| Author | Message | ||
     Italialaw |
Hey all, I own a 98 Thunderbolt. I took off the breather bolts this evening: front cylinder breather fitting had black crap (looked like oil) and the rear cylinder breather fitting had gas on it (very little though). Prior to putting the bike away for the winter my buddy commented on how he could smell gas coming form my exhaust when he was behind me. Based on all the above info., could you say I was running a little rich? Bike mods.: D&D show n go chrome pipe, cv 48 slow, 190 main, 2 3/4 turn on the idle mixture screw, s&s air cleaner with K&N air filter | ||
| Blake |
That 48 slow could easily be rich, especially at idle with the idle mixture screw turned so far out. Have you tried adjusting the idle screw to see if the idle improves as you screw it in? I'm darn near at sea level here in Texas and a 45 jet does fine for my Cyclone. | ||
| Italialaw |
Blake, I installed a mikuni last night right out the box except I changed the slow jet from 160 to 165. I believe that will be ok for my set-up (we'll see) | ||
| Captainkirk |
Geez, I hope not! The 165 is the main jet! The slow(pilot) jet should be somewhere between a 25 and 30. | ||
| Italialaw |
Duh! My bad. I meant fast jet. Thanks Captain | ||
| Captainkirk |
Quite welcome! By the way, if you're running the HSR42-11 (quick kit; the one that uses your stock cables) the stock pilot jet is a 25...this was too lean for my M2, but I had also just installed the race kit and N8 cams at the same time. To see if your S3 is running too lean on the pilot (idle/low speed) side, try running at about 3000-3500 in high gear and slowly ease out the enrichener (choke) and see if it bogs, or if RPM's pick up. This was the case with mine. When I eased out the enrichener, the thing took off like a raped ape...even though I THOUGHT it was running fine. The next jet up is a 27.5, then a 30.0 You shouldn't need to go much richer than the 30.0. If it was NOT the 42-11 kit, it might be set up for the stock Sporty motor which comes with a 20 pilot jet...which would be WAY lean for an S3 with it's N4 grind (Lightning) cams. Just thought I'd mention it.  | ||
| Italialaw |
Captain and others, I got the HSR 42-11 kit. Stock except: D&D show n go chrome pipe, race ignition, and s&s air cleaner with K&N air filter. 25 and 165 jets may be just right. I live in NE Ohio (near Cleveland) Any thoughts? | ||
| Captainkirk |
Do the enrichener test. If it bogs, and your plug color looks OK you're probably spot-on. Check plugs as follows; Pick a nice, straight unobstructed road with little or no traffic. To be on the safe side, cruise the road in one direction, then back to point of origin. Run through the gears (wail on it), preferably to fifth gear. When you hit the equivalent of 4K in fifth with WOT, pull in the clutch and hit the kill switch; coast to a stop. Pull a plug using the plug wrench and gloves you were smart enough to bring, and check the plug color. A black, sooty and/or wet appearance indicates fuel fouling; i.e.too rich. A whitish or glazed appearance indicates too lean. A tan colored plug is ideal. This is primarily a "fast jet" indicator. Hope this helps. Remember, if you get pinched by John Law I never heard of you!  | ||
| Bomber |
Cap -- it helps if you start the excersize withe new plugs - -that way you are reading current events, not history ;-} | ||
| Captainkirk |
Bomber. Good point! A plug's color/condition will change appearance within a few miles or so, but it never hurts to start with a clean slate! Lead deposits & such will hang around for a long time.  | ||
| Rr_eater |
HA!! You guys think ist funny to find oil and gas in your breather bolts, you aint seen NOTHING!! I took mine off to reseal them leaky things a while back (4 years or so now), and inside the front i found the tip of a RED plastic reaming or cleaning brush, wedged all the way in there!! It took me about 3-4 hours to get out, and when I did get it out, it was over 1/2" wide and 1/4" tall piece of the bottle/reaming brush I was told (by the dealership)they use at the factory to clean out the passageways. Wonder what else was in there?? I have some pics at home of it I will post up later for everyone's amusement!! Bruce | ||
| Mikej |
This ought to be good. Wonder if it will make the bulletin board on Capitol Drive.  | ||
| Davegess |
RR might I suggest a quiet, even tempered, call to Buell Customer service. I would suspect they want to hear all about it AND don't want to hear all about it onthe internet. Remember be very nice and very patient, it will work wonders | ||
| Ara |
Maybe they'll send him a free hat... |
