KLE 500 - I've returned!
 

Hello everyone! :)

It's been a while since I made my last post, since I haven't done much to my motorcycle during the winter, but now, since most of the snow is gone; I've decided to do some carb/airbox modifications!

So...what have I done? Well, yesterday, I changed my 115 main jets to 125 main jets, and decided that it might be a wise choice to also shim the needles with 1 small washer for each needle, and I opened up the airbox with 2 more holes, so now I have 8 x 8 mm holes on the back of my airbox, with the larger snorkel (and still using the DNA filter!).

So, is there any noticable different?

To that question, I have to say - yes!

I've just done some small tests, a lot of full throttles, to see that there are no hesitations what-so-ever, and it goes fine; the accelerations feels very "strong" and "crisp"! I suspect that my KLE 500 is running a tad too rich, but not by much, so going to open up the airbox a little bit more in the future (days from now?), just to see how my motorcycle responds to that!

What about the top speed? Well, haven't done any top-speed tests yet; will probably try some in the future (same as above), so I will have to report about that later!


Regards,

Mollrik

Hi there

Glad to here you are back. If you are going to use the 125+ main jets, is it not worth trying out the Dyno-jet Stage 3 for the KLE 500? I have always wondered if there will be a big improvement in performance. You most probably have to open up the airbox quite a bit. For the moment I have gone back to the #112 jets as it was running quite rich with the #118's. I am getting around 20 km/l during a daily city commute.

I have been struggling with my 2005 KLE500 since I bought it in March 2010, with a hesitation when I open the gas while cruising at 80km/h plus.

After cleaning the carbs out, checking float levels, checking air screw adjustment, checking the plugs, cleaning and re-oiling air filter, this problem persisted.

Eventually last Tuesday I went to a local Kawasaki dealer, and they told me the bike has an aftermarket exhaust. My immediate question was whether the carbs had been rejetted. I took them off, and low and behold, the jets were still the standard #92 and #95 jets. Although I had read this thread before, I am currently not in a position to spend even a couple of hundred bucks on doing the conversion. The Kawasaki dealer said I must change the jets to #95 and #98, which meant I only had to buy 1 jet. This I could manage. After a battle, I eventually got the #98 jet. Yesterday I took the bike out, and it pulls better and runs great up to about 100km/h, but now above 100km/h, if I open the gas to get more speed or to maintain my speed on an incline, it hesitates, and it appears to me, more than before. I went to the dealer, and they said that unfortunately, due to different aftermarket exhausts, this is a trial and error exercise until I find the right combination, and that I must try #102 and #105 jets.

Spye has kindly been advising me via pm. So after my visit to the dealer I decide I may as well get prices on the parts to do the conversion with #112 jets, N96J needles, larger snorkel, and the rimfire conversion.

I contacted another Kawa dealer that was very helpful in sourcing the #98 jet, about prices and availability of the required items. They have just informed me that the bigger snorkel, 14073-1481 Duct, Intake (larger air box air intake snorkel), is no longer available.

Does anyone know if I can do the rimfire conversion with the small snorkel. I know the german instructions say "Some models with small snorkel have performance defects after the modification!". But has anyone tried it.

Failing this, does anyone know where I can source a big snorkel.

Hello everyone, I'm new to this forum :welcome:

I found this amazingly interesting thread, and so I thought you guys might be able to help me with your awesome knowledge. Sorry for digging out such old thread, but I thought it would be better than posting a new one.

I bought KLE 500 that was restricted to 34HP (made for German market). A guy I bought it from told me, he removed the restriction for me by swapping the main jets to 112.

Surprisingly, now it runs fine untill 7K rpm, where it suddenly looses power. It looks like it would shut off for a moment and then starts to pull again, but definitely with power way under nominal 48HP. It's even hard to reach 9K on the road, while it easily rev's to this point on neutral gear.

Now the thing is- the symptoms seem to indicate a lean mixture. However, the main jets are as they are supposed to be. No additional mods done so far. Air filter brand new and clean, fresh fuel in the tank.

So the question is- was this engine factory restricted in other way than just the main jets? How about a needle? A throttle?

