EC300 - Richer needle = less spooge?
 

Greetings jetting experts,

I'll try to make a long story short... I bought a 2005 EC300 (my first 2-stroke/GasGas) in January. Bike ran okay from the previous owner, though lots of drool down the pipe got me curious about jetting. So I did a lot of homework (thanks to this site!).

I tore the carb apart, found a 175 main, 40 PJ, and an unknown/unmarked needle on the middle notch. There was absolutely zero markings on the needle, still no clue what it was. I replaced the guts with a JD Jetting kit for the older bikes and started with JD's recommendation for the blue needle on the 3rd (middle) notch, and slightly increased the main to a new 178. The kit did not come with a PJ, so I left the 40 alone. I mostly ride technical steep single track between 2000 and 4500 feet in Southern California at an average temperature of 75 degrees and maybe 20-40% relative humidity. I use Motul 710 oil at 42:1 mix with half 100 octane race fuel and half 92 octane premium (equates to about 96 octane).

After installing the JD jet kit I felt like the bike ran IDENTICAL to how it did before, with the presumably stock jetting. So, I decided to see if I could get more out of the JD kit and went one step leaner, which was red needle at 4th notch. Unimpressed, and MORE spooge. Yes, MORE spooge. Then, I followed the progression in the JD instructions and went one step leaner again, back to the blue needle at the 4th notch. Still unimpressed, with major flat spot in low end torque. And same amount of spooge.

So last week I changed back to the richer initial JD setting, blue needle on 3rd (middle) notch. Definitely recovered the low end torque, and to my suprise almost zero spooge! What I want to know is how a few settings RICHER on the needle could actually produce significantly less spooge. I thought I finally got my arms around how jetting works, but would really like to know why richer = less spooge and more power in my case.

Now, should I try one single step richer and see how it runs? Anyone savvy with the JD jet kit in my bike at my altitude? Jakobi?

Also, I've found almost no response when adjusting the air screw between 1 turn and 3 turns out. My idle screw is nearly buried into the spring, bike does idle right and I'm happy with throttle response and healthy sound. It does bog right off idle only if I very quickly grab a handful of throttle. Otherwise, it seems happy.

Sorry for long post, but I want to provide the whole story! Thanks in advance.

Which end of the needle are you counting the clip position from? Generally clip 1 is the top, and clip 5 is towards the pointy end (points into the carb). Clip 1 is the leanest, so going to clip #4 you have actually moved richer.

JDs two needles are very different in the idle-1/4 throttle area so its not fair to totally compare them, and basically what JDs richer to leaner part tries to address is the lower throttle area. IE try the richer needle in clip #3, then if thats too rich try the leaner needle in a richer clip, then if thats too rich try it in a leaner position again, etc. What most find works better is to find the diameter that works best (blue/red), set it up with a pilot that works, and then select the clip position for best response.

I generally run on the second clip position in the summer. I would say going leaner on your clip position is what made it run better not the richer needle.

Zero marking needle=LTR needle