'80 Special stock jet size?

[mr_misfit138]

Hey Guys,

So, I'm a totally noob at this, and have been scavenging this site for the last couple of weeks soaking up all the information I can... and there's a lot on here! I think I'm about ready to start digging into my bike on my own. I've already ordered tons of stuff to resurrect her. I'm gonna have to go through the electrical and the carbs, but there's still one thing I'm not sure about... In checking OEM parts for my 1980 XS11 SG is lists both #120 AND #125 as the stock main jet size!

How do I know which ones are stock for my bike? I was going to put pods on and step up the size, but I don't know what the starting point should be, and I'm not sure what the PO did before I got it.

Also, I'm out of the country for another week and a half, so I can't really dig into the carbs for a little while. Hopefully, someone on here has some good info for me, without me needing to pull the carbs. Ideally, I'd like to just order the new jets and have them waiting for me when I get home.

I'm looking for some enlightenment.

[DGXSER]

I have been through several sets of these carbs and a few 1980 models. I have yet to see 125 jets in any of them. 120 is by far the more common jetting of the 1980 (only jetting I have seen).

[mr_misfit138]

Awesome! Thanks!

In your opinion, am I better off just going to the #125's for pods with stock pipes, or #127.5? And should I keep the #42.5 pilots, or go up one?

[DGXSER]

If all your changing is to POD filters, you may not need any increase in jetting. You may want to get both the 120 and the 125s just to be sure you have all you need.

[Wildkat]

From the tech tips

Stock jetting

Still running the original airbox with stock exhaust on mine so can't really say for certain how accurate this is:

Jetting with mods

Don, are you sure about not having to change jet sizes with pods?
Sorry, just checking... been away from the bike too long and I forget (old age is gettin me now)

[DGXSER]

Don, are you sure about not having to change jet sizes with pods?
Sorry, just checking... been away from the bike too long and I forget (old age is gettin me now)

Nope, I am not sure, I ahev never run PODs as me and the airbox understand each other so we get along just fine. I have read many on here state they have run PODS on stock jetting with no problems. The 4-1 exhaust seems to really open it up and make it lean on stock jetting, adding PODS to that will have an increased effect.

Really, the jetting recommendations support m theory though...

"3 jet sizes for individual filters"

"Add up all the jet size increases and subtract one. (Remember they go in steps of 2.5 for each jet size)"

"Under a mismatch condition, like individual filters and stock exhaust or 4 into 1 header with stock filter and air box, subtract an additional 1 jet size."

So you would have 3-1-1=1 so maybe you need to go from 120 to 122.5, seems very likely you can tweak that with the mixture screws and be good.

[mr_misfit138]

I saw the Jetting With Mods tech tip already, that's why I was asking. But I didn't see the Stock Jetting one. That one says that I should have 110's...

I was hoping to avoid buying a wide range of jets, if at all possible. I'm not really planning on tinkering with its intake or exhaust anymore once the pods are on. But the tech tip says the stocks are 110's, but DGXSER says 120, and bikebandit.com's OEM diagrams say 120 or 125 (I'm not sure how accurate those are, though... I'm kicking myself for not bringing the Clymer with me for reading material on the plane!)

I was planning on buying 2 sizes up (plus 3, minus 1), and ordering the 45 pilots, just in case I need them, but I'm not sure what to get two sizes up from...

[DGXSER]

Go with the 120s as being stock for your 80 model. That chart combines the 81 and the 80. All the 81s I have seen were 110s stock (yet to find any with the mismatched 115 jets in 2 and 3). In 81 they went to 3 ohm coils and the emission laws were tightening still, so the 110 in 81s and 120 in 80s makes sense to me.

[mr_misfit138]

Ahhh! I'm not subtracting the other one for the mismatch! Duh!

I should be fine then. I'll worry about it if she's runnin' funky after I run through everything. I gotta get a spark back in her first! She just quit at a stop sign last year and never started again. I was just wanting all the parts there at once, so I wouldn't have to wait. I just wanted to do everything at once, get her dialed, and get her on the road.

Thanks for you help!

[natemoen]

Ahhh! I'm not subtracting the other one for the mismatch! Duh!

I should be fine then. I'll worry about it if she's runnin' funky after I run through everything. I gotta get a spark back in her first! She just quit at a stop sign last year and never started again. I was just wanting all the parts there at once, so I wouldn't have to wait. I just wanted to do everything at once, get her dialed, and get her on the road.

Thanks for you help!

It's never that easy, especially with pods! You will have to fiddle with things and try different combos to get it tuned right.

[mr_misfit138]

It's never that easy, especially with pods! You will have to fiddle with things and try different combos to get it tuned right.

I was worried someone was gonna say that. Haha!

I guess I'll pick up 122.5's and 125's, and maybe even snatch up the 45 pilots, and play with it some. I was gonna focus on getting it all cleaned out and running good stock with the air box, and then just pop the bigger jets in, slap the pods on, and go see how she does. Thanks for crushing my hopes of ease and perfection working together for once. Haha!

[DGXSER]

Never Fear, Mr. Murphy will surely show his mug in your meager attempts. I would strongly suggest getting her running good with the air box since your having othe problems already. Get that sorted out before you go changing things by adding PODS. You may never figure out what is causing what if you change to many things at once or introduce a new problem when you alrady have one.

[Rasputin]

The couple of times I added pods to my bikes they needed to go up one size on the pilot. That helped to eliminate the stumble I had after installing pods. I did not have to go up on mains at all.

[mr_misfit138]

Never Fear, Mr. Murphy will surely show his mug in your meager attempts. I would strongly suggest getting her running good with the air box since your having othe problems already. Get that sorted out before you go changing things by adding PODS. You may never figure out what is causing what if you change to many things at once or introduce a new problem when you alrady have one.

I'm planning on running through the whole step by step, "troubleshooting a bike that will crank, but won't start" tech tip with the air box on. The PO told me that she was in storage for quite a while, and he had a neighbor help him get it running again, but I don't know what that entailed... I got it a year ago and it ran pretty good until it stopped, and I haven't dug into it yet. I haven't really worried too much about it though, since I have a 2000 V-Star 1100 Classic as my regular rider, but now I've got the time and money to put into my XS, and I'd rather be riding it around this summer.

I've already ready ordered a new battery, all new spark plugs, new fuel lines and inline filters, oil filter, the stupid filter housing o-ring (so she'll stop bleeding oil all over my garage after I broke the "dirt gasket" around the housing when I changed the oil last fall), and even new throttle and clutch cables. Even though it sounds like I have no method to my madness, I'm only going to work on one issue at a time. I just want to do it quickly. Once I get home from China, I've only got 4 weeks until I go back again.

[crazy steve]

I'm in the process of rebuilding my SG carbs right now, and I found 110 mains in all four carbs. As far as I can tell, these were unmolested OEM...