woot! shiney things are cool

[Julien D]

Thanks Ron!!!


Jason

[Julien D]

Had it for a spin around the yard. Not much space to ride around the house, and not sure what the Sheriff's deputy who moved in a couple houses up would think about me tearin up and down the street.

I'm playing with jetting now. Last weekend I installed a DGK needle. Interesting change that was. Smoothed the power out completely, no more "hit". Not that there was that much of a hit before, but you could certainly feel it. Almost thought the powervalves had jammed and broken again. Checked them when I pulled off the head I been using to install the RB head. All good there. After installing the RB head, power is definitely up everywhere. But again, no "hit". I reckon that's a good thing? just need to get used to the change I would guess. Power is very 4 stroke like now, really wide and strong powerband, with no real transition that you can feel.

Anyhoo, I used a 38 pilot with the DGK. After the RB head, airscrew adjustment wants to be about 1/4 - 1/2 turn else there's an off-idle hesitation. Alas, I do not have a 40 pilot, so I jumped it back to 42. Better rich than lean for my purposes. I haven't been back out after the pilot switch, so we'll see what that does to it here in a bit. Wish I could have had the carb done too! Maybe in a couple months when the wife starts getting paid again.

Machine work on the head is top notch, and turnaround was unbelievably fast considering I'm in NC and RB is in OR.

[Indawoods]

Ron always does top notch work. I cannot thank him enough for what he has done for the KDX.

Personally... hit is overated in the woods. I want a very strong bottom end and a mild top end myself. I don't ride wide open areas.

[Julien D]

Agreed. We do hit some wide open stuff at times though. Not frequently, but on a 3 day trip up to Hatfield McCoy, good top end power is really needed. Especially when you're trying to pace a 450 on a 21 year old KDX, lol!

I'm not noticing any loss of top end really anyway, it's just different. Something's still not quite right though. Went back to the 42 and it still didn't touch that off-idle bog. Gonna raise the needle up one notch and play some more. Power once it gets past the boggy spot is definitely stronger. I'm overwhelmingly relieved that my power valves aren't broken again!

[Sapphire]

So from reading this and a few other threads... The RB mod is geared more for the bottom end stuff and Fredettes is more for top end?

Does it pay at all to do the RB Carb mod and not the head?

If I only had a few hundred bucks this winter....would the RB stuff be the thing to do or try and find an FMF to replace stock pipe?

Thanks! Keep us posted on your thoughts Juliend...

[Julien D]

No loss of top end per se. The absence of a top end hit appeared when switching to the DGK needle, not replacing the head. I'd say that the head has added power everywhere over the stock head. I don't know so much about FRP's porting, never rode a bike that had it done.

I would probably change the pipe first, before changing anything else. An aftermarket pipe is going to help you take advantage of any other mods you do. That's just my personal feeling on it, of course. The stock pipe is good as a boat anchor, but not much else.

[scheckaet]

if you really broke do the head 1st 45 bux...
if you can afford it get the pipe then later get the head done, then the carb

[Julien D]

Well, 60 bucks. Gotta pay that shipping too!

Sounds like a reasonable plan though. I'm most impressed with the head. It's a decided improvement. It'll be easier to tell exactly how much when I can get back out and ride. Doing loops around the house doesn't tell me much.

I did manage to slide the back end around coming up the hill beside the house and slam myself into the earth at a good pace, lol. Oops! Glad the wife wasn't watching.

[Indawoods]

I guess I should have said that I have never wanted for more topend. A 200 has top end to spare. I run a 13/50 sprocket set too. When I crack the thottle it is down right scary with the carb and head mods.

I got the carb mod first and it was a noticable improvement on the bottom end... I didn't notice much on the top but that is because a 200 already has a 35mm carb. I imagine any 220 rider would notice a huge difference up top.

Ron then did the head and I gained everywhere.... quite a bit more grunt everywhere.

[Mr. Wibbens]

I wish I'd done it in stages

I went RB carb & head mods, plus the Delta II reeds all at the same time

With the supplied CEK needle I could barely keep from looping out every time it "hit" on the pipe

DEK smoothed it all out nicely

[scheckaet]

DEK is the way to go for wood riding.
The CEK is fun for about 1/2 day.

