Pods--Float level critical for cruising and transition.

[glib]

I read http://www.factorypro.com/tech_tunin...m_engines.html a couple days ago and realized that I had missed a tuning component that was exactly what my bike needed. When I bought my 700ES, it had pods but no "kit." Just a big main jet. I put a stage 3 DynoJet kit in and voila, it ran to redline with power--after previously not being able to run over 5k rpm. I didn't ride it much for the next two years but have been on it more recently and realized that not only did the mileage stink--38 at best--but it also bogged off the line and only had good power in the upper rpm range and WOT. I thought it might be rich so I lowered the needles a notch just to see if I could notice any difference. The mileage didn't change but I thought I could feel and hear a less severe "bog." (I always thought that the pods were just extra noisy but I found out that a lot of that was unnecessary bogging sound). The article has been shared numerous times but I just found it after changing my needle settings. It outlines in detail which changes affect specific areas of performance and I realized that I may have never checked my float height. Yes, I know it's on the list of things to do but perfection eludes me and it made sense that the shop that sold it without getting it running right may have tried making adjustments that failed. (They had huge Mikuni 130 main jets installed). So I pulled the carbs once again and found that the floats were set 2mm low in an effort to richen the mixture. I just put them back to stock and it purrs like a mean kitten. Very different tone in transition. And the mileage came up to 42mpg.

[bwringer]

Yep, lots of people neglect float height. I've never found this to be set correctly when I first encounter a set of carbs.

And it is important. Half a mm makes a perceptible difference. It's well worth taking the time to get this right and consistent.

I've also found that a lot of people can't read instructions -- on GS carbs with the "stepped" floats you measure the height at the notch, not at the top.

[Steve]

I have read that guide and have a question or three about it.

It suggests that the first thing you do is to tune the main jet by finding the one that pulls the hardest at high RPM. My question is : just how do you get to the place where you can test the pull in high RPM if you can't run at low and medium RPM to get to the test site? I feel that you need to at least have a decent-running bike so you can get to the test site, so why not just tune the low end correctly first?

There may be a valid reason for his tuning sequence that I am not understanding, but I don't tune race bikes, so I simply don't know it all.

.

[bwringer]

Agreed -- you have to be reasonably close on the low/mid stuff to get the bike to start and to run safely. But the main jet also affects these settings as well.

I think the thing that sort of gets glossed over in those instructions is that you will iterate through the steps several times to get things really sorted out.

[glib]

As I get more acquainted with various systems on the bikes in the garage, I also become more in tune with those systems when they are in operation. After this experience with the floats and other carb tuning, I paid some extra attention during my ride today and I believe that the loud "waaa" sound (with pods--I don't hear it with the airbox) must be the pistons raising to lift the needles. The tone is more related to the strain of the motor than the throttle position. Also, if that is the case, even riding fairly aggressively when possible, I did get on the needles quite a bit but I very rarely ever tested the accuracy of the main jet--except to the extent that it may affect the low and midrange mixtures. I'll bet I used all eighty some horsepower only two or three times in over four hrs riding. However the now well-tuned low end was much appreciated.