[cshaw07]

I have an 86 shadow. If you haven't seen it from my other thread, it looks like this:
That exhaust was a jardine exhaust that i cut off, then i installed a lollipop baffle in the ends. If you don't know what that is, it's just a washer that's welded to a bolt, then bolted into the pipe to give some back pressure. (it increases torque)

I have stock air box/filter.

I went from 42 pilots to 45, added two needle shims from carbjetkits.com, and went from i think 112 mains to 118.

It runs way better! but pops and shoots flames on decel and still feels hesitant in upper rpm. The motor feels held back, i haven't gotten a chance to pull the plugs yet, but does this sound like it's still lean to you guys? I tried screwing the pilots out to 3.5 turns and it's still the same. Starts right up and idles perfect, revs good in neutral it seems, doesn't stall from idle if you snap the throttle. Carbs are 100% spotless, intake boots and stuff are all sealed, no vacuum leaks, i removed the small vac pot on the side of the carbs. Exhaust gaskets are questionable, but could they cause all these problems?

 

[5l1mm]

i think popping on decel is not super avoidable, and not a death sentance in my opinion.
flames doesnt seem lean, it seems rich to me.
its going to be tough to pick an exact number for your jets since the exhaust are one-off and there doesnt sound like there was a whole lot of labcoats, and clipboards involved with the pressure testing.

that all said, i say go old school.
check the plugs. too white, your lean, too black your rich(its a bit more complicated than that, but thats the basics, you can find the rest on the internet)
im pretty sure bad response time could come from either.

 

[cshaw07]

i'm thinking that there's no way the pilot could be rich since it's only one size up and they ran lean from the factory, but pilot settings could be off. The needle position may be rich, it really only seems to pop and shoot flames if i rev it up say half way it does it on decel. I'm going to try to remove a shim and see what happens. The main is two sizes up from stock. I shouldn't have posted yet, it's all a guessing game until i pull the plugs.