MY ZX50 O.E.M CARB TUNING

[thebatman]

well, i am here again..     anyway, i took an oem reed cage and "ported" it to see what happens.supposedly will work.   i had finally gotten a tan ring last go round, put this "ported" cage back on and did a plug chop today....i wonder if having to tap/ride brakes a bit during chop will void the chop??     if not...then dam..no tan ring just now..all white/virtually unchanged.... so i guess i am lean huh...YET AGAIN....NEVER ENDS.

[sidthesloth]

Good stuff batman, that sounds like you are getting more flow and need more fuel to suit. More power. A pain in the arse, but think of the results.

[thebatman]

hey sid, thanks...i was supposed to also "port" my oem intake also and try the shim trick in the needle today buuut..                                                 question, im out of plugs.   tried once to rejet, still nothing on plug. only had 2 plugs..i know, but those 2 rthat are lean, can i put them in the spark plug cleaner(harbor freight ). and reuse them since vitually unchanged???....i rejetted just now again, want to test it but parts store closed..im gonna try anyway, but will it work?...

[sidthesloth]

If there is no colour on the plug, use it for your next chop, if it comes out darker you will see it, if not you need bigger jet. I wouldn't try too much with raising the needle on the stock carb, it sounds like you are getting good improvement with what you are doing now.

[thebatman]

boy, its been quiet tonight.   i used a reused plug for a chop: there was a tannISH color but dam near all over porcelin...      also, im sure we discussed this but with a shim, will i need to check jetting also??     or will it be good since thats for the off idle setting type deal???   checked temp on phone at one point, 80' w/45% humidity, man she was running pretty dam good.... also did notice that instead of 20 mph to kick in, it went to 15.. why/how, idk tho.. maybe the 5.7s are headed on the right track(think i keep em in tho, want some 5s to try, dam some 6s  maybe thats where im messing up, havent went LIGHT ENOUGH., been running 6.5s, now i got 5.7s..hmmm....         hey sid....thanks for the reply....what do you think about this plug??? brownish/tannish..

[art]

  The needle is more of a fine tune at this point and it sounds like a step in the right direction. This should help your take off whenn you hit the right weights. You could also try one more shim if it aint sputtering! just to know your limmit    I would do the same with your main push it till it sputters than drop back a hair that should help your top also. (not the mpg's so much though  )

[thebatman]

how does a brownish/tannish REUSED plug sound??     not really a mix ring persey, alot of porcelin was colored

[art]

  More gas more power! 

[thebatman]

hey art, whats up?......ok, you may need to stop me before i get ahead of myself here.......anyway, this a.m i cut 2 shims for the needle, installed one of them..moved it up a tad(your right, with the non perfect surface hard to tell)..i installed that and did another chop with a reused plug..the shim, i dont think made any difference at all..take off, idle, anything, idk....the porcelin wasnt AS colored as last nights plug..would the shim lean it out some...imma go get a couple new plugs tho...since the reused plug wasnt as brownish as last night, go up more?..man, i about have it shaved to a .965....  what about the non change with the shim also??

[thebatman]

WHOA......NEW SYMTOM!!!!!... art we may be on same page here..didnt know which thread to put this in, but NEVER had this till i started tunning carb again. ive had it "shut off" sortof downhill when wot like we spoke of.. but this time, i went to parts store,got a few plugs, coming back, running fine, BAM, "DIES", came back to idle, just fine, took off bck up hill, got to top,let off throttle,BAM, "DIES" AGAIN..2 in a matter of 1500-2000ft. ran fine coming the rest of the way.. maybe i should take out that shim??? never happened that hardcore UPHILL at that. i thought fouled a plug,then idled,ran fine??? is the shim messing me up???  same problem you just had aye art???    too lean still at wot uphill???  plz read carefull..i may have jumped in with both feet just changed plug for hell of it, about 5-6 miles shows a idk cond.? porcelin SLIGHTLY colored brownish, curved electrode a tad creamy on edge.  a hair more??? w/o shim?? that flipped me out, seen a long ass push quickly

[art]

 Hmm I don't think the shim would affect you that much you are running it under the needle to lift it? It should be ritcher off idle. I'm thinking you need to go ritcher on the main. The shut down i was thinking because of a lean condition on the main,but when i pushed it the results wern't good   But with porting i would still think you need to go ritcher. Have you run it ritch enouph to uderstand what sputter is, kinda like trying to run with the choke on. For best result you want to be just under that condition.
  There is the possibility now that you have some seafoam your gas filter or tank is clogged a bit from more crap breaking loose, so no fuel to carb  

[thebatman]

hey art, i took jet out AGAIN, and run the cleaner thru it..gonna do a plug test in few, if that dont work, imma go ahead and take it to the .965, dam near there now... i dont think the shim made a difference, but idk.. should i put the other in? well, maybe just one issue at a time... hope youll be around some.   i only have 3 plugs.......     i had gotten the sputter before when i was jetting.hoping to avoid going to big..      oh.....yeah, i slid needle thru shim and dropped into sleeve.so the shim is between the sleeve and needle.  guess thats right...

[art]

 If you have the torch tip cleaners you don'd have to go to the next jump up,just use them like a file take a little at a time,but it does help to know what too much is.
  Check your filter and petcock again also you got crud in there

[art]

 Another thought if you raise the needle too much it will sputter there also so once again try 2 if you aint sputtering you should be fine, if you are then you know the limmit 

[thebatman]

teah, thats exactly how i been doing it, for the last 4 times   idk if you remember but the .965 was to big then..i have the ported reed cage now, exhaust cleaned out from carbon,lighter weights, i am almost to the .965. trying to get a chop done but i keep having interferances.                   well, she definately didnt sputter over the shim yet anyway..   i may want to just hang off on the 2nd shim a min. and try to jet 1st..   to much may overload my big ass.