All
I just finished cleaning the piston and needles on my Hurricane 1000 carbs. She seems to run alot better. Seems to stumble slightly at 7k which she has been doing this for some time. I heard if I shim the needles about .003 this will help the midrange smoothness. I have never done this before. Can any one provide pics. Pics are worth a thousand words. Thanks Matt

 

I read on here that instead of buying a dynojet kit I could shim the needles .003 which would richen up the fuel mixture. Just trying to save a few dollars as the jet kits run 80-100$$. The .003 stainless steel washers and my labor are cheap compared to the jet kits. Maybe I need to bite the bullet and buy a jet kit.

The stumble I mentioned is really more a slight surging which is pretty
anoying since I know the bike as more in her. I know for a fact that she is lean in the upper rpms because of the dyno run. I will say after I cleaned the needles/pistons/bores in the carbs she runs alot better. I also checked the diaphrams for holes and there were none.

 

Hmmm I remember a thread here waaay back with somebody shimming the needles.

However these bikes run on the rich side anyway from stock so I'm not sure you'd be
addressing anything making them even richer running.

Also a .003 washer ........wouldn't that be like microscopically thin ??

lemme see if I can dig up that other older thread

Your old thread

 

I shimmed the needles on my Dad's VT750DC Shadow with great success. I did an airbox mod, did the exhaust hole saw mod but made my own end caps and perforated tubing to wrap muffler packing around them, jetted it and drilled a larger hole in the slides as well. He loves his bike again after considering selling it for something else. All I used (much thicker than 3 thou) was a washer from a Cherry Max blind rivet that pushes in the small locking ring when the rivet is "pulled up".

See the washer above the head? Something similar for you maybe. I needed at least two clip positions or equivelant.

 

Bike is all stock air filter and exhaust pipes. I bought a KN but it leaned it out quite a bit.

I beleive it was R1000 that talked about shiming the needles .003 on his bike. I will probably end up buying a jet kit because I want to run the KN. After running the bike
on the dyno I found she was on the lean side.

 

I haven't done it on a 1000f, but I've done it on other bikes (dirtbikes/cruiser). I've done it on similar keihin carbs as well.
Here's the process:
Remove diaphragm covers and diaphragms. In the center of the diaphragm is a plastic cover that holds the needle in place. You can usually take one of the screws that came out of the cover and thread it into the very center hole of the needle cover and use it to pull on and pop out the plastic cover. Then you flip the diphragm over and the needle will slide right out. (be careful because the stock shim may fall out with it)
Then get yourself a pack of assorted electrical washers from radio shack (like $2-3. located in a drawer organizer thing back with the connectors and such). I'm not sure which ones you'll need out of the pack, but you'll be able to find the ones that are close to the same diameter as stock. I think the next to smallest ones are it (they will be about .020" thick iirc)
Add one of them with the existing shim, reinstall, and try it out.

I'm just going from memory on this and I have no idea if it will actually work correctly on the 1000F. All carbs are different, but this has worked for me on other bikes with similar carbs.

I will also add that these bikes tend to run a bit rich stock. Have you cleaned the pilot and main jets? It's not really a hard job and may be worth trying first because your lean condition doesn't sound right. Is your airbox stock and sealed correctly?

edit:
I just took a look at the diagram for the 88 model and it's a bit different than the later keihin carbs. Similar, though, so it may be about the same process. Not sure how the spring holder/needle cover thing is held in, though.

 

ya the number you want is .020 or .030 if you're gonna shim the needles.

 

I think it depends on how much ethanol is in the mix. Mine falls on it's face at take off if I get a batch of chitty fuel. I was thinking about raising my needles to get a little more fuel in to compensate for the ethanol. You need a richer mixture for an increase in ethanol. hurricanematt may be running some chitty fuel.

hurricanematt, try a different gas station and maybe a different grade gas. These bikes run better on the lesser grade gas. Oh, and if you have an after market pipe that is more open, you will stumble.