I'm rebuilding/cleaning the carbs from a 1978 Cb550K. The bike came with pod air filters when I bought it, so I (presumably) need to enrichen the mixture a bit. I've set the pilot air screw out 1 turn (as opposed to the recommended 1.5), and I'm cleaning the jets as we speak. My question is in regards to the needle clip position. It seems that moving the clip a position or two richer would be just what this bike needs.
Is there a way to change the needle clip position without completely disassembling the carbs? In other words, is there a way to get the throttle slide linkages out without separating the carbs, disengaging the throttle and choke springs, etc? I actually disassembled everything last night and it didnt seem possible, on the other hand, it seems like people often fiddle with this position, and I cant imagine that they completely disassemble everything to do so each time.
A final question: I'm not really interested in getting extra performance from the pod filters - I'd rather have the bike run well. Is there a way to (elegantly) restrict the pods (perhaps some kind of additional filter inside?) so I can run stock jetting? Thanks in advance for your help!
