Topic: wohu, another topic about carbs, pods and exhaust

[haddock]

Hi all!

I'm pretty new in the whole motorcycle business, but every day I learn a little more.
I've bought a old Honda CB550k3 from 77' some months ago, and my goal is a nice cafe racer.

Some days ago put some Uni pod filters on the bike, and exhaust from Carpy - now it's a lot harder to try starting the bike, and i'm pretty sure this is caused by the wrong jetting?

Can someone please help me out here?

My carbs look like this:


Kind regards Jannick from Denmark

[Don R]

use the search on the left, type 550 pods and find a few dozen threads.

[dave500]

use the search on the left, type 550 carpy exhaust and find a few dozen threads.

[Franky]

Dave and Don beat me to it, but I'll tell Jannick the same story anyway - this time in haddock's and my own first language; danish :-)

Brug søgefunktionen! Der er MASSER af info. Bottom line er, at det er noget bøvl, man må prøve sig frem, og at resultatet aldrig bliver lige så godt som med den originale luftfilterbox.   
Kør ikke med den oprindelige jetting - den kommer til at køre alt for magert, hvilket får motoren til at blive alt for varm. Her er et setup klippet ud af en tråd, postet af en fyr der har brugt lang tid på at komme dertil:


77 CB 550 K
26,468 miles
MAC 4-1
Emgo pods oiled with Uni filter oil [see below]
PD46C "lean burn" carbs
105 Keihin mains
stock E2349F needles in 2nd position from top (2nd leanest -- stock position!)
42 pilot jets (stock)
Idle Mixture Screws 2.5 turns out
float height ~14mm
67A Throttle valves (stock) [EDIT: added 8/16/07]
NGK D7EA spark plugs w/about 4,000 miles - stock gap.
Dyna S Ignition
Dyna 5 Ohm coils and wires (with non-resistor caps)
Timed statically to stock advance per Dyna S instructions
87 octane gasoline (with up to 10% ethanol warning on pump)
My elevation is about 200 ft. above sea level.

[haddock]

Jeg tager den lige på engelsk Franky - men fedt at se en fra DK herinde.

I've tried to search, obviously not good enough though. Will do it again!

If I could avoid a lot of problems by putting the old airfilter box back in, I would love that. But would I have to do a jetting anyways if I just replace my exhaust, and nothing more?

Since i'm no a shark in this stuff, it would be nice if I just could get up on the bike and drive. 

[dave500]

just replacing the exhaust, so long as its baffled somewhat and is an actual muffler not just a pipe you can use with the stock jetting and complete factory airbox,its once you use pods youll be doing a lot of trying to see what works.

[haddock]

just replacing the exhaust, so long as its baffled somewhat and is an actual muffler not just a pipe you can use with the stock jetting and complete factory airbox,its once you use pods youll be doing a lot of trying to see what works.

The Carpy exhaust is just a clean pipe, no baffle, lots of noise. - so i'll guess I have to ret jet.

[dave500]

get a muffler on it,itll run better.

[Franky]

Haddock, you'll find that this forum is somewhat divided in two: The guys who like to keep things stock, 'as it just works'. The other group is the cafe/builder crowd, who likes to enhance their bikes cosmetically and performance wise. You'll find great advice from both sides.

It can sometimes be hard to find what one is looking for via the search function, but I think in your particular case, people were quick to point you to the search function, as your question is a CLASSIC, right up there with asking 'which is the best engine oil for xxx'.

In any case, you'll find that the guys on this forum are incredibly helpful - even, and maybe especially, towards newbies like you (and i). Welcome :-)

[TwoTired]

But would I have to do a jetting anyways if I just replace my exhaust, and nothing more?

The Stock 77 550K exhaust is high pressure (smaller outlet diameters) and the carbs are tailored/tuned with this pressure expected.  So, for models with PD style carbs changes in exhaust OR induction require jetting changes.  Your engine will run lean and hot, otherwise.  Expect to find a new/ richer IMS setting as well as larger mains and raising the slide needle.
  If the pilot jet is smaller than 42, you might need the larger one of those, as well.

[dave500]

I don't care about stock/factory so much but short straight open pipes suck dogs balls.