Losing my Mind here! Cough, Sputter, Misfire.. HELP!

:fight: hello all, picked up a stock 2001 XLC1200 back in March. Had a problem with it at cold starts and coughing. Ended up taking it to a local Harley Shop for help. He said, "oh it needs a dynojet kit." While there he also put on some drag pipes and a Dragtron II air cleaner with a K&N filter. Got the bike back and it seemed alright,, that day. Rode around some more and to my dismay found it still coughing. I also found that the hardware used for the new pipes was either the wrong threads, or just cheap and 'galled' itself. Long story short, wound up breaking off one of the studs! This far in, figured I'd check his carb work. Found the slide drilled, a 42 pilot, needle with the clip on the 4th notch (from top), 'chewed up' emulsion tube with a 195 main. Checked the intake manifold for new gaskets, unable to break the bolts loose even with a 'cheater.' At this point I lost faith in the 'service' that had been provided and took matters into my own hands. I ordered a rebuild kit for the carb and a CVP Tuners kit. Pulled the carb and cleaned all the passages, replaced the slide, needle and spring, float needle valve, acc. pump and all associated gaskets including manifold boot. Ran with a 45, 46 and even a 48 pilot with a 180 (or 185) main. With the 48 I had the mixture screw all the way out to like 3.5 turns. I even shimmed the needle at one point. STILL COUGHS! I have rigorously leak tested the intake using WD-40, Carb Cleaner and Propane. Replaced exhaust gaskets, spark plugs and wires. Noticed the vacuum operated petcock leaking so I replaced it with a straight on/off and reconfigured the vac tubing for the VOES. Found the VOES cracked and Replaced it. When I run the bike with air cleaner removed, I notice the fuel 'spits' back out from the throat. This is driving me nuts. I would love to just ride without the frustration. One more thing, found that the carb is actually from an '04. Not sure if that would make a difference, but it just might. Sorry for the rant.. Any help is greatly appreciated. Running out of ideas here,, :gah:

Here's a couple of links to explain carb jetting and tuning....drag pipes make it tough to tune and run under 3000RPM's
Harley Carburetor Jetting

Harley Davidson Carburetor Performance Tuning

A 48 pilot seems pretty large for a 1200 Sporty...The fuel hovering in the carb mouth is called fuel standoff,nature of the beast with a short intake runner...
Since you replaced the petcock and VOES is the only problem the fuel standoff??

the problem I have is witth the excessive coughing / misfire. it's not only frustrating but even dangerous when turning... it seems like the pilot ciircuit is lean even with a 48 jet and 3.5 turns out on the a/f mix screw. just curious if it's flooding or maybe a problem with the timing / ignition..

Ditto what Lucifer said on the drag pipes...Your gona have bad torque dip under 3000 which is where you need torque...Good luck...

I would guess a combination of too rich(flooding) and the drag pipes....Also something to check is the accelerator pump diaphragm for cracks or pin holes...when you twist the throttle you should get a good squirt of fuel from the nozzle,if only a little fuel squirts or none that could cause the coughing and misfire when you try to accelerate...

I suppose if a bike weighs around 800 lbs. or more and a rider weighs around 300 and a passenger weighs, well, lets not say what a passenger might weigh LOL - torque might be a critical factor.

I have straight 38" drag pipes and my bike weighs less than 500 lbs and I weigh 140 and I have plenty of torque.

There's a reason drag pipes are run at the drags, just sayin'.

the torque is there,, more or less. it's the cough while holding steady 1/8 to 1/4 throttle. I last had a 48 pilot with up to 3.5 turns out and still it coughs. Checked for vac leaks multiple times with no luck. According to all I have read, if it still coughs that means it's 'lean.' Wondering if a 50 pilot is the next step or if I might need to look into a mechanical / timing / ignition issue...

No way a 50 pilot is right for your bike...
Here's a check list to go through...
http://bike-talk.com/forum/cv-performance/17202-faq-carburetor-tuning-issues.html

Yeah...But in all honesty how many people run their bikes on the road like that? A couple seconds and it is all over...

I wish I had the website but it showed dyno results of Evo's and TC 88's with and without drag pipes...There was noticeable torque dip under 3,000...I'm gona see if I can find it...I was up at Lanconia a few years ago and Dr. Dyno who is very respected back here on the East Coast had a guy come up and ask him to tune his bike and he told him he would be wasting his $$....

I have no idea how drag pipes work on shovelheads, panheads or knuckleheads...


DrDyno.com - the "Feel the Difference" therapy for your motorcyle

Edit: I think I found it http://www.nightrider.com/biketech/exhaust.htm

A lot of the riders on ShovelheadUSA forum use a #50 pilot in their CV carbs on their old shovels, but like Lucifer says, it may be a bit large and may be over compensating for some other problem somewhere else. I still have an occasional cough or hesitation and like you, have checked all the places that might be causing it. I have read somewhere that an exhaust leak MIGHT cause this problem, (though I think it's unlikely), so I guess that's the next thing to look at.

And bad fuel with ethanol could be a contributing factor as well. Since I started using Seafoam in my gas, the coughing has diminished some but not completely gone away.

Joshbob, I could be dead wrong on this ,but I think the reason guys are using 48 & 50 pilots on the Shovels with CV's is because the Shovels don't inhale as well as Evo's & twinkies and need a larger pilot to draw enough fuel from the float bowl(lower velocity,less vacuum)or they're running them pretty fat....
The OP's stock 1200 Sporty should have a 45 or 46 pilot and would need quite a bit of head work and more cubes to need a 48 pilot...

thehalias what do your plugs look like??Pics would help.....

I would lose the CV and go with a S & S.

WhyKeihin CV's are excellent carbs and more than enough for his application....

Better performance and less tuning issues.

That's subjective and debatable,depends on application..until you get into big inch high performance engines a CV40 is as good or better than a SNS or Mik(No need to adjust a CV for altitude changes)....if you have a vacuum leak or a clogged passage they'll all give you trouble...

Everything is debatable.

JoshBob, a Sprtster only weighs about 550 lbs dry weight..

It sure does sounds like you have gone through all of the checks, but when you did a propane test, did you check the head gaskets for leaks??? I had similar issues, (not as extensive) when I bought my Sportster. I found that I had a head gasket leak. The only reason I found it is because I was putting different heads on and found where the leak was actually leaking at.. Just a thought.

Johnny, can a head gasket leak and not be "blown"? BTW I dig your avatar!