Thanks Jim - I've seen that before, but I didn't have a copy. Appreciate the pictures too. Also nice to see that someone else doesn't wash their bike for 9 hours following every 30 minutes of riding.
I did a JD jet kit, but no leak jet change. Some of the other stuff in the list probably won't happen for me (cam, exhaust). My only real goal is to make the bike slow enough to ride with my kids. Sprockets this weekend - now that the idle and bog are under control.
I did a partial airbox mod. Basically I cut out the top of the airbox, but not the side, and not under the battery. I couldn't see the point in cutting out plastic behind the battery.
I measured and it looks like the open area is roughly 4 times greater than the diameter of the carb. I can't believe that there would be significant restriction at that ratio.
I did however get some of the uni 1" diameter air box plugs, and I was considering putting those in the sides.
That is all I did was the top of the box about like you did , I did not do the sides either as around here its a lot of clay , and when clay is dry in the summer its like baby powder , so I would rather not expose the filter to that much dust/dirt ...... The cam swap was mainly done (for me using the Stage 1) to transfer all or the majority of the power usage to the bottom and mid range , since I rarely go really fast in the desert when I ride there (most guys that do the R cam mod are desert racers and are mainly riding in 4th-5th gear flat out 80+ mph), so I did not see the need for the R cam , but wanted/needed a different power output range than the stock cam offered as I felt it was extremely lax on bottom end , but good everywhere else , I wanted to be able to hop logs and have torque going thru rock gardens , so I felt the Stage 1 HotCams , was the way to go , .... and it was the perfect choice.....
The leak jet helps with the bog , I believe , as it changes the amount of fuel returning to the bowl and bypassing the AP (leardriver correct me if I am wrong) ...
For gearing , I have tried literally everything from 13/50 (stock 13/51) to 12/54 (really low) and settled on 13/52 , I can go pretty slow (walking speed in 1st gear) and still do 75mph top end , which is plenty for single track , in fact with that gearing , I rarely use 1st gear at all , mainly 2nd-3rd gear for tighter stuff and 3rd 4th for anything faster in the woods , I would suggest a 13/53 or 13/54 to ride super slow without the fear of stalling all the time (the AP stuff helps with this as well)
Watch this video , it was several years ago , but the same setup I have now (including the 13/52 gearing as I had mentioned) with the exception of a Kenda Equilibrium Hybrid tire I use now along with a Tubliss for the rear , instead of a standard knobby ...... But aside from the first 2 seconds , I never used 1st gear , even the tighter stuff , was all 2nd or 3rd gear (you can hear me shift) , and I did not use 1st gear once I go past the sign at the beginning of the video , (I was taking it easy because I was up there by myself , so I made sure to take it real easy , as you rarely come across another rider up there , so if you crash , you may be stuck up there for a few days if you get hurt) , this a a place I enjoy riding that is just outside of Boise , and I try to go at least once a year , though the last time I was there was in 2015 , a few weeks before my heart attack , (you can crank up the quality to 1080 in the settings of the video in the lower right corner) ... But this will show you how slow you can ride (even in 2nd gear) with that gearing and a bike that does not stall , this is at 5,000+ ft elevation , I am jetted for 2,500 ft , and did not have to adjust anything to ride there (I was 54 in this video)