free website stats program Has it been "staged" | Harley Davidson Forums

Has it been "staged"

mbingham666

Account Removed
I recently bought a '99 XL1200C from the local HD dealer. It came with the stock pipes on, but I suspect that the previous owner did the stage 1, and just replaced the stock exhaust when he traded it in. Is there an easy way for me to tell, or should i just take it in and have them look at it.

On the air cleaner, it looks like the backing plate is different, as there isn't any plastic touching the heads behind where the air cleaner starts. (SE kit / backing plate? I know it's flat and sits inside the metal housing)

Mainly I'm wanting to know if it was rejetted.
 
Looking at the air box to see if you have an open casing is the easiest way. If it is open that's a stage 1 and is usually a flat backing plate as opposed to a completely concealed filter assembly.
The only way to tell with the jetting is to open up the carb and have a look. If you see a #45-46 jet in there as the low jet, then it has been done. Sometimes you can tell by checking to see if the idle mixture screw concealment had been removed but this isn't always accurate.
 
Look to see if it has a paper air filter (stock) or a K&N Hi-Flo filter (fabric with a metal mesh).
Only way to tell if it was rejetted is to take the valves out of the carb. Check to see if the needle valve is in the stock position. Maybe someone can help you with the stock jet sizes and positions.

Only other thing I can suggest is to do a plug chop and see if the engine is running lean or rich. A darker plug with stock pipes would likely suggest your carb is rejetted for a richer mixture.
 
Mainly I'm wanting to know if it was rejetted.

the plugs test should work great!

OR.........
I would watch the ends of the mufflers after warmed-- ****stand beside bike OPEN throttle wide-open and backoff** open backoff** ANY HINT OF BLACK when going up on rpm SAYS RICH.....It doesn't take much gas to show black exhaust............ this test will also tell SANTA to bring some NOISE for a

MERRY CHRISTMAS !!!!!!

signed....BUBBIE
 
Mainly I'm wanting to know if it was rejetted.
the plugs test should work great!

OR.........
I would watch the ends of the mufflers after warmed-- ****stand beside bike OPEN throttle wide-open and backoff** open backoff** ANY HINT OF BLACK when going up on rpm SAYS RICH.....It doesn't take much gas to show black exhaust............ this test will also tell SANTA to bring some NOISE for a

MERRY CHRISTMAS !!!!!!

signed....BUBBIE
Not a very accurate way of testing the jetting. Keep in mind that you have an accelerator pump adding to the mix doing it this way.
 
Ok, so I had to stop by the dealer yesterday, and he confirmed that it has the SE air intake.

I've yet to look at the jets to see if that's been done, but I can almost guarantee that it was rejetted. The bike seems to be running extremely rich....blackness in the exhaust, smell of gas in exhaust, 25-30mpg when I'm taking it easy.

I'll confirm the jetting when it gets above 25 degrees in dallas.

Once I get the new exhaust on, is there anything i should do since the bike was run rich for god knows how long? Besides changing the plugs? The oil only has about 300 miles on it, and still looks crystal clear.

When HD sells a used bike, do they return the exhaust to stock usually, in hopes of selling an upgrade? or do you think the previous owner just never upgraded them?

Oh well, at least 2/3 things I needed to do are done already.

Thanks everyone!
 
If it has the SE intake, it more than likely was jetted but don't take it for granted.

With the symptoms you mentioned it probably is jetted to rich so a check of the parts in the carb would be in order. 25-30 MPG IS very rich on the jetting.

Hopefully the job was done with just jets instead of the kits that will usually end you up where you are at now and you also cannot mix parts from kits with stock jets without problems.

It's hard to beat the CV carb with just a jet change to the proper size. The kits are not worth the price and usually result in poor MPG and rich running.

I would suggest de carbonizing the engine with the symptoms you mention to clean things up.
Removing Carbon - Harley Davidson Community

When a dealer sells a bike, if it has any upgrades on it, unless they are done poorly or in bad shape, they usually leave the upgrades as is in hopes of a better resale price.
 
Back
Top