Carb Help!!

[trbig]

Have you tried to make a run without those cheap filters on.. just open carbs? That's the very first thing I would have tried to rule out. If it does the same thing with them off, then that's an easy check off the list. What you describe is the exact same thing I had a problem with when I tried them.

Oh... and you need to have the left timing cover off and the bike running to check those pickup coil wires. Do a little tugging on those wires and see if it dies or stumbles.

[Haarstad]

Have you tried to make a run without those cheap filters on.. just open carbs? That's the very first thing I would have tried to rule out. If it does the same thing with them off, then that's an easy check off the list. What you describe is the exact same thing I had a problem with when I tried them.

Oh... and you need to have the left timing cover off and the bike running to check those pickup coil wires. Do a little tugging on those wires and see if it dies or stumbles.

Absolute genius! I did a lot of reading on problems with these pods and a lot of people said cheap ones cause problems and nobody said to take them off and take it for a spin, so i assumed that i probably shouldn't cause it'll be bad for it. A couple people said you can do a fix on the pods so the lip on the pod boots don't get in the way, so i went ahead and did that but it didn't help.

Well i just got back from taking it for a spin with the pods off and it is amazing, i can use full rpm range with no problems. I can't believe that the fix i did didn't help though, I can't see how it's still in the way. At least that problem is fixed though!!

With the pods off it has problems when starting out, it will stall and go about 1 mph when trying to start from stopped position. My dad thinks it may just be since they were just open carbs it's not the right fuel/air mixture.

So next on the list is to see which pods won't cause problems and price them out and also see how much a stock air box is with a K&N filter and make a decision from there.

I heard that the Mike's XS pods and the K&N pods will not cause problems. Can anyone verify that?

I just don't wanna spend money and end up with the same problem.

Thanks for all the info!

[Haarstad]

Here are Mike's XS Pods (54mm). I believe there are the right ones that work good that everyone was talking about.

The price of K&N's make them out of the picture. So if you guys have used the pods in the link above or know how they work, please let me know.

Thanks

[jetmechmarty]

The XS650 runs pretty much the same carburetor as the XS11. Mike's would be remiss to introduce the same problem. I believe you're safe with these. Keep in mind I use the airbox and have not tried them.

[natemoen]

Airboxs are not terribly expensive. Way easier to tune with it anyways.

[jwhughes3]

So next on the list is to see which pods won't cause problems and price them out and also see how much a stock air box is with a K&N filter and make a decision from there.

Great Ranger is running a K&N filter inside the stock airbox. If I recall it cost about the same as four cheap pods, in other words about $45. Runs fine (or did till I robbed the carbs out of it for Rising Sun)

That being said, I am not sure its an advantage except for closer to stock...still got to pull airbox for cleaning and oiling and still hard to get off carbs with airbox.

I am looking at maybe modding an airbox like one I found here a while back that places pods inside a shell of an airbox to retain stock looks, but front side cut out to be able to pull carbs back. Will still have to consider jet changes though.

John

[jetmechmarty]

Is it really that tough to remove the carbs with the airbox on? Surely not! Once you learn how to do it, it's easy.

[GLoweVA]

Is it really that tough to remove the carbs with the airbox on? Surely not! Once you learn how to do it, it's easy.

Sure, getting the carbs in and out of the bike/frame is the easy part.
Trying to line up all 4 carb to airbox boots at the same time without one of the inner ones folding up on you is the hard part.
Not to mention holding pressure on the airbox to keep them boots on there while you're tightening the clamps down and hoping one of them does slide back off.

Note: I'm a proud owner of an airbox with K&N filter, but if I had pods, I'd sure feel easier about pulling the carbs for any reason.

[crazy steve]

....Trying to line up all 4 carb to airbox boots at the same time without one of the inner ones folding up on you is the hard part...

It's not that bad once you know the 'trick'...

http://www.xs11.com/forum/showthread.php?t=35349

[natemoen]

I have never had any trouble pulling the carbs. Never had any problem lining the boots up or getting anything on.

[Haarstad]

So I ordered the 53mm pods that they have for sale on Mikes XS... They stopped making the 52 and 54 mm because the 53mm works on both. I'll let you guys know what happens when I get them on the bike. Should be Thursday

[79XS11F]

I would go with the K&N in the box with the box drilled out. The CV carbs by their very design need the back pressure that the air box provides. If you want POD filters and an engine that can be tuned for "best" performance, you will need to go with carbs that have their slides controlled by the throttle cable. These engines will provide all the performance you'll need for street use with the air filter in the box.
Rob

[jwhughes3]

dont overthink it

Rising Sun ever since I got it has run faster than any other XS with cheap emgo lipped pods. Throw you off the flat seat and grab the bars fast.

You will be fine with those Mike's pods.

John

[trbig]

You people talking about removing/installing the carbs on an XS VS the XJ are comparing apples to oranges due to not being able to loosen the XJ's airbox. For comparison, remove and install the carbs on your XS and don't loosen any bolts on your airbox.

Also, they don't make a K&N filter for the XJ... but you can tear one apart and fab it up. I remember Maximan doing it several years ago. It's not the same filter as the XS.

Also, the XJ has no ballast resistor.

[Haarstad]

I'm glad these should work, My pods should be coming tomorrow but it's getting too close to my vacation to wait for the pods (My family is going on a bike trip). I had a little stumble when trying to get moving from a stopped position and the choke was a little stiff after my last cleaning, so my first thought was that the carbs should be gone through again and i didn't want to wait for the pods to come to start working on it cause i'm leaving thursday

So i tore down the carbs yet again and used more of that good ol' carb cleaner through it, completely tore them down, cleaned them all up (outside and inside again) and blew compressed air through all of the passages again and voila! No more sticky choke! I warmed it up (seems a little cold blooded still) and adjusted the mixture screws and re-synced and took her for a spin but the stutter is still there.

I do NOT have the pods on yet, they should be here tomorrow. I figured i'll have to re-sync and re-adjust the mixture screws when i get the pods on the bike and i had some extra time this morning so that's why i went through all of this today... I just wanted to see if i could fix the problems since i had to clean the carbs anyways.

I won't do anything more until i get the pods on the bike but if the stutter persists, what should i try first. My guess is that an adjustment that can be made in the carbs aren't right since i have better airflow since the old pods were blocking passages.

I know that someone on here said that the needles shouldn't help with this situation but before i posted on here, i was tuning my carbs after the first cleaning and i was having this same problem. i took the needles out and they weren't in the middle position (when i cleaned them, i didn't adjust anything) so i went ahead and moved them to the middle. (the clip was one up or one down, i don't remember... I should've wrote it down...) After adjusting the needle to the middle, i didn't have the problem again until i ripped the pods off.

Again, I'm not going to make any adjustments until the pods are on the bike, but if this stutter were to persist, what coarse of action do you think i should take?

A little re-cap if anyone was wondering, I have 78 carbs on the 79 XS1100 Special with 140 mains and 42.5 pilots, the mixture screws are out 2.25 turns at the moment and the bike runs amazing throughout all rpm ranges besides this stutter.

Thanks for all of the help so far!