jet kits

[yamaha fj rider]

Randy you probably know more about jetting than anybody else here but, for the rest of us buying a jet kit is a great short cut. This may not be the best answer but it is better than burning up the bike way to lean. Randy your parts are the work of a craftsman not a bean counter. The thought and effort you put in to things are obvious. We are trying to buy your knowledge and expertise in a box this is best we can do. In time as we learn with your teaching we will learn and can grow beyond the what is in the little box is best mentality. THANK YOU RANDY!!!!!!

Kurt     

[fj11.5]

i agree randy is the guy to buy from for pretty much everything fj, , the owner wants to buy a "kit" thats his choice , seems determained    , , on a+ the needle jets down here are factory adjustable ones, no need for shimming

[McKilla Guerilla]

Fellows,
I have to concur with the gentleman from RPM.
Mike Ramos.

I P.M. 'd Randy a coupla months ago & he gave me advice on my carb set up. Bigger pilots, bigger mains & a trip to Sears hardware for some shims. $37.47 from Randy, $.22 from Sears & a carb sync (free with a loaned tool). Hell, I tried to buy adjustable needles from the guy & he practically told me I was wasting my money.

Thats my $.02 & it still puts me under 40 bucks  

[Arnie]

i agree randy is the guy to buy from for pretty much everything fj, , , on a+ the needle jets down here are factory adjustable ones, no need for shimming

Not quite.  Even the adjustable needles with 5 grooves 1mm (0.040") apart can be fine tuned with the 1/2mm (0.020") shims/washers which come with the carbs.

Arnie

[fj11.5]

very true arnie, they sure could be, how much difference would half a mm make to function/ performance

[Arnie]

Just enough :-)  Its the difference between close and right.

Arnie

very true arnie, they sure could be, how much difference would half a mm make to function/ performance

[simi_ed]

I have a complete Factory Pro kit I'd like to sell ... Say $60 + shipping.

Kit is sold ...

[fj11.5]

Just enough :-)  Its the difference between close and right.

Arnie

then that could be worth a try,, thanks mate
very true arnie, they sure could be, how much difference would half a mm make to function/ performance

close riggs,  close is a lingere shop with no front window 

[movenon]

...factory pro gets his money

Why, please tell me; WHY??


I cannot for the life of me understand why there is the constant need for a "carb kit". I say this because I have tried them all FP, DJ, R/L, HSR being the most "popular" kits. I can tell you they do not do anything different than the O.E. parts adjusted properly. I have drilled slides, epoxied slide holes and made them smaller, needles from other carb's with similar profiles, you name I have probably done it. When people bring or send me race car carb's and a "kit" is installed, they get it back in a bag. They get the O.E. parts reinstalled and 99% of the time they tell me the car runs better and is faster than before I worked on the carb's.

Hmmm, it runs better & faster than before I work on them...how can that be, they don't have a "kit" anymore...

Sure, everyone one of those kits will make your bike run better than stock, because it puts the A/F mixture ratio into the engines sweet spot. Yes, some of them have different needles to change the fuel curve slightly, but unless you are out racing you do not need that change in the fuel delivery curve.

So, eight jets at a cost of less than $30.00, some washers to shim the needles and you have built your own carb kit. You did not have to drill/modify or ruin any parts. You can tune with stock size Mikuni jets just as well as anyone of the "kits" jets, they all perform the same function of metering fuel & air delivery.

Sure, many people on this forum have had a positive result using the "XYZ kit", but they would have obtained the same results with the "ABC kit" as well because they all do the same thing, adjust the A/F ratio to better suit the engine. But they could have done the same thing buying the jets individually and saving money along the way.

Come on guys, it is all advertising...

