89 1100 - she's apart - got questions

[Swampy]

Battery cooked again and leaked some acid. Took bike plastic off, battery box out for a cleaning and painting, checked all the spark plug wires and connections...everything looks good. No oil leaks...solid.

Questions:

1) Air box seems restrictive - should I go K&N individual filters?
2) Plugs I pulled were very black - running rich. What should I do?
3) Should I pull the carbs and have someone rebuild them? Or can I clean them out myself without removing them?

Suggestions appreciated.

[Steveb]

Battery cooked again and leaked some acid. Took bike plastic off, battery box out for a cleaning and painting, checked all the spark plug wires and connections...everything looks good. No oil leaks...solid.

Questions:

1) Air box seems restrictive - should I go K&N individual filters?
2) Plugs I pulled were very black - running rich. What should I do?
3) Should I pull the carbs and have someone rebuild them? Or can I clean them out myself without removing them?

Suggestions appreciated.

It made 136HP with that airbox. What looks restrictive, exactly?

[Mojoe]

Battery cooked again and leaked some acid. Took bike plastic off, battery box out for a cleaning and painting, checked all the spark plug wires and connections...everything looks good. No oil leaks...solid.

Questions:

1) Air box seems restrictive - should I go K&N individual filters?
2) Plugs I pulled were very black - running rich. What should I do?
3) Should I pull the carbs and have someone rebuild them? Or can I clean them out myself without removing them?

Suggestions appreciated.

1- a k&n to replace the stock filter is a good choice, but do not go with pods and individual filters. too much trouble.

2&3- can't do much to the carbs with them still in the bike. they need to come out to give them a proper cleaning. if you can't do this yourself, take them to someone who can.

[Swampy]

cool - thanks.

I'll order the K&N when I get the oil filter and am going back to synthetic...the dufus who did my clutch put in regular oil - doesnt feel the same and I have ALWAYS run synthetic....hoping it cures the clutch probs Ive been having (trouble getting it into neutral).

I'll see how it runs then and if it still isnt right I'll pull the carbs and bring them to someone.

Anyone know good mechanic in the Boca Raton/Ft Lauderdale area?

[Clipity]

The carbs aren't that hard to do on your own. Just have a clean place to work and do one at a time. The hardest thing will be finding a screwdriver that fits the Japanese crosspoint screws. When I did mine I cut a piece of wire from a wire brush to clean the crud out of the jets and just took my time.

[Paolo]

1- a k&n to replace the stock filter is a good choice, but do not go with pods and individual filters. too much trouble.

...Why would the Heck Factory Pro would sell a kit for the pods - 4 in 1 combi then?
I just want to know why it is too much trouble Mojoe ..?
I guess I just really want to see those pods fitted and working
( I think I finally found some headers for my kiddy..))))
and am about to place the order at Factory pro
I got to do it right one time and am pretty much alone to do it down here
so....
If any info on jetting (factory Pro) with the pod filters is really welcome

Thanx

PS
Ed Clark I have to go back and find your very informative posts on jetting
you did a while ago
Cheers

[Impulse2k1]

people claim that pod filters make it hard to tune the carbs, and that the bike won't run right. I have the individual K&N pods on my bike and I don't it is poorly tuned, but I also got the bike with the pods already installed.

[Paolo]

I have the individual K&N pods on my bike and I don't it is poorly tuned, but I also got the bike with the pods already installed.

Hi Impulse..
Could you please explain your last sentence
I find it hard to understand
Thanx

[Mojoe]

Hi Impulse..
Could you please explain your last sentence
I find it hard to understand
Thanx

ya......I didn't quite catch it either. but I am guessing you are saying that your bike is badly tuned. if this is the case, it is probably because the PO was not able to tune them.

