Yeah, I missed the part where his ride is an 883. Still, it's not likely he'll need a jet change on an otherwise stock ride. I'm running a 42 on my 1200, with no lean issues at all. I had plenty of carb farts and off idle stalls prior to changing the needle, now those have all disappeared. As for the intake seals, they are $2 each, and take about an hour to replace. They do harden with age and should be replaced about every 3 or 4 seasons. If he has the originals then they are leaking.

 

Didn't seem to be leaking last spring, and the bike ran fine all summer, but if that's all they last, I'd better change them when I do some work on mine this spring, they're older than that. Some things are better fixed before they go bad.

 

Mine were original on a 5 year old bike. After I did a little research, I decided to pull them without even testing and sure enough... one was pinched and eroded, leaking badly, looks like it was a faulty install right from factory. Both were hardened compared to the new ones. The consensus among other Sporty owner/mechanics seems to be about a 4 year life span. The only 'special' tool required is an appropriate size ball-end allen driver to get at the manifold screws on the carb side. Only precaution is to not pinch the seals on installation. This maintenance job will for sure rule out or fix lean issues caused by a manifold leak. In my case, it was causing severe popping with orange flame out the rear cylinder ...it was getting a richer mixture than the front.