[Sapphire]

Whats the deal with the DEK/CEK needles?

Seriously, stock pipe is that bad? I'm thinking... save up... get pipe..

I can ALWAYS come up with $60 for head..no prob. If its that cheap, I'll just do that this winter once riding is dying off... Whats the carb? Like $95?

Pipe is the biggie... $300 or so huh.

[Mr. Wibbens]

Whats the deal with the DEK/CEK needles?

.

Are you RB'd?

[scheckaet]

dunno where you check price for pipe, but it's more like 200 for FMF or procircuit...
And no he's not rb'd so dek or cek are worthless to his bike. He'd need a DEL?

[Sapphire]

I think I was thinking of the pipe and silencer together...but i could just get the pipe and use stock silencer...

Nah...probably wont send Ron the head till December...

[scheckaet]

the silencer doesn't add any power, just saves on weight and is louder.

[Julien D]

Yeah, skip the silencer altogether. Not worth the expense. The head is definitely worth it.

I wonder if the difference between DGK/CGK for E series is the same as the difference between DEL/CEL for H series, as in CGK for a hit, DGK for smoothness? I can see how this will make woods riding more enjoyable. Don't have to watch out for that hit on a climb. I'm gonna raise the needle back up a notch, hopefully that will get rid of my off-idle bog. After that I'm not gonna touch a thing until I get it out in the woods this saturday and see what I see. Probably will take my 1173 needle and a few jets with me.

[Julien D]

Yah. 42 pilot, DGK in the 3rd clip, and RB head = hang on! No noticable "hit", but if there was one, it'd probably make me crap my pants so that's probably a very good thing. There still seems to be a very slight off-idle bog that's bugging me. I'll tweak on it some more when we get down to the trails Saturday. Might be able to dial it out with the airscrew. Surely it doesn't need more than a 42p? Rolling the throttle on gives me no bog at all, it's just punching it from idle/low RPM.

[Julien D]

I didn't get to go ride this weekend, but I did play with jetting over at a buddies house where there was more space for test runs. Goal was to dial out this off idle bog. I never could get rid of it with the DGK needle though. Switching to an 1172 using the same jets, still bogged, but I could dial it out with the airscrew about 3/8ths a turn out. Odd since the 1172 is a leaner needle than the DEK, I expected it would make the bog worse. Obviously I need to go back to a larger pilot with the 1172, but I'm still trying to get my head around how it picks up a lean type of bog with a needle that is richer overall. At the compared settings on JD's chart, the DGK was richer than the 1172 everywhere.

38pj, 155mj, DGK #4, airscrew 1 - 1.5 turns, pulls well but bogs with too much throttle at low RPMs. Snapping the throttle to 1/2 or more with the bike on the stand and it hesitates 1 - 2 seconds before revving up. Also evidenced climbing a hill in 3rd, or coming around a switchback in 2nd. With the RPM's low opening up the throttle bogged it out, sort of like riding a 125. Tried all clip settings, and I still could not get rid of the bog even using the #5 clip setting and going in on the airscrew. Fastest idle is 1.5 turns out, so 38 pilot should be close with this needle. Did not have a 40 on hand to test, but 42 pilot made it blubbery rich under acceleration or cruising.

38pj, 155mj, 1172n #3, bog goes away with airscrew at 3/8 turn out. Bike pulls hard everywhere, but the power isn't nearly as linear as with the DGK. I will need to go back to a 40 or 42 pilot with this needle, as evidenced by the airscrew setting.

Maybe I should try a CGK or CEL/DEL needle?


I'm kinda just talking to myself / making notes, lol. If anyone has input though, feel free to throw it at me. haven't done any plug chops or anything yet. I'll do chops for the main if I can ever settle on a pilot and needle combination and get that dialed in.......

I reckon this belongs in the jets and needles section now, but it all started with the head, so......

[Indawoods]

A 155 is too large. 38 seems too small.

I run a 150/42 and a DEK.... Runs rightous... but am going to use a JD Red Memorial Day Weekend.