Randy - RPM

I strongly agree. When I bought my FJ it "smoked on start up" and had what I might call a slight low rpm miss. Not knowing what the P.O. had done in the way of maintenance and feeling that factory spec's are usually the best I adjusted the valves clearances to spec's. balanced the carb's etc. It still smoked (gray smoke) and ran slightly rough. I could swear that it needed valve guide seals. Then I purchased a complete rebuild kit for the carb's and put things back into factory spec's (I believe my carb's had a DJ needle and diaphragm springs installed) as for drilled holes I didn't pay to much attention to size or extra holes. I retained the diaphragm springs because I did not have a stock set on hand. Put everything back as per "RPM's" rebuild parts, installed, synced the carb's and guess what..... No smoke on start up, runs great, and I believe it is running cooler.
I would suggest that if an FJ is "smoking at start" up and running a bit rough to completely refurbish the carb's before you pull the head and get into that area. Just my experience. In the rebuild process replace the o rings between the intake manifolds and engine they are cheap and easy to do. My carb's didn't look to dirty but I replaced all the jets, emulsion tubes, needles etc. along with the cleaning (4 large can's of B 12 and air). After you are done be sure to make sure the diaphragm's are working like they should. It might surprise you that one or more isn't working properly. Even with no holes in them. It is hard to get a good seal I think due to the age of old diaphragm's and I found that the caps get slightly bent/warped at the corners. You can Place them on a sheet of 400 wet or dry and lap them on a flat surface to check them out (while you are at it lap the top carb surface also).
Sorry for the long post..... Stock configuration works for most.  

[yamaha fj rider]

My FJ stock was so lean that there was concern it could damage the engine. Stock needles were non adjustable. Installing a factory jet kit helped so much, probably saved my engine. Everybody talks about there jetting problems and how they fixed them with Randy's help but what would you with out Randy's help? I am very glad we have his expertise he is a great asset!!!! but they are a better answer than no answer. Randy knows more about jetting these engines than anybody his parts are clearly the best but don't slam the jet kits still better than stock in my experience. 

Kurt

[andyb]

Stock needles ARE adjustable, by putting shimming washers under the clip.  They lack multiple clip positions, but that doesn't mean adjustments cannot be made.  So having an OEM set of parts isn't your biggest problem there.

[yamaha fj rider]

andyb true, but when I installed the jet kit this information was unavailable. Washer to shim the needles were unheard of. I know from the dyno and exhaust analyzer it helped hp and ride ability. I can't imagine what the bike would have been like at sea level since I am at 4000+ feet.

Kurt

[SlowOldGuy]

If you bother to search back through the FILES section and other literature, you'll find that we've been discussing carb settings (including shimming the stock needles) for more than 10 years.  

The carb cleaning instructions were written at least 10 years ago and we discussed detailed carb theory back on the Yahoo Group.  Much (if not all) of that material was brought forward to this site.  There's a ton of info about carbs that you've evidently not seen.

Such information may not have been available to you, but it has been on here forever.

And if you're at 4000+ feet, there's no way your stock equipment was lean enough to come close to causing damage (unless something was clogged up).  At 500 ft and 100+ temperatures in the summer, my FJ would have been a melted lump of metal years ago when the instructions in my original DJ kit told me NOT to re-install the stock plastic spacer.  I ran the needles at least 3 "grooves" leaner than stock for several years before figuring out the spacer was supposed to be installed.  Granted, the 144 pilot jets probably helped.  But for years, my plugs came out whiter than the day they were installed.

Yamaha couldn't (wouldn't) take the chance of jetting engines so lean that it would ruin them.  

DavidR.

[movenon]

Might mention that the kit/parts or "bits" for those in other lands,  I got from Randy have adjustable needles. I am at 2850' and for now they are set in the middle groove. The main jets are  112.5. Thanks to "RPM" for supplying the parts and super fast service.

[Arnie]

Randy (rpm) is great, and is very generous with his time and expertise re carb settings amongst many other things.
However, there are several others on this list that have been helping newbies (and oldies as well) with getting their bikes running well.  David Raforth was and remains the "Carb Guru", and its his screw and O-ring set that Randy now sells.  I believe the instructions for dis- and re- (assembly) are the same that David wrote and has been providing for a decade+.
Pat Conlon, AndyB, and several others have also been quick off the mark to assist those with problems.
So, lets not forget that we are a collection of souls with a focus on FJ's sharing our knowledge and experience for the common benefit.  (Yeah, I know that sounds almost like a def of "collective", but I didn't want to set the commie haters off)
:-)