What can I do about this? I'm afraid I'll kill the engine by running it lean. I'm even afraid to drive it to the workshop in this condition. :confused1:

I must also say, that though I have some experience with car engines (done two stroker motors and some minor other mods), I have never had any contact with carburators- always FI, so I'm a total newbie in this subject.

:helpsmilie:

Hello, again!

I'm sorry for not being very active in this thread lately, the reason for that lies both in how my bike has been running, and what to do with the carb settings.

OK, if you guys remember, my last setup included two 125 main jets, two N96J needles with one washer. The problem was that the bike never really ran THAT great. Sure, there barely were any stumbles (too rich), and it ran VERY good at WOT, but I didn't want to recommend the settings to anyone, since it wasn't "perfect".

OK, so what will I do to fix this?
Well, I've ordered two 130 main jets and two N36N needles, the same setup as the GPZ 500 carbs. That will most likely take care of the problems, but I'll inform you guys as soon as possible, if there's still any interest about this! I will probably wait some weeks to a month before I do the change, since there's still snow everywhere! :P

(and yeah, I know all these needle changes aren't that cheap, so no need to mention that!)

Regards,
Mollrik

edit: I tried to answer your questions in your other thread, Mendelmax :)

Hi there

From my last post I have changed my settings as follows: Main jets, #100 and #98 left and right respectively. Back to N60D needles with no shimming at all and the small snorkel with one 16mm hole in air box. Air screw at one and three quarter turns out. I have opted for "milder" settings as I was getting horendous fuel economy of 18 km/l on a city commute. I am now getting 21.25 km/l. The bike pulls nice and throttle responce seems crisp. Yes, I can go for the other set-up, with better performance, but the trade off seems OK. I was getting 13 km/l (140 km/h) doing high speed touring!
BTW, do you have some sort of chart that explains the various keihin needles, taper and length etc. eg. N96J vs N60D. I cant seem to find anything. It will help when selecting a needle. :thumbup1:

Hey hey!

Whoa, 13km/l on speed touring!? That's...insane! Maybe your bike was running way rich, because I've never reached such low numbers on my KLE 500, but yeah...your bike will probably get a better mileage with those main jets anyway, so if you are happy with your current setup, then go for that! :)

About the jet needles! Nope, haven't found a chart about the keihin needles, have been trying to get one for a long time, but gave up! :(

I can also keep you updated about the mileage from my bike with the new carb settings, if you like, but yeah...I'm sure they wont be as good as yours! :)

Regards,
Mollrik

Hi All

Thanks for all the jetting information from your real world testing! Let me introduce myself: I'm a South African living happily in Scotland, and enjoying the lovely country roads here.

I've been through all of the post to help me in deciding what jets to order for my bike, a 98 KLE 500 A7. Firstly I installed a K&N air filter and the larger air intake snorkel which I managed to get from a scrap dealer on ebay. This larger snorkel made the bike hesitate hugely from 1/4 to 3/4 throttle even when accelerating slightly. So, off with the snorkel then.

I decided to order the N96J needles, and a 112 and 110 jet to work with the larger snorkel. Since then, I've chopped off the standard silencer, and mounted a 2010 KTM SXF silencer (sounds really good! 33mm outlet as opposed to 22mm standard) - this doesnt have any adverse affects with the standard jetting and small snorkel.

So, with just the K&N filter, KTM end can, and 17/46 gearing, I got over 53mpg (19km/l) yesterday on a country ride averaging about 40mph (some fast 85mph, some slow single lane)

I'll let you know how I get on when I receive the jets and refit the large snorkel. I don't really wan't to start drilling any holes, so hope that I can get the jetting right without huge increase in fuel consumption (I commute 74 miles a day).

Thanks again for all the useful info, especially mollrik and spye.

Cheers.

Hey there.

No problemo. As I mentioned before a lot of fiddling and faffing, but I've seemed to have got it where I want it now especialy since a barel of Saudi Arabia's finest is is going through the roof. Did a trip up to Baviaanskloof/Swartberg Pass last week, lots of gravel travel and the bike went like a dream.

Why dont you see my latest set-up. My previous post.

:thumbup1:

hi spye

Thanks for that. I re-read your last thread and see that you removed the shims (somehow didn't notice that the last few times I read it). My reasoning for going for the bigger jets and not a similar setup to yours was that I don't have any catalytic converters restricting my exhaust (I'm assuming you still have 1 or 2, even with a different silencer??) I may well end up with a similar setup to you in the end though. Yes, I am stubborn! I'll let you know how I get on. Will I manage to change jets and needles without removing carbs?

