home made carb tune tool

[saddlebum]

While at Marcarls Venture in I watched him do a carb sync on Evens bike the tool he used was a very simple home made tool. While in Princess auto I decided to pick up a vacuum gauge and make my own I also stumbled across a square pre-drilled and tapped aluminum sqaure bar with a total of 7 ports. Picked up 4 needle valves from Lowes plumbing section and

20' of clear tubing and proceeded to build my own.

 

To operate you simply open the valve connected to the cylinder you are working on and adjust to steady the needle. By using one gauge there is no worry about accuracy between gauges.

If you made one with 4 gauges you would have to spend extra money for high quality gauges that read exactly the same.

 

NOTE; I HAVE REPLACED THE CLEAR HOSE WITH ACTUAL AUTOMOTIVE VACUUM HOSE FINDING THAT THE CLEAR HOSE WOULD COLLAPSE WHEN IT GOT WARM

Edited July 5, 2018 by saddlebum

[Reaney in NH]

NEED PICS!!!!

[saddlebum]

NEED PICS!!!!

Look Again

[Kregerdoodle]

looks nice, have you got to use it yet??

[RandyR]

The few times I made my own tools, it was a good feeling to be able to use them.

[KiteSquid]

NICE!!!!!! did you put restricters in the lines?????

[saddlebum]

NICE!!!!!! did you put restricters in the lines?????

No I didn't you simply adjust the needle valves to dampen the gauge and until the needle holds steady . I watched Marcarl use his that way and it seemed to work very well. I guess you could add restrictors in the lines easily enough if you felt the need.

Edited June 2, 2009 by saddlebum

[Dave77459]

No I didn't you simply adjust the needle valves to dampen the gauge and until the needle holds steady . I watched Marcarl use his that way and it seemed to work very well. I guess you could add restrictors in the lines easily enough if you felt the need.

 

I don't understand how it works? What is the procedure?

 

Dave

[saddlebum]

Basicaly you connect a hose to each carb and leave the valves closed. open the valve to the carb you are adjusting, and adjust valve so the needle stops vibrating and holds steady.then note the reading. repeat for each cylinder adjusting the carbs as required until you get the same reading for all four. you only open the valve connected to the carb you are working on the other three valves remain closed.

[RedRocket]

Looks nice. Someone else here made one with some bottles and hoses, but yours looks smaller, and neater.

 

I think I'll try yours sometime this summer.

[ScottXD45]

Wouldn't it be easier to just have 4 gauges so you could veiw all the readings at once?

[Marcarl]

Wouldn't it be easier to just have 4 guages so you could view all the readings at once?

You can't depend on all 4 guages to be exactly the same, and it would cost 4 times as much on guages, so you only use one guage, it's also easier to handle, less weight and less bulk. If you used 4 guages you would also need a longer manifold. I've used it lots of times and find it works as easy and quickly as one of those Morgan things, it's cheaper and less prone to damage, but it does not pack away as well, in that way it's a bit bulky, but it doesn't have to go to maintainance day, I can work wiith a Morgan for one day.

[KiteSquid]

So if I did the math correclty, you have about $34 in parts in this tool.

 

Saber cycle goldwing parts sells a four channel mercury manaometer on ebay for $52.80 including shipping.

 

So once again if I did the math correclty, you saved about $18.80 on your tool.

[Venturous Randy]

So if I did the math correclty, you have about $34 in parts in this tool.

 

Saber cycle goldwing parts sells a four channel mercury manaometer on ebay for $52.80 including shipping.

 

So once again if I did the math correclty, you saved about $18.80 on your tool.

 

Yep, but he also does not have to deal with the mercury part of it.

RandyA

[RedRocket]

Yep, but he also does not have to deal with the mercury part of it.

RandyA

 

 

And he made it himself. What price do you put on the sense of accomplishment?

[BigBoyinMS]

I like it! I used to use one that same way, with the valve to dampen the pulsations, to adjust the idle air on carbs. But that gauge was in a truck that was stolen so I need to get a new one.

BTW, I posted about the two bottle setup that I have. I remember someone saying something about how much more sensitive a carbtune or similar tool is over the bottles but I adjusted the VStar a couple of weeks ago and just the pressure of holding the screwdriver on the adjusting screw was enough to make it move.

[saddlebum]

So if I did the math correclty, you have about $34 in parts in this tool.

 

Saber cycle goldwing parts sells a four channel mercury manaometer on ebay for $52.80 including shipping.

 

So once again if I did the math correclty, you saved about $18.80 on your tool.

Don't forget my parts were purchased here in Canada in the US the parts would be cheaper and if your a scrounger which I usually am you could build it for next to nothing.

[KiteSquid]

Good job!!!!!!!!

 

 

I like the fact that it uses one guage, so that takes out all varriation.

[Peder_y2k]

mc tuner shop techs will tell you a mercury manometer is most accurate.

Pete, in Tacoma WA USA

[Marcarl]

mc tuner shop techs will tell you a mercury manometer is most accurate.

Pete, in Tacoma WA USA

 

Yep,,, bet they would,,, and guess what it is that they use.

[Peder_y2k]

Yep,,, bet they would,,, and guess what it is that they use.

 

Carb Stix is my response.

 

The motorcycle speed shop near me primarily uses the Motion Pro Carb Stix, a 4 tube mercury manometer, but also has several others including the Carbtune and various mechanical types. They say it works best and is most accurate, but use the others where the Motion Pro is unsuited.

This speed shop builds and tunes drag bikes and track racers as well as service regular bikes.

 

-Pete, in Tacoma WA USA

[saddlebum]

 

Carb Stix is my response.

 

The motorcycle speed shop near me primarily uses the Motion Pro Carb Stix, a 4 tube mercury manometer, but also has several others including the Carbtune and various mechanical types. They say it works best and is most accurate, but use the others where the Motion Pro is unsuited.

This speed shop builds and tunes drag bikes and track racers as well as service regular bikes.

 

-Pete, in Tacoma WA USA

This is all very true. However for the DIY'r who cannot justify or afford purchasing one of the retail units just to do his own bike and maybe a friend or two, the homemade single gauge unit works surprisingly well and I doubt the average everyday rider would even notice the minor difference. As a matter of fact one of the guy's who I synced carbs for latter had the opportunity to check it with a carb tune and found it to be spot on. Although I purchased all the hardware new, just because I wanted it to look nice, I could have built it for nothing just by digging through my pile of Junk using tee and elbow fittings the way Carl built his which is were I got the idea from but just felt like embellishing it a little. Plus it makes for a pretty compact unit. The only draw back is you cannot observe all four cylinders at the same time which is a pretty minor issue and were you to build it with four gauges you would have to make sure all 4 were 100% in sync with each other. Edited March 31, 2015 by saddlebum

[Peder_y2k]

All well and good, and I'll likely build a mechanical one just for the heck of it..... and because I've got all the materials already...........somewhere in storage.

-Pete, in Tacoma WA USA

[Marcarl]

The first one I built I used 1\2 copper tubing, T's and elbows, but it looked awful and so I went a spent the big bucks,,, probably about $30 at the time.