Corked, Or Uncorcked?

[Kawabuggy]

I got a chance to re-jet & rebuild my carb tonight. While I had the seat off, I checked out the air-box:

and was wondering if there is anything else I need to do to open this thing up.

I have heard about a "snorkel" in the top of the air box, but I don't see it on mine. Should I enlarge the size of the hole and remove the small piece of plastic that drops down into the air box????? What am I missing here?

The bike runs AWESOME after putting in the new main & pilot jet!

I was also wondering if it is necessary to raise the needle in the carb. If raising the needle will make the bike faster, I would like to do it. How much should I raise it? How do I do it? Having just had the carb apart, it looks like I would have to build some type of spacer to physically raise the needle up. I should have taken pictures and it would have made it much clearer. If anyone understands what I am talking about, can you please let me know if this is something I should pursue. I would sincerely appreciate it!

[Beyond The Pale]

Your snorkel is long gone. It's a big plastic piece that fits into the hole in your photo. It blocks like half of the area. The with it gone, the opening is pretty big, there is not too much to gain by cutting holes.

I was also wondering if it is necessary to raise the needle in the carb. If raising the needle will make the bike faster, I would like to do it. How much should I raise it? How do I do it? Having just had the carb apart, it looks like I would have to build some type of spacer to physically raise the needle up.

It's kind of hard to describe, but the needle should have 5 slots cut into it. It then has a spring clip that fits into one of the slots. You have to unscrew the arm from the slide to access it. The stock position is the third slot which is the middle one. Moving the clip up a slot (dropping the needle) makes it leaner and moving it down a slot (raising the needle) makes it richer. At lower altitude my XR600 works best in the third position. At high altitude, above 7000 feet, it likes the needle dropped one position. Even though the needle only moves a little bit with each clip slot, it makes a big difference on how the engine runs.

I think that you have a pretty low hour bike. The frame parts in your photo look like new. On mine the paint is well worn.

[Kawabuggy]

I see what you are saying about the needle having the 5 clip positions. I have a new carb kit that I used to rebuild the carb with and I can clearly see on the new needle the clip positions up at the top. I did not swap my new needle in as I was afraid that if I pulled the arm that attaches to the slide I would not be able to get the return spring on the outside of the carb back on in the proper position. Plus, if you are saying you run yours in the 3rd position, I believe that is where mine is from the factory. Looking at the Honda service manual it does show my carb came in the 3rd position. I simply cleaned the old needle in place and left it alone.

Hard to believe that someone went through the trouble of opening up the air-box, opening up the exhaust, & then left the factory jetting in place. It had the 152 main, and 62 pilot. No wonder the bike was popping on decelleration, and was a bear to drive when cold..

I can state that it starts much easier now.. I have it down from about 30 kicks when cold, to a scant 5 or 6. Much better! Now I can't wait to get out on the trail to see what this baby will do!

[jmd4x4]

you should see a nice increase in performance with the right jets in it. Go ride it now and let us know.

later

jmd

[rebelventurer]

At sea level a 165 main, and 56 pilot should work for you. Does the bike still have the smogg stuff? if so its the source of the spitting and popping on decelleration.

[Kawabuggy]

The bike is an XR600R and did not come equipped with any type of smog. At least there was nothing on it when I bought it. I think it is the XR650R's that come with the smog.