[rkjjeep]

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Just did the synch on my 1500. Not too bad, but ya gotta be pretty good with a light and screwdriver to get on that synch screw. Not sure I needed to remove as much plastic as the cymer said - looks like just the L and R fairing lowers would do it? I used my old homemade manometer with ATF. They were pretty close after 20K with no synch. I took the time to get em spot on and it improved the launch feel. Bob

 

[Goldwinger1984]

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Well done Bob. Did you happen to take any pics of your work and the homemade manometer?

Vic

 

[rkjjeep]

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I'll take a pic of the ATF manometer and post it soon. I got the idea off one of the BMW airhead boards. I used to use mercury sticks and one of my girls knocked them over and we had little mercury balls all over the driveway. Then the neighbor freaked out and called someone and a haz met team came out to clean it up. Unreal. Anyway this is more sensitive and LOTS safer. One of the sites that gives an idea what it is:

http://www.powerchutes.com/manometer.asp

Bob

 

[Goldwinger1984]

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Thanks Bob, very interesting info. Your neighbor sounds interesting too. Bet he eats more mercury in the fish he ingests than was on the ground in your driveway.

Vic

 

[twisty]

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rkjjeep wrote:

I'll take a pic of the ATF manometer and post it soon. I got the idea off one of the BMW airhead boards. I used to use mercury sticks and one of my girls knocked them over and we had little mercury balls all over the driveway. Then the neighbor freaked out and called someone and a haz met team came out to clean it up. Unreal. Anyway this is more sensitive and LOTS safer. One of the sites that gives an idea what it is:

http://www.powerchutes.com/manometer.asp

Bob

Bob, those oil (or water) manometers do work good as long as the carbs are pretty close to begin with. If there is gross difference in the carbs it is hooked to it will suck the oil (or water) from the tubes. Because oil or water is lighter than mercury the tubes have to be very long to allow a full vacuum reading. I used a similar type as you have for years & as long as the carbs are operational & not too far off it worked good. I added a plastic bottle to both ends of the U line to catch & separate any oil accidentally pulled out of the tube if I revved the bike & let it decel or hooked to a carb that was way out of sync. I used a 2 tube set up even on a 4 carb bike by installing a manifold with flip type shut-off valves & just balanced the other 3 carbs to the master carb one at a time. Currently I use the same manifold & flip valves but use a single dampened precision vacuum gauge & just flip valves between the master carb & each of the other carbs as I balance. By using the same gauge the accuracy is extremely close.

Twisty

 

[rkjjeep]

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Twisty - Yep. Worse case is you could suck a little ATF into the engine. I shouldn't admit it but if someone brought their car in where I was a service mechanic and it looked like it needed valves - I'd give it the quick pour a little ATF down the carb clean the valve deposits out treatment to see if I could save em some money. I knew some guys who used water and swore it steam cleaned the deposits off the piston tops. I can usually see immediately at start up if some ATF might climb a tube and make it to the intake. I like the sensitivity of these over mercury. I used to use a "twinmax" (electronic balancer) and found I could get MUCH closer with ATF sticks. Really important on my previous modern BMW twins - anything less than perfect synch and they ran crappy.
Bob

 

[BRowan]

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Thats a great tip about making your own gauges, I never thought iot was so easy.