griennehornette
XS650 Enthusiast
Welp, it was one of those days. They happen a lot with me; but that's another story. Suffice it to say, I tend to take the long way around on most projects.
Today was no different, in that I made a number of breathtaking errors along the way, which cost me time and effort. But I should probably stick to the point.
I made one of those DIY manometers; the kind using 2 bottles. The Youtube vids say this is better than the length of hose, as no fluid will get into your carbs. Clearly they have never dealt with anyone of my bumbling calibre. But at least I was able to rip the tube out of the carb before much fluid got in. Let's just say my carbs were not even close to balanced.
Anyway, after drying everything out and dropping the carbs so I could bench sync the butterflies and get them back to somewhat close to synched, a weird thing happened. I did manage to get the manometer to balance. But I could tell just from the noise and shaking of the bike that the carbs were *not* balanced.
I pulled out the tubes, replaced the air screws, and put my hands behind the pipes. One side was way stronger than the other. So I futzed around and got them fairly equal feeling. The idle revs went down nicely (which is what got me started on this adventure this morning - high idle revs).
So then I took out the air screws, and plugged in the manometer again. One jar drained like a toilet into the other. I got them somewhat close to balanced again, and the bike sounded like shit. Popped the air screws back in, and again, hands behind the pipes could feel a large difference.
So I just balanced with the feel of the exhaust. I dunno what went wrong with the manometer. I made one with just the long hose years ago, and it worked fine.
Is balancing by the feel of the exhaust pressure at all accurate? The bike sounded happier with it; but I dunno how accurate the feel of puffs of exhaust are gonna be.
Today was no different, in that I made a number of breathtaking errors along the way, which cost me time and effort. But I should probably stick to the point.
I made one of those DIY manometers; the kind using 2 bottles. The Youtube vids say this is better than the length of hose, as no fluid will get into your carbs. Clearly they have never dealt with anyone of my bumbling calibre. But at least I was able to rip the tube out of the carb before much fluid got in. Let's just say my carbs were not even close to balanced.
Anyway, after drying everything out and dropping the carbs so I could bench sync the butterflies and get them back to somewhat close to synched, a weird thing happened. I did manage to get the manometer to balance. But I could tell just from the noise and shaking of the bike that the carbs were *not* balanced.
I pulled out the tubes, replaced the air screws, and put my hands behind the pipes. One side was way stronger than the other. So I futzed around and got them fairly equal feeling. The idle revs went down nicely (which is what got me started on this adventure this morning - high idle revs).
So then I took out the air screws, and plugged in the manometer again. One jar drained like a toilet into the other. I got them somewhat close to balanced again, and the bike sounded like shit. Popped the air screws back in, and again, hands behind the pipes could feel a large difference.
So I just balanced with the feel of the exhaust. I dunno what went wrong with the manometer. I made one with just the long hose years ago, and it worked fine.
Is balancing by the feel of the exhaust pressure at all accurate? The bike sounded happier with it; but I dunno how accurate the feel of puffs of exhaust are gonna be.