...Why would the Heck Factory Pro would sell a kit for the pods - 4 in 1 combi then?
I just want to know why it is too much trouble Mojoe ..?
I guess I just really want to see those pods fitted and working
( I think I finally found some headers for my kiddy..))))
and am about to place the order at Factory pro
I got to do it right one time and am pretty much alone to do it down here
so....
If any info on jetting (factory Pro) with the pod filters is really welcome

Thanx

PS
Ed Clark I have to go back and find your very informative posts on jetting
you did a while ago
Cheers

Like Impulse said, tuning the carbs can be a pita......so many claim. I have never installed them myself, so I would be a liar in saying that I am certain of it. But I can give you the theory behind the problem faced with pods. With a stock airbox, the air flow is pretty much uniform. It enters the air box via one opening, and flows through the 4 outlets evenly. Where as with pods, this is not the case. You will make your adjustments while the bike is parked, and dial everything in to where you want it, then once you get it on the road and start picking up speed, the flow of air becomes turbulent. Imaging hitting 100mph and the air flowing past your bike from front to back. The two outer pods can be fighting for air cuz the flows is being disrupted by the air current almost working as a suction as it flows by your pods. The inner pods....again, air turbulence. Also, the air on the 2 outer pods will be much "cooler" as they are more in the "air current" from the moving bike.....where as the 2 inner one will be picking up more of the heated air as they are more tucked away and will pick up the heat from the engine. and what makes them really difficult to adjust is not knowing which carb is out of whack. You might have 1, 3 and 4 dialed in right, but 2 is out of whack....but you can't really tell it is number 2. With the stock box, you can set and adjust each one evenly, in tandem. So if you manage to get them (pods) dialed in so they are running perfect at 50mph, they are out of whack at a 100mph. do you get where I am coming from?


So why would Factory Pro sell them? Maybe cuz they are the preference of racers. They do allow for more air flow than a stock box, for sure, but these guys have experienced mechanics making the adjustments. They also allow for faster removal of the carbs than screwing around removing them from the air box boots. So it is basically convenience. As far as selling them for street bikes.....it's marketing. Many will buy them just for the "coolness" factor.

[Paolo]

Hi Mojoe
Air turbulence and temperature of the air is the cause then... (even with the sidecovers on..?)
It does make some sense what you are saying ...thanx for the support
... Seeing so many older bikes like z 900 , older katanas ,gs 1000's etc. fitted with pods ...I kind of hear of the existing difficulty in jetting with pods for the first time ...with my ownership of the big kat.

why would that be ?
Do all bikes fitted with pods have a hard time being tuned??


By the way Mojoe would you have 2 (one long and one short) rubber venturi
inlets to the carbs ..for sale second hand and in good shape??
..mines are cut up and i feel it's affecting the performance ot midrange..


I guess I am not into coolness factor alone without proper performance
(and since there's no proper racing mechanic around here)
I guess I'll have to stick with the airbox ..((
Thanx again

[Mojoe]

Well Paolo....like I said, it is just a theory of mine. I am just going by what I have heard through the grapevine. As I said, I have never run them myself. It all could be a myth. I just think the benefit (risk) of buying new pods was really not worth it on a stock engine....and feel a k&n filter in the stock airbox will work fine enough.

as for the boots....which ones are you talking about? the ones from the airbox to the carbs, or from the carbs to the engine? if any of those are drawing in air, they will effect your carb settings.

[DClark]

For the record, Factory doesn't sell a pod kit for the Kat, Dynojet does and yes, they suck! However, when I talked to a tech at Factory, he said there was no reason why the Kat couldn't run seperates.
The air box keeps a steady, uniform pressure which is important for the slides. In effect, the carbs sort of self adjust for altitude and temp. As pressure changes, the positions of the slides changes allowing more or less fuel. Take away the box and you lose that. That is why you can have the carbs zeroed in and take a drive in the winter and bike will run like crap. If you want to get a little more flow, drill out those holes in front of the inlet. On the bracket that holds the thingy that bolts to the gas tank, are like five holes- make them bigger. They are there to allow air flow.
As for some kats coming with 36mm, I have never heard of that. The kat 1100 has 34mm carbs for good reason. This bike is pretty darn heavy and Suzuki made an effort to make it feel like a smaller bike. They put a 16" tire on the front for quicker steering, a huge rear sprocket on the rear for quicker acceleration and of course, 34mm carbs for even more low end/mid response.
These really are good carbs! The folks over on the 7/11 site like these carbs because they give great driveability and are easy to tune.

