Hello,

I'm going to adding a set of Vance & Hines shortshots to my 2006 XL 883 Sportster this weekend. A little background info before I ask my question about jet sizes...

I live in Richmond, VA which isn't a ton higher than sea level. But 2 hours to the west are the Blue Ridge Mountains which I run through once a month or so. The bike has stock jets which I assume are 42 pilot and 170 main. It has a Screaming Eagle Stage 1 intake and the baffles in the stock muffs are drilled. It has a decent sound like this but nothing compared to what I am putting on with the shortshots. The air mix screw has been exposed and I am at about 2.5 turns out right now. I get some carb farts right now on takeoff, nothing detrimental but annoying at times. The bike runs pretty well other than that.

So what size jets would you guys recommend that I run in the carb since I am rejetting it? I think I have 44 and 46 pilots and 170 and 175 mains. Should I run by the dealer and pick up a 45 pilot and 180 main before I tear the carb apart? TIA for responses!! I can't wait to get this project out of the way and ride in this amazing weather here on the east coast!!

Matt

 

Assuming this is not a CA or international bike;
Your stock pilot SB a 42 and you'll want a 44 or 45 pilot jet there. Your main jet SB a 165 and you'll want a 170 for that.

This is just for starters, to get in the ballpark.

 

You need a 45 slow and a 170 main. A 180 main is for a stage 1 1200.

 

Nope, not a CA or international bike. I already have a 44 pilot jet and may pick up a 45 pilot jet from the dealer if I can get off work tomorrow. I will put the 170 main jet in place of the 165. If I install the 44 how will I know that I need a 45? How many turns out on the air mix screw is indicative of needing to up the pilot jet to a 45? Thanks again guys and I'll post up pics when I'm done on Saturday.

-Matt

 

If you get more than 2.75-3.0 turns out, go up from the 44 to a 45.

 

Gotcha. That makes sense and I will pick up the 45 slow jet at the dealer tomorrow just to be sure in case I need it during the tuning process.

I have never done a carb rejet and tune process with my Sporty yet but did it with my Suzuki Savage a few times. Is there anything I should watch out for with the Sporty?

The process I understand is put new jets in, put the air mix screw to 2.5 turns out from lightly seated, button everything back up and start bike. Make sure there are no intake or exhaust leaks. Then drop the idle all the way down until it barely stays running. Then start turning the air mix screw in slowly 1/4 turn at a time until the engine is stumbling and barely running. Note how many turns IN from 2.5 turns out it is at this point. Turn engine off and back out air mix screw again to 2.5 turns out from lightly seated. Start bike and slowly back out air mix screw 1/4 turn at a time until engine again is stumbling and barely running. Note how many turns OUT from 2.5 turns out it is at this point. Now take the average of these two measurements and this is where the sweet spot is for the air mix screw. If it is around 3 or more turns out from lightly seated the pilot jet needs to be replaced with a one size bigger one. Is this the correct procedure? TIA

-Matt

 

My stock jet was 40. I went up to 42 with the air cleaner and re-jet. And 175 on the high jet.

 

This site has lots of good info on it.

Harley Davidson Carburetor
Performance Tuning

 

The site free bird is great and walked me through mine.

Here si a link to the post I made when asking and it also has my expeiences whihc I'll post below also: https://www.hdforums.com/forum/sport...jetting-2.html


MH


HI everyone,

I just wanted to say thanks for the inputs and advice. I figured I would reply in this post to keep things together and save yet another post on the topic lol.

I got my carb rejetted and the hurricane flow installed today. The hardest part was having a screwdriver to fit the slow jet since it was recessed and the one that I had that fit had a broken tip. Go figure huh? Gave me an excuse to go into sears and get it replaced after all these years. Its a 1/8 flat blade with no widening of the blade when going to the shank.

Couple things I learned and saw that I wanted to pass on to others. Shut the fuel off at the selector valve then start the bike till it runs out of fuel. I had no mess this way and it didnt get warm enough to be a problem. You DO NOT need to remove the carb completely. I didn't touch the throttle cables, choke cable, or fuel line. Once the aircleaner is off simply pull the carb out of the boot and angle it up carefully. Drill out the plug for the mixture screw then remove the bowl.

My carb had a 180 jet installed and a 42. I went with the recommendations from earlier in this post and left the 180 installed and put a 46 jet in.

I adjusted the mixture screw exactly two turns, put it all back together and fired her up. Once the bike was nicely warmed up I checked it and took it for a ride. It was perfect. There was no further popping that I had from when I had just installed the cycleshack slip ons. The bike had great acceleration and sounded very nice.

At first I didnt think that I had any breather tubes going to the air cleaner. I was expecting to see hoses attached to the backplate. Thats when I noticed that the mount bolts for the aircleaner backplate where hollow. I had the breather kit I got from NRHS when I got the hurricane flow. One problem with the kit is that it only comes with 4 hose clamps and you need 7. Also you still need about two more feet of tubing to make a clean looking installation. The only difficulty that I had was deciding where to run the breather tube and filter. Currently I have it running up under and alongside the gas tank and then down the forward frame by the horn. The kit reccomended going under the air filter but I am not sure why. There really isn't any way to route the turbing cleanly that way.

Overall it was a very VERY easy process and makes me very glad that I didn't take it to a shop and have them charge me $200 to do it. The hurricane flow is a GREAT setup. VERY high quality and great customer service. I cannot be more pleased.

Thanks again everyone.

MH

 

Finished up the install today. Found out I have a SE intake that I didn't know about. Didn't think it was the stock air box but it wasn't advertised in the for sale ad! Anyways, stock jets were 42 slow and 170 main. I went with a 44 and 175. I still have some carb farts with the mix screw about 2.5 turns out so I may stick a 45 slow jet in at some point in the near future. The re-jet was super easy. I just pulled the carb out of the intake boot and didn't remove any cables. Just turned it up and pulled the bottom off and messed with the jets and mix screw! Pipes were an easy switch. Pull off stock, change exhaust head gaskets and put new ones on. Both very easy mods for the do it yourselfer to do on a weekend in a garage with minimal tools.

The Vance & Hines Shortshots sound AWESOME! I kept the stock baffles in and they aren't too loud but have the deep pitch I was looking for. Sound great at idle and under load.

These pipes and re-jet definitely unleashed some power in the bike. It's still an 883 but it is much happier than before!

I did put the 6" extended forward controls from Ebay (MarCustom) and they are just what I was looking for. I am now in a very comfortable and stretched out riding position (I'm 6'4" with a 34" inseam by the way!)

Pics to come as soon as I can figure out my camera!!

-Matt