New Member from Texas (former Germany)

[oroepke]

I have sourced almost all parts of the airbox, I still need the holder for the filter element (I think) and maybe a clamp to hold everything in place. Unfortunately I don't have the original needles and main jets. I have 130 main's in there now! Idle jets are #35.
Anyways, I am not going to mess with the current setup very much, in a few weeks I plan to put the airbox in. In the meantime, I just want to see if the bike needs anything else.
What's a good source to buy original needles and jets? Thanks!

[daves79x]

You can get original Keihin Jets from Kurt here, stock ones for the '80 (VB62) carbs are 110. You'll look a long time for original needles. You need 55A needles. You can't buy them new, just hope someone here might have a spare set. I hang onto all of mine for carb rebuilds. You'll have to go aftermarket, but you'll likely need to buy complete Keyster kits or similar to get them. Don't do that, I have a million of them from back in the day.

Dave

[oroepke]

Can you tell from this picture what the needles are that I currently have in here? Diameter at top is 2.4 mm, at bottom 1.35 mm and the taper starts about 27 mm from the top.

[daves79x]

Those are Dyno-Jet adjustable needles, likely stage 3 by the looks of the taper. They will not work in any fashion with the stock airbox. The factory needles are not adjustable, just a solid needle.

Dave

[oroepke]

Ok, thanks. What about the needles from this set? Any opinion on those? Are they any good?

https://www.ebay.com/itm/183567748590?

[daves79x]

The ad says '79-'80. Run from that one. The '79 needles are not the same as the '80-'82. If you can't find original needles, I have lots of aftermarket ones.

Dave

[Jeff Bennetts]

Those are Dyno-Jet adjustable needles, likely stage 3 by the looks of the taper. They will not work in any fashion with the stock airbox. The factory needles are not adjustable, just a solid needle.

Dave

Just to add something to what Dave has mentioned, Dyno Jet stage 3 needles only flow correctly when you use Dyno jet jets, Keihin jets of the same size will flow differently.

[oroepke]

I think I have the Dynojet jets installed, they have the same silverish color as the needles.

Ideally I want to find all original Keihin needles, needle jets and main jets and go back to all stock.

[oroepke]

I just decided to raise the needles 2 clicks and see if that makes a difference until I install the air box.

I used this “technique” to install the carbs. Don’t worry, I didn’t force them in, just held them in place, wiggled a bit tighten the strap a bit more, they went in super easy, I was surprised!

[daves79x]

You didn't need to remove the carbs to change the needle settings. All the tops will come off in place if you do a bit of wiggling. One notch at a time may have been better - two notches is quite a big difference.

Dave

[oroepke]

I tried to remove them with the carbs in place but didn’t think that would work, at least not with my clumsy hands…
You seem to be right on the 2 notches. Plugs looked a bit too lean before I change the needle settings, now they look way too rich and it didn’t do anything to cure my 5-7k flat spot. But I only rode it for 5 miles like this, will put a few more miles on this weekend.