Go with the CDI, my DS ran much better with that. I liked the Ron Woods carb. Dennis

 

All I can say is I love my Edelbrock on my 400EX. I wouldn't give that baby up for anything on my EX.

 

Get the Tm 45 next. It will make much more power. The cdi would be the next on the list with cams and piston.

If I can trail ride a stage3, this set up is not a problem.

 

The stock ds carb = 42mm, vacume slide. 450r = 42mm, mechanical slide, with a power jet. I think I read on another forum the 450 carb is about $175. I would like to get a 44 or 45 myself.

 

I put the CDI on the bottom of the list of 'bolt on' upgrade for a 2002 or newer DS650. (This is different on a 2000, 2001 model with 7700 rpm limit.) I added the Vortex CDI (Which I am very happy with) last to all of my other mods and aside from increased RPM range I noticed nothing in the way of power racing up the hill or whatever. The carburetor (I chose the HPR Lectron 46HV) boosted my power like crazy - it was a night and day difference. I would strony suggest looking into the Mikuni TM45 or the Lectron 46HV. If you don't plan to do upgrades later, or want to go as cheap as possible the 450r carb sounds like a great way to go. I mght do the 450r carb. on my 2nd DS (Wife's ATV / my backup.)

TheBom,

I'm curious as to why you would suggest the CDI as an 'early' mod? On an early model DS it will be a great gain, but on later models it seems like a lot of money for very little gain. (But is good to have for when you want to go further with mods.) Or are we assuming he already has the other bolt ons? (Pipe, filter, ported intake) My thought has always been to buy all of the bolt on parts first as a good foundation, then look at some of the internal changes once you have a good groundwork laid down.

 

I just ordered my 450r carb this week from www.servicehonda.com it was $165 and for the cable you can do a search on the web for terrycable this place builds custom cables just tell them you want it from a 450r carb to a ds thumb throttle and they will make it so there is no cutting, you can even get it in stainless steel braided outside, its about $30 for this, this is the way im going, then you always have the stock stuff in case of emergency. I have here it is a night and day difference, might not be as big of a difference as the tm45 or the hv46 but its half the cost

 

Thanks for all the help Guys.

Tpsycho

 

What Size mains and what size pilot jets are you guys running in your 450R carbs and what alltitude are you at. I need this so I can get a base line for my jetting.

Thanks again Tpsycho.

 

The most gain you'll ever get out of a CDI is maybe 1 or 2 horsepower at the most and a raised rev limit from around (newer DS) 7900 to 8500 (Procom or like), to unlimited (ron wood racing), to 8900 (factory programmed Vortex), to whatever rev limit you want with the MSD. CDIs cost as little as a $100 or as much as $450. That makes the hp per dollar factor of about $50 per hp at best. A TM45 (and related components) will gain you around 5-7 HP (depending on your other mods) which brings your ratio to $115 per HP.

There will be those that say you wont get 1 or 2 hp gain out of a CDI. Thats something to consider because most of the HP gain is in the upper RPM levels with a CDI. A carb will gain you accross the RPM spectrum. Personally any mod that gains you a couple HP with a cost of a hundred dollars or so is a very good deal. This can be said with other mods as well, including many of the end caps that are out there. The thing about a carb is that it has a tendency to help with all the other high flowing mods that you get down the road. Head work, piston and cams all work better with a good carb.

There are those that have already done the max to thier DS, and are looking for that mod to give them the edge. I've seen spending as high at $800 or more per HP. That's not a bad thing, its just the situation that a person is in and his/her desire to get the edge.

All that being said, a CDI or Carb or both, are excellent early mods to consider. If a person plans on building more down the road, I think trying to find the right CDI or Carb that grows with them is probably a better investment. For those that dont plan on growing the performance any further, a smaller carb may be a viable option. But until the HP increase numbers are known, its hard to determine the economics of it.

 

He said in his first post that he had the complete RW's pipe and ported intake. The carb would be the next on the list that I would put on for more power. If you look at my post I said the cdi would come when he gets the cams and piston for the next up grade.