I've been busy upgrading my KLX. I bought an HMF exhaust, new jets for the carb, a Moose air filter, and another airbox lid. The lid was cheap and it came with the snorkel already removed. I thought it was worth $8 not to have the wrestling match with that stock snorkel.

For initial jetting I put in a 125 main, 38 pilot, and I shimmed the stock needle with a .025" brass washer from the hardware store (a standard KLR650 mod). I also drilled the hole in the slide out to 7/64" then put everything back together. No issues with the slide diaphram, it went right back into place. I fitted a Kouba fuel screw and set it at 2.0 turns out. That's just my best guess for jetting, but it's similar to what you guys are all running so I figure it should be in the ballpark. I hope I don't have to take that carb back off too many times. That is not fun.

And now the pics...

The patient ready for surgery:



Old and new exhausts. 3 lbs of dead weight saved!



The new exhaust bolted right on with no issues. I think it looks a lot better too. I fired the bike up for a test ride and verified that it was running too lean, even before doing the airbox mods. It definitely flows more than the stock muffler. Has a nice bark too. I hope it won't be too loud for the forest rangers. I've got the quiet core and spark arrester installed so it should be ok. I think it looks and sounds great!



The business end:



I did some other work too while I was in. I removed the air injection plumbing and plugged off the fittings, removed the cute but worthless stock skidpate and fitted a nice beefy Utah plate, and I checked the valve clearances. 8300 miles on the bike and it was overdue (PO blew it off, knowing he was going to sell). All clearances were in spec and the plug looked good too, so I just put everything back together. The clearances were all near the lower end of the range, so they'll probably need adjusting next time. But for now they're good.

Big beefy skid plate:



It bolted right up too. I had one of these on my KLR650 but it didn't fit as good. I was very pleased that this one went right on.

I just need to finish putting things back together and I'll be ready for a test ride. Can't wait! I should be able to get it all ready to go tomorrow morning. The only hard jobs remaining are getting the airbox boot back on and getting the throttle cables hooked up. I'm a little too tired to deal with those jobs tonight. Time for a glass of wine and a nice hot bath (the poor girl's hot tub)!

Debby

 

Hi Debbie,

Thanks for taking time to post your upgrades and provide great pictures. Looks good! What type of tires do you have on there? How are they on the street? Dirt?

Mark

 

Despite all the "folklore" surrounding jetting and aftermarket exhausts ...

We ride at a min. altitude of 4,500ft and it only goes up from here typically. I think you're going to find that a 122 main, stock 35 pilot is going to be close to ideal for this area even with an aftermarket exhaust AND a free flowing air filter like a K&N. That has been my conclusion on my '09. A 122 will be too rich for sig. higher elevations, but leaves a little cushion if you should ride at lower elevations. It's always a compromise.

I spoke with the dyno tech at the Kawi shop in Loveland (BTW ... $50 for three runs and that includes exhaust gas analyzer data = no brainer IMO when it comes to jetting) and he's constantly having to explain to people why they need to LEAN their jetting (sometimes leaner than stock) even with the addition of an aftermarket exhaust and filter etc. after runs on the dyno!

Altitude and temp. are MAJOR influences on jetting, sig. more than mufflers and air filters. But some people just can't get past the "must go up x main jet sizes and y jet size on the pilot with a pipe, period" mentality.

Also ... you don't have to remove the carb to get to the main jet! You do need to remove both throttle cables at the carb, then that plate attached to carb where you attach the cables. You can then rotate the carb enough (just barely!) to remove the float bowl and get to the main jet. Oh yeah, gas, vent and drain lines to carb must be disconnected prior to rotation.

