83 GS1100E carb tuning

[musclebike]

Hello:

I am a first timer, so be easy on me.
I am trying to tune this bike for a pipe and individual air filters, but I know the carbs have been changed from stock already. It presently has a pipe only, and the mains have been changed from 110 to 112.5. What I am not sure of is the placement of the spacer/washer on the needles. I found a thick spacer underneath the needles, with a thin washer on top of the c-clip. So it appears this is already changed, but I don't know. Does anyone know the original setting for this needle? BTW, I am attempting this re-tune using Mikuni parts, not wanting to pop for the Dynojet kit just yet.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Barry

[SqDancerLynn1]

Read this post

http://www.motorcyclecarbs.com/jetting/default.htm

how to figure jetting changes

[Detman101]

Thank you lynn, that is an awesome site.
There is a link buried closer to the main page called Motorcycle-carb-tuning101 that gave me all the definitive answers to the questions I had except for one.

http://www.motorcyclecarbs.com/jetting/carbs101.pdf

rock on,
Dm of mD

[Anonymous]

BTW, I am attempting this re-tune using Mikuni parts, not wanting to pop for the Dynojet kit just yet.

Good advice and info on the other site. I am not attempting to dissuade you from doing this yourself from scratch, but here is an alternate viewpoint on buying a jet kit (BTW, I am a cheap SOB myself, so I feel your pain at spending money ):

I think it is money well spent to buy a kit. To do it yourself (especially the first time) will take a number of tries. All of which means tearing your carbs down far enough to change jets, along with buying a new set of jets every time (not that cheap). By the time you have got it dialled, you will have spent more on jets than the jet kit cost and you will have burned up a number of Saturday afternoons in the garage changing jets instead of riding. If you do not value your time highly, or you look at this as primarily an excellent educational experience (which it is), then no problem. If you simply want to make your bike run right with the pipe and pods, it is much more efficient to simply buy a jet kit for $50-$60 and install it according to the instructions. Dynojet (or whoever) spent a lot of time getting it right and you might as well use their experience and effort to your benefit.

Our riding season is so short up here that I jealously guard my riding time and will not do any maintenance that will take me off the road during riding season unless it is unavoidable. That is what the winter is for...

Just my $0.02


Mark

[musclebike]

Great site on the jet cross-reference. I bookmarked it immediately.

Mark,

Thanks for the heads-up.
Yes, I am a cheapskate with a lot of time. It was 68 F here today.
I have not found a Dynojet kit less than $100 for this bike, but I did find a fellow GSer with a buch of spare jets. So yes, I'm gonna burn some time in the shop, hoping to stumble on a combination that works. I did this once before 22 years ago on a brand new '82 model. Maybe I can do it again.

Regards,
Barry

[Detman101]

Hmmm..I got my Dynojet stage-3 kit off of ebay for 40 dollars. They have K&N ones there too!


Dm of mD