81 SH main jets

[SFerinTEXAS]

Got a minor question about 81 special carb main jets. I'm helping TONIO resurrect an 81 special and all my prior experience has been on 78 and 79 carbs. Clymers says 110 and 120 centers but when it came apart it had 110"s all across. Stock air box and aftermarket 4 into 2 exhaust. I know these carbs have been apart before cause one of the float pin post has been repaired. Got parts ordered from MIKES and went ahead and got 2 120 mains coming. I've read several old post where folks had 4 110"s on this model so should I put it back that way or put the 120's in the centers? BTW the pilots were 42.5"s. Also nice suprise to find all the screws including choke lever were socket head capscrews. Did that come stock on 81"s ? Sweet .

[jwoell]

My understanding was that the 81 special carbs came with 110's all the way across. That's what I run on mine, but I still run the stock exhaust, so I'm not sure how much that might affect it.

As far as the cap screws, I don't think they came standard on the bike that way, I had to switch mine over. Man those cap screws are way easier to deal with than the original screws!

[fredintoon]

Accurséd Phillips heads.

Yeah, that fistful of Allen screws for my carb rack was one of my better $5 bargains. Had to remove the PO-cratered Phillips head screws with a Phillips bit in my drill-press, bearing down on the handle & hand-reefing the chuck round. X32!
One of the best moments I ever had with my clothes on was tossing those gnarled Phillips head things in the garbage. My XS11SG had 110 main jets all across. I put 115s in the outer carbs and 120s in the middle ones when I binned the hateful knucklebusting airbox and fitted UNIpods.
Fred Hill, S'toon.

[jwoell]

I definately agree with you Fred. Those phillips head screws were a b!tch to get out. A couple of the pissed me off so bad I had to weld a normal bolt to them and get them out with a socket on the bolt. Probably not such a great idea on carbs that have gas in them (call me stupid), but these had been sitting around forever and didn't smell like much. Still had the fire extinguisher right there though.


Best line in your comment:

"One of the best moments I ever had with my clothes on ..."

Had to bust out laughing when I read that.

[TopCatGr58]

Hey Sferin,

Mine also had 110's across, and I didn't rejet when I put on my 4-1 pipes shortly after I got it, and ran it that way for many years, no burning pistons, power to redline.

With aftermarket pipes, he could possibly use 2 jet sizes up, but the 120's are 4 sizes, not sure if it will need or handle them? Being in Texas, it'll be fairly hot, but I don't like the large spread that the manual says should be there. It should be okay with the 110's, and you could tweek it a little with lowering the floats a little, but will need to check the plugs/throttle chop once it's running.

[SFerinTEXAS]

JETS

Looks like i'll stay with the 110's . Thanks for all the input Next time I pull the SF carbs gonna find capscrews too.