Hey Dave,

I ordered mine directly from Bike Badit.....go to Tiger page and order the rubbers for the oldest VIN # carbs. These are the mikuni's from the first few years. Just an FYI...they are a bit of a bear to start...I actully had to use some WD40, warm the rubber a bit and a rubber mallet to get them seated......well worth the trouble.....

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The worst day riding beats the best day at work....no exceptions.

Patrol21,

Thanks man. Sounds like they'll need a little persuasion to fulfill their destiny.

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1996 Thunderbird

This is the perfect set up for me. I wasn`t interested in maximum horsepower, just wanted it to run right with the TORS pipes it came with. It runs smoothly right the way through the range with no glitches, stutters or flat spots and pulls a lot better than it did when I got the bike.


Model: 2004 Thunderbird (standard)

Carbs: Keihin
Airbox: K&N in stock airbox with no holes and secondary airbox with a few extra holes.
Exhaust: TORS
Ignitor: Stock, 8,700 redline IIRC

Main Jets: 98 (standard)
Needle: Thruxton
Pilot Jets: 40 (will be switching to 42 after the dyno)
Air/Idle Screws: left and right carbs 2.25 turns, centre carb 2.5 turns. (the middle cylinder runs hotter)

The dyno showed the motor was running along the 'perfect' line, occasionally moving slightly to the rich side of it, almost all the way through the range, apart from way down low, (1,000 - 2,500 rpm) where it was a bit lean. The 42 pilots should fix that.

the dyno results were
68 rwhp
50.9 nm torque

I`ll attach the graph when he sends it to me.

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Let`s go mental!

Since I've now clocked up a couple of hundred miles, in lieu of a dyno test, here's what I have that seems pretty solid - not dissimmilar to others' setups, with picture of the airbox attached:

99 TBS

exhaust: std. 3-2 99TBS with repacked emgo shorty reverse cone "mufflers"
intake: std box & filter, drilled with 5 1.5" plus 2 1.25" in addition to existing hole, with inlet hose stub sawed off.

float height: 17.5
main: 125
needle: stock with one 0.8mm nylon shim
pilot: 40
idle screws: 2.5 turns out
plugs NGK 8

pulls smooth & hard right through rev range in all gears, hot or cold, from 1500 to red line in any gear, no stutter, surges, overruns, etc. Nice sharp throttle blip. Plugs are a beautifull tan color. When really hot, gets a tiny bit soggy between 2k & 3k. Pulls hard to 120 mph, which is as hard as I've pushed it. It's definitely better than stock, but is a tad loud. I'm pretty happy, but will keep playing and will post any updates.

Ok just got the T-Bird back from the shop today and here are my settings:

1996 Thunderbird with stock cams
K&N Filter In Stock Air Box
TOR's
Unrestricted Carb Rubbers
Stock Mikuni Carbs
Factory Pro Needle #3 Position
15mm Float Height
40 Pilot Jets
92.5 Main Jets
2 3/4 Turns Out On Pilot Screws

Took the bike in thinking it was rich in the midrange. Had them balance the carbs and put their "sniffer" on to check the mixture and all they had to do was turn the pilot screws out approx 1/4 turn (they were set at 2 1/2 turns out) to achieve a 14.7-1 mixture (approx). Runs great with good smooth power up and down the rpm band!!!

BTW the TOR's sound much better than drilled stock pipes......

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"You are either on something or onto something"........The Common Man

After my last post, I changed the pilots to 42 and put the bike back on the dyno. The surprise result was almost AN EXTRA 4 HP!! How did I get this, just from changing the pilots you cry? I`ll tell you at the bottom. The bike runs perfectly from one end of the scale to the other. The constant popping on closed throttle has almost disappeared, thanks to the larger pilots. Here`s the setup.


Model: 2004 Thunderbird (standard)

Carbs: Keihin
Airbox: K&N in stock airbox with no holes and secondary airbox with a few extra holes.
Exhaust: TORS
Ignitor: Stock, 8,700 redline IIRC

Main Jets: 98 (standard)
Needle: Thruxton
Pilot Jets: 42
Air/Idle Screws: left and right carbs 2.1 turns, centre carb 2.2 turns. (the middle cylinder runs hotter)

the dyno results were
71.9 rwhp
52 nm torque

Where did that extra HP and torque come from? I bought the bike with 42,000 kms on it and it was still running the original chain, which hadn`t been well looked after. Purely coincidentally, I had fitted a new chain before the next dyno run. Who`d have thought!!!!

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Let`s go mental!