yeah, sounds like wierd advice to me. removing shims would make it leaner, and what i've always found is that when i'm getting popping, enrichening the mix always removes that problem. And if it doesn't i go even richer till it does. And i also tend to find that at the point it's rich enough to eliminate popping it's also at or close to it's ideal mix because if i go any further it usually doesn't help add any more power or even farts out. And with the freak your needles should be shimmed w/o a shadow of a doubt. In fact i wouldn't hesitate to pass on shimming and go right to thruxton needles which are quite rich w/o any shims. Then you could shim them if necassary, but i don't think you'll have to.
