Ok so to explain things, I have an 88' LT500 that had an 87' carb on it (don't know why, just did) so I decided to replace it with the better 88"+ carb. So I bought an 88' one off of eBay. I re-jetted it to what I thought would be about right. It would start fine just ran real erratically just like it had an air leak. It would hang and rev up slightly by itself. I eventually got it so rich on the pilot circuit it would even idle anymore but would still hang when revved (27.5 pilot). Well I know for a fact the motor was virtually air tight. It lost about a pound in 24 hours, but it evened out after that and didn't loose anymore for the next 48 hours ( I didn't work on it for a few days and just left the tester in there). The 87' carb I had had a brand new slide so I took the one out of the 88' carb and compared them. It looked like someone hogged out the bottom of the 88' slide and it was all uneven. The sides were also worn slightly. Well after comparing the two dimension wise I put the 87' slide in the 88' carb (not sure if that's totally ok but everything seemed alright). Fired it back up and it was rich as hell. Smoked like crazy but ran very consistently. I put the 25 pilot in and took the air screw out a lot further but still too rich. I don't have stock pilot size so I'm gonna order it. So basically I want to know has anyone ever heard of modifying the bottom of the slide to allow more air flow? The slide had some engraving in it on the sides. I'm pretty confident that with a smaller pilot and more air screw work I can get it dialed now as it doesn't run all erratically.

your supposed to hold carb up to light and if you see any light comong through it then either slide
or carb its=self is worn,

you cant use a 87 slide in a 88 carb they are different, i think one is smaller or sides are different.

and slides are all cut they have different cuts,

Where would light be coming through the actual carb itself?

Ok so more questions lol. I would really appreciate the help as I am getting a tad frustrated, riding this quad consistently is long overdue haha. So I was looking at slides on Ebay and am trying to get some things straightened out. The slide that came in the 88' carb I bought is a 1-1P. I am looking at one on Ebay that is a 1-2P and it says its for an 89'. The edges seem to be a different profile. Im really just trying to get this whole slide thing straightened out so I know how to better move forward. I kind of want to know what I have in my carb, what I need and where I can get it.

Heres the link of the ebay auction I was looking at.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/89-SUZUKI-LT500R-QUADRACER-CARBURETOR-SLIDE-THROTTLE-VALVE-PISTON-/181302492435?pt=Motorcycles_Parts_Accessories&hash=item2a36787d13&vxp=mtr

I was also looking at something like this: Number 27

http://www.motosport.com/atv/oem-parts/SUZUKI/1989/LT500R-QUADRACER/CARBURETOR-%28MODEL-J~K~L%29

So if I bought a brand new slide, how to I distinguish between the different models of slides such as the 1-1P, 1-2P, etc.

Any help would be so awesome I'm really in the dark on this. Thanks so much guys.