[Mojoe]

As for some kats coming with 36mm, I have never heard of that. The kat 1100 has 34mm carbs for good reason. This bike is pretty darn heavy and Suzuki made an effort to make it feel like a smaller bike. They put a 16" tire on the front for quicker steering, a huge rear sprocket on the rear for quicker acceleration and of course, 34mm carbs for even more low end/mid response.
These really are good carbs! The folks over on the 7/11 site like these carbs because they give great driveability and are easy to tune.

there were 3 models of GSX1100's that came with BST36 carbs.

84-86 GSX1100

91-94 GSX1100G ....the shaft driven model. it had the same 1127 engine, was HEAVIER than the kat, and only put out 98hp....but it ran the 36mm's nicely.

Those same BST36 we found on SOME of the 91-94 kats in Canada (up to 93), and in Europe.

I know it to be fact cuz when I had my 92 being worked on at the dealership, the mechanic stated I was lucky to have the 36mm carbs. That was the point that I learned some had 34's....some had 36's. My 93 had 34's.

[DClark]

there were 3 models of GSX1100's that came with BST36 carbs.

84-86 GSX1100

91-94 GSX1100G ....the shaft driven model. it had the same 1127 engine, was HEAVIER than the kat, and only put out 98hp....but it ran the 36mm's nicely.

Those same BST36 we found on SOME of the 91-94 kats in Canada (up to 93), and in Europe.

I know it to be fact cuz when I had my 92 being worked on at the dealership, the mechanic stated I was lucky to have the 36mm carbs. That was the point that I learned some had 34's....some had 36's. My 93 had 34's.

I think he was wrong- if they had different carbs, it would show up somewhere. I have a shop manual for the U.S. which shows only 34mm, if you have a canadian shop manual, it'll probably show just one size for all the jets and parts in the carbs. A 36mm carb would necessitate different sized jets. Also, there is more to a carb than just size of its throat and the carbs on the kat are a bit different from those other bikes you listed. Specifically, there was no GSX1100 bike, it is the GSX1100R. Interesting, the spec sheets I have seen from different reports give it a lower top speed than the kat (but that could be due to a lot of reasons). The GSX1100G had 36mm carbs, but all I know about those is that owners had problems with them, some plastic piece in them had a way of rotting away.And, of course, all the bandit bikes came with 36mm carbs. With carb size, all else being equal, as you move up in size, you move the power band higher up in the rpm range. How far do you want it to go? Do you feel that the bike lacks power around 10k rpms? Bikes that benefit from bigger carbs also have more radical cams (more lift) and bigger valves. Some of the GSX750r bikes came with 40mm carbs, but they also had bigger valves. I think someone here said that those heads will fit on the gsx1100f block.

[Paolo]

as for the boots....which ones are you talking about? the ones from the airbox to the carbs, or from the carbs to the engine? if any of those are drawing in air, they will effect your carb settings.

it would be the ones from the box to the carbs ...the soft ones
...I would only need them if I keep the airbox (Which am not totally sure yet)....am I a little confused??


D clark writes.. For the record, Factory doesn't sell a pod kit for the Kat


Requires removal of stock airbox and running BMC 2922 or K&N or equivalent individual air filters. Otherwise, it is a drop-in kit. Low-end response is as good as, if not better than the 1.0 kit with the stock airbox.
.......
. just cut and paste this from factory pro

individual air filters means pods?
....