Hey guys im new to this forum and actually new to harleys in general. I have loads of experience in auto mechanics and have built a few metric bike before but this is the first harley

i have a 96 sportster 1200 that was bone stock when i bought it. since owning it i have installed a K&N filter inside the stock ham can and installed a set of vance and hines straight shots.

now my issue is rejetting. i was surprised because no where online have i found someone whos bike also came with huge jets stock, My carb had a 48 slo jet and a 200 main from the factory!

i guess my issue is that i have yet to see anyone online whos running these big of jets and i have seen plenty of users claiming many more motor mods and smaller jetting.

even with these big jets my bike is wayyyy lean. The "prong" on the spark plug is white white.

what should i do? i mean is there anything else to do besides even bigger jets?

ohhh and i installed a EZ-just ****. i set it to the same turns out the factory needle was. Again mine was wayyy big at 4.5 turns out.

any help is appreciated and I'm extremely sorry if that was hard to follow ha

 

45 slow speed jet and 170 main jet. Needle valve - e clip in notch #3 (1 is the highest notch.) Idle mixture - 2 1/2 turns out. If you are running too lean with the fat jets, changing the intake manifold seals should help. Sounds like a vacuum leak. FYI - No Sportster ever came with 48/200 jets from the MoCo - somebody changed them, because it was running lean. Find the problem, don't "mask" it so it's ridable.

 

ok thanks for the heads up on the factory thing. so basically ill leave those jets in for now and try to find any vacumm leaks. can you shed any light on the mix needle being so far out? that 4.5 turn out setting had to be factory cause it had the sealed cap pressed over it still. also idk if it makes any difference but this is a california bike.

 

You say you're new to Harleys and you have an 18 year old bike, so why are you so sure that the huge jets are stock?

I also agree that you likely have an intake manifold leak.