer underneath the clip to gain a half position.

I would just try lowering the needle by one clip position first. It may only need that change to optimise performance.