Author Topic: Tuning some CR26 on a 550  (Read 197 times)

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Offline MisterKnife

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Tuning some CR26 on a 550
« on: March 25, 2026, 09:06:10 AM »
Ok so I got a very tuned engine (mike stage 3 head) + 592/10.5 pistons. Little bit of a restrictive pipe 4-1 ( Custom design baffle, worked great pre overhaul ).

Current settings are:
Pilot: 60 - 2 rotations out
Needle YY8 2nd from top clip
Main: 105
Air: 220

idle is around 13'ish A/F. But when I go around 1/4 throttle I'm going towards 12-11 so super rich. This is while stationary. no load.

Just pulled the carbs and checking float height which is set to 14mm as per manual.

Now I'm thinking of just setting that to 15mm to make it overall lean out ( then also adjust airscrew to compensate for this )

I just find it weird that I'm running basically the same spec engine as: http://forums.sohc4.net/index.php?topic=89415.0 but my A/F is just so far off.

Anybody have some insight into this?

thanks in advance

this is my http://forums.sohc4.net/index.php/topic,195739.25.html thread. just posting this in a new thread for exposure
I also made https://keihin.kle.ist/ with AI to help me with tuning which works really nice just that I cannot find any other leaner needles:
« Last Edit: March 25, 2026, 09:09:56 AM by MisterKnife »

Offline HondaMan

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Re: Tuning some CR26 on a 550
« Reply #1 on: March 25, 2026, 09:22:14 AM »
That 60 pilot is about 150% of what I would have tried? Below engine speeds where the cam is active, a more stock-like tuning would help to keep it from drowning. Do you have a #40 pilot jet around?
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Link to website: https://sohc4shop.com/  (Note: no longer at www.SOHC4shop.com, moved off WWW. in 2024).

Offline MisterKnife

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Re: Tuning some CR26 on a 550
« Reply #2 on: March 25, 2026, 09:41:02 AM »
I can order 40s

But isnt that too lean as I'm already at 13A/F ish as idle?

Offline MisterKnife

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Re: Tuning some CR26 on a 550
« Reply #3 on: March 25, 2026, 12:09:59 PM »
Ordered Pilots, 3.0 Cutaways and YY0 Needles.

Offline scottly

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Re: Tuning some CR26 on a 550
« Reply #4 on: March 25, 2026, 01:07:21 PM »
That 60 pilot is about 150% of what I would have tried? Below engine speeds where the cam is active, a more stock-like tuning would help to keep it from drowning. Do you have a #40 pilot jet around?
A 60 jet has more than twice the area (and flow) of a 40 jet.
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Offline scottly

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Re: Tuning some CR26 on a 550
« Reply #5 on: March 25, 2026, 01:14:05 PM »
Fun Jimmy's final setup after dyno tuning:
Pilot 65, 1 turn out
main 105
needle YY8, clip#2
air 220/230
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Offline MisterKnife

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Re: Tuning some CR26 on a 550
« Reply #6 on: March 25, 2026, 03:03:07 PM »
Yeah I tried that setup. Wayyy to rich.

Offline HondaMan

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Re: Tuning some CR26 on a 550
« Reply #7 on: March 28, 2026, 10:07:39 AM »
With large ports and a long-duration cam, the bottom end RPM will tend to be very rich. This is why these types of engines must be 'revved out' on starting lines with engines running and that sort of thing: it's also the dragracer's nightmare. Below the cam's active RPM the carb will suffer poor mixing from teh back-and-forth airflow through it as the intake spits back toward the carb until the engine is running fast enough for the inertia of the incoming fuel-air mix to overcome the back-toward-the-carb air impulses caused by the early-opening cam.

That said, if I were going to build and run such a beast...

The 500/550 top end suffers this low-RPM richness already in stock trim, begging for a shorter intake tract before it could work well below 2000 RPM. That just isn't practical as the engine heat, transmitted to the carbs via the metal intake manifolds, will then boil the carbs' fuel, which is why these are high-RPM engine designs - to stay cooler when moving. This is also an issue with the 750 when ridden in heavy, slow traffic on hot summer days: my own 750 has many times boiled the fuel in the carbs on 100+-degree days in those conditions. And IT has rubber boots between the head and carbs!

Those carbs are also considerably larger than the intake valve's open area, so the low-RPM range will be "soft" in its mixture, tending toward richness, because the intake tract spitback from the overlap of the cam will slow down the airflow enroute to the engine. This will make the carb mix as if the engine were running slower than it actually is until such RPM as the cam 'comes on' and starts making the intake flow linear-ish again: this will be in the 1/3-of-throttle region with the pieces you have assembled now.

If I were to roadrace this arrangement: to get it to start, you'll need dextrous manipulation of the choke (playing with it) over a leaner idle mixture until the engine warms up a bit, enough to run on the lean idle mixture. Then you'll need to (multiple times) fiddle with the needle position in the carb until it will transition from the idle circuit to the slide-controlled region, as the engine will tend to feel 'flat' right there in the RPM range. Being a smallbore engine makes this even more of an issue, so the intake tract to the carbs MUST be considered to be a part of this solution - and, open intakes or "pod" air filters are the worst choice possible, as there needs to be a pressure difference between the float bowl (at atmospheric pressure) and the flow in the body of the carb (lower pressure than the bowl) or else the fuel will not aerate. Then it won't burn well either, making for blackened sparkplugs and no throttle response. Sort answer: put the stock airbox back on for starters, then consider the way it is fed air, and the type of filter used inside: brand-new paper filters work pretty well, while gauze, very lightly oiled, works wonders above 7000 RPM and seldom needs servicing.

I'll get off my toolbox now...
;)
See SOHC4shop.com for info about the gadgets I make for these bikes.

The demons are repulsed when a man does good. Use that.
Blood is thicker than water, but motor oil is thicker yet...so, don't mess with my SOHC4, or I might have to hurt you.
Hondaman's creed: "Bikers are family. Treat them accordingly."

Link to Hondaman Ignition: http://forums.sohc4.net/index.php?topic=67543.0

Link to My CB750 Book: https://www.lulu.com/search?adult_audience_rating=00&page=1&pageSize=10&q=my+cb750+book
Link to My CB500/CB550 Book: https://www.lulu.com/search?sortBy=RELEVANCE&page=1&q=my+cb550+book&pageSize=10&adult_audience_rating=00
Link to website: https://sohc4shop.com/  (Note: no longer at www.SOHC4shop.com, moved off WWW. in 2024).