Glad you're enjoying your kle. I'm realising what an underrated bike it is. I've just redone my seat on the weekend (nice and high, flat and stiffer), and it's running like a dream - almost hesitant to change jets and snorkel.

Swartberg pass is beautiful - unfortunately never done it on a bike. No dirt roads here unfortunately, but plenty beautiful little tar roads. A friend and I are planning a 600km ride on Saturday from Aberdeen to Fort William on the west coast.

Cheers, will keep in touch.

Hey, guys!

OK, I've changed my main jettings to 130 main jets and N36N jet needles, just like the GPZ 500 setup!

The bike runs great! Of course, I had to modify the airbox a bit. I have also decided to go one step further! What is this step, you ask? Well, the thing is: I've received 2 GPZ 500 camshafts, with higher duration, which will give more top end. I haven't installed them yet, but will do it in 2 weeks or so, so I'll report the results, if you guys are interested! :)

/Mollrik

New camshafts installed
 

Hello!

The new GPZ 500 camshafts have been installed and I've been driving around 700km since last Thursday, so have had some time to test them. So...what do I think of the new camshafts? They make the bike - in my opinion - A LOT more fun to ride, with a lot more power in the higher RPMs, but of course, the bike is a bit weaker in the lower RPM-range.

The bike is quite weak before 4000 RPM, and going WOT @ 6:th gear from 4000 RPM doesn't pull well at all, if you compare to the original camshafts. The bike is starting to pull a bit better between 4000 to 5000 RPM, but the original camshafts still perform better at this range, but to my surprise, the difference isn't really that big. The bike performs quite well between 5000 to 6500 RPM, and according to me, not a noticeable difference between the original camshafts and the GPZ 500 camshafts.

From 6500, the bike wakes up and pulls VERY strongly - it "kicks" you in the back, and it will rev freely to 10000 RPM. One might ask why I changed the camshafts, since the original camshafts gives you more power where you are mostly using it (before 6500 (7000 according to the dyno which is available somewhere in this thread)). Well, of course, it all depends on your preferences. I prefer to have that extra power in the higher RPM-range, so whenever I need it, I just change gear, and like I (indirectly) said before: the bike is still performing well in the lower RPM range.

I can't really say how the camshaft change will perform on a stock KLE, with the standard carb settings, airbox and exhaust, but it works VERY well with my setup.

The fuel consumption hasn't been affected negatively, still around 0.5km/l during normal driving for me, which more or less means a combination of highway driving and spirited driving, but I expect it to be better if I just stick to highway riding, and worse if I just do spirited riding (duh... :P) :)

It's really hard to say how this change has affected my bike's top speed, since I'm running a smaller front sprocket (I THINK it's 15 teeth (have to check this one out later), and standard should be 17 if I recall correctly). I've managed to reach 180km/h, and it was already close to 10000 RPM, so there's not much more power to get by revving more. I'm sure a bigger front sprocket would help with that, but I really couldn't care about aiming for a higher top speed, since I want more fun while riding in the "twisties". :)

I have not changed the ignition timing (CDI), and not sure if I will actually do that. The bike is already performing VERY well for a KLE 500, and I really love my bike's new characteristic.

I know this thread mainly is about carb changes, so I'm sorry for going "off-topic" like this, but I thought that this might be interesting for some people to read (hopefully)!

Regards,
Mollrik

I have read this thread and found it very informative. Seeing that more air makes the stock engin breathe better I would like to get a large snorkel for my 2005 KLE but cant find any on ebay. Does anyone have one extra for sale? I will also be getting a DNA air filter, and I have a Leo Vince SBK carbon endcan already on the bike.

Ghosty!

Well today I have also instaled a DNA filter, but have gone a bit further. I have also instaled a 1991 intake snorkle and now I have a bit of a problem. The engine revs up fine when in neutral but when riding if I open the throttle up it stals a bit and than pulls away hard. Am I getting to much air in the engine with DNA filter and big snorkel?

See my post on the Wilddog forum: DNA Air Filter