Bonneville America Forums Forums Technical Forums Performance Mods TORS+Pods Jet combination at sea level

Just wondering what some of you guys who are running the same intake and exhaust setup are using for jets.

My bike currently has the stock airbox w/snorkel and short TORS. I bought it like this late last fall and was only able to ride about 500 miles before having to put it away. I don't know what jets are in there right now, but I did notice that it seems sluggish when starting from a stop but otherwise ran pretty well. Also, there is a decent amount of carbon buildup at the exhaust tips - a symptom of the mixture being rich?

I want to do the usual mods (SAI removal, pods) over the winter and I'm looking for some guidance. Is anyone here running size 45 pilot jets? The jetting calculator gives me 149 mains w/42 pilots, stock needles and no shims.

The main jet size seems to be a huge jump up from what the calculator spits out for my current setup w/airbox; 124 mains.

Anyway, I was going to get some 150 mains which should be darn close, right? But then if I find that I need to shim the needles, my main size drops. Ditto if it needs more juice at the smaller throttle openings and I put a 45 pilot jet in there.

I've been doing all kinds of searching and really I'm just looking for feedback from some of you guys who've done the same.

Cheers

The calculator will get you close...that said, it is not absolute...however, unless you are going to do dyno/AFR diagnostics, just use the calculator as a baseline and see how it rides.

The reason for the seemingly huge jump in the main jet size when going from the OEM airbox to pods is the relative reduction in air velocity through the bore of the carb in order to move the same amount of fuel to the combustion chamber...the larger jets compensate for the reduced air velocity of the pods, as there is less restriction to overcome.

Thanks for your response B02S4.

I guess my concern is that the bike will be lean early in the throttle range if I don't increase my pilot jet size as well because won't I still be introducing a substantial amount more air in that range? Maybe the limitation of the calculator is that it can't tell you what pilot would be close for a given setup.

I'd really like to hear from some who've tried 45 pilots as well.

Don't forget to think about the taper of your needles while you are contemplating your set up. I found at 900 ft. I quite liked 42s with 125 mains and TORs but I used Thruxton needles with a K&N in the desnorkled stock air box.

I also had a 2001 Bonnie that I removed the air box and used pods with Emgo reverse cones. That set up used 145 mains with 45 pilots and stock needles and was quite good.

I think 145 mains with a 45 pilot at sea level is a good place to start running TORs and pods. Depending the TORs you have the main will vary. Be sure to do a proper adjustment on the idle mixture screws.

Thanks for the input guys. I'll have to get a couple of different sizes and see what ends up working best.

How necessary is a dyno once I'm more or less happy with the setup?

I've never had a bike on a dyno in 44 years of riding so I can't say for certain; to me it seems the dyno is for high performance tuning or bragging rights. If you get so far off in your tuning that you need a dyno for a daily rider a good mechanic is probably a better investment.

My bikes have been dyno'd more times than I can count on my fingers and toes...unless you are after something very specific, you'll do OK with a good tuner. If you want great, then there's no substitute for the diagnostics.

You don't need to run it on a dyno, what you are really looking for would be the A/F ratio to double check your work. Buy,rent,borrow a meter or two to see where you are and if your spitting gas, 14:1smoke or molting aluminum out your exhaust.