When converting
the stuffed-up stock bike to a screamer, you have to replace the
small muffler tip with the larger item.
MAKING THE 650
RUN RIGHT
It would be close to a crime to
leave the bike in the EPA mode. At least a misdemeanor and quite possibly
a felony. Here's the drill:
Take the rubber boot off the air box and feed it to your dog.
Remove the plastic insert forward of the rubber piece and toss it,
too.
Take the rubber manifold holding the carb off, and replace it with a
manifold with no restrictor in there. These are available from Honda
dealers. The stock manifold has metal plates vulcanized into the
rubber that allows a mere 21 mm opening. The correct manifold gives
you a full 42 mm opening.
Remove the stock tip from the muffler and slip on a new tip. The EPA
tip is 20 mm and the good one is 40 mm. The swap is easy, as the thing
is held in with three bolts.
Rejet the carb from a 125 main jet to a 172, or 175 main jet,
depending on your altitude.
Move the needle clip from the #2 position (near the top), to the #4
position, near the bottom of the needle.
That's it! You. ve now converted the dull EPA bike into a screamer.
EDITOR. S NOTE: Next month, we'll tell you what it's like to ride
Johnny Campbell's Baja-winning XR650R. Yup, we rode it!
You must also
remove the plastic clipped-in baffle and the rubber boot from the
air box. After this, re-jetting is a must!