I have a 2003 883 Sportster XLH. When I first fire the bike up it has a blue/white smoke from the rear pipe only. It has 23k on it so I just bought the 1200 kit for it. I am not sure if the kit has anything for the heads with it or not. I think I should have the valve seals done while it is apart, but is there anything else I should check or have checked with the heads off?

Also. I will need to re-jet the carb. I have a stage 1 A/C on it and Bassani sweeper pipes with small baffles. Should I use the stock size on a converted 883 to 1200 or go up a size from a stock 1200. What size jets are people running with these conversions?

Thanks for the help.

 

Go up one on each of the stock 1200 jet sizes (which I can't remember the stock size). Since you have the heads off it wouldn't hurt to get the valves reseated and new valve seals put in it.

 

I was told that smoke when fired up is a sign of valve seals. Smoke that stays with engine warm is rings. Is this true?

 

That's true for either of them.

 

A bad valve seal will typically cause tail pipe smoke on RPM decel.
With the bike running on the jiffy stand, give the throttle a good quick twist and then slam the throttle shut. Watch the exhaust as you do this. If you see a noticeable increase in smoke as the throttle is closed and the RPM's are winding down, odds are it's a valve seal/guide problem.

 

I will have to check that out. Thanks.

 

Checked it a few times. It seems to only be when I start it and at idle. I think the 1200 kit will fix it, I hope?

 

Scald did you ever figure out what was causing this? I just got a 98 883 and i am having the same problem with the front only. Any help or advice would be much appreciated. I thought if it was seals or rings it would be black smoke but i can't think of any other reason it would only be coming from one and not both.

 

Black smoke is usually to much fuel.
Blue is oil burning.
White is water. We don't need to worry abou that one.

Mine seemed to be valve seals. I just pulled it apart and had everything checked. When mine warmed up the smoke seemed to stop or be less. One thing I am glad I did was the 1200 kit. My only regret was that it wasn't the 1250 kit or one of the bigger kits they now have.

 

Pretty sure mine is white and there is no oil splatter from the exhaust. i'll continue to keep an eye on the oil level anyways but i dont think thats it.

I was thinking water in the gas as it seemed to have gotten much better since the first tank of gas it had in it but hasn't quit completely and wouldn't that affect both cylinders and not just one. It reminds me of seafoam smoke that i've seen from watching videos but no where near as thick.

I replaced plugs yesterday and its been smoking more but the old ones were bad, the front really bad and lots of carbon build up. I couldn't tell if it does it while moving as it is really only visible when stopped. even after cutting the engine off it smokes a trickle for about 20 seconds.

Thanks for the help i will have to do some more research and if cleaning the carb and draining the gas out doesnt fix it hopefully ill figure it out when i do the 1200-1250 conversion.