Unless you ride 75%+ of time wide open throttle, having an adjustable needle (like the KLX300 one) is well worth the small cost as the needle governs from 1/4 to 3/4 throttle openings. If you go sig. up in altitude rather than fooling around with the main jet you can drop the needle and vice versa ... MUCH easier than fooling with main jets. The Kouba air screw, 7/64 drilling are good functional mods.


ps ... sound testing tomorrow at Left Hand Canyon trail head. Free, no pass no problem no hassle etc. Starts at 9am till ??? I volunteered to assist, recently met the guy who's bringing the test equipment. He's an avid dual sport rider, involved in various affairs dealing with our sport. I'm curious to see what the db level is on my KLX300 exhaust system with and without my custom farkled end-cap.

 

What skid plate is that?

 

utah/ricochet, diffrent names but it the same brand. nice choices in brands, i like your style.

 

Tires are Avon Distanzias. They're rated as a 90/10 or 80/20 street/dirt tire. Previous owner put them on (he just used the bike for commuting). They're fine on the street and should be ok for dirt roads, but I don't think they'll be suited for technical offroading. If I start doing singletrack I suppose I'll need something more dirtworthy.

Debby

 

Well, it's all back together and ready to test ride. Only took me two hours to get the carb back on and figure out how to hook up the throttle cables and where to route all the hoses and wiring bundles. I think I got everything ok, except one of those big breather/overflow hoses from the tank is touching the cylinder head. I hope it doesn't melt. The right sidepanel touches the muffler mounting bracket, so I'll need to cut a notch in the panel so it doesn't melt.

I hope the jetting is reasonably close. I'm really not looking forward to pulling the carb off again. Ugh. I have a four cylinder Suzuki GS1000 and I think it's easier to R&R the carb rack on that bike! (and that's another one that's seriously not fun).

Wish me luck, guys...

Debby

 

First Dirt!



I went out for a test ride and decided to head over to Lefthand Canyon to see if they were still doing sound testing. I was too late, the Forest Strangers were gone, so I went on in and did some dirt riding. First real dirt on this bike.

It's running good! No need to go back into the carb for now, which makes me happy. Idle speed seems a little inconsistent when hot, so I might play with the fuel screw a bit. Otherwise all good. I had intended to fit a KLX300 needle, but I lost the clip. It slipped out of my fingers, hit the floor and disappeared. I could not find it back. So I had to order a new one (actually I ordered two so I'd have a spare) but they had not arrived on Friday when I checked. Parts guy said maybe Tuesday. I wanted to ride this weekend so I shimmed the stock needle with a brass #4 washer from the hardware store. I had some left over from rejetting the KLR650 that I used to own. That actually seems to be pretty good. I might not bother with the new needle for now.

I rode up to an area called "Five Points" where the trail splits five ways. It's a jeep road, whooped out a bit in places, rocky in places, and there was some mud today. Usually it's dry as a bone. The trail gets really knarly beyond Five Points so I turned around there and went back down. The bike handled everything great! I'm impressed. Even the Distanzias worked well, and they're really intended more for street riding. Traction conditions were pretty near perfect today though, with all the rain we've had. This bike is so much better in the dirt than the big pig KLR it's not even funny.

Definitely more top end than it used to have. It was keeping up with traffic easily on the highway and I hit a GPS top speed of 81 mph. That was going down a little hill though.

I checked things over when I got back and all looks good. The midpipe has already changed color to a nice golden tan:

 

Nice post Debby, the bike looks good with some dirt on it. If your riding trails at all, I'd recommend getting some knobbies. I actually ride more street than dirt but I want decent handling off road, so I run *****, and sacrifice tire life. That's a pretty popular tire, you might be able to sell them and get some $$ to offset the cost of new tires.
Can you tell me more where "five points" is I'll have my KLX out there this summer (RMNP area) and I've got some places to explore, but would love to hear more about this spot.
Thanks Dan

 

Five Points is a trail junction at the Lefthand Canyon OHV area. It's not labeled as such on the maps, that's just what people call it. The riding gets considerably more difficult from that point on. This area is not far from where you'll be, so if you're up for a challenge you might want to check it out.

I didn't want to smash up my nice new bike so I turned back at that point! The farther in you go, the steeper and rockier it gets.

Debby