Homemade float tool

When trying to measure the float height on my85 XJ700N, I wanted a very steady measurement that measured both floats at the same time. I had this piece of aluminum available and was able to cut it to the exact height and width to span both floats and rest on the rim of the bowl. For my bike the floats are to be set at .63 inches from the mating surface of the bowl, so I simply measured the depth of the lip and subtracted that from the .63 I wanted. I also had to cut out the center to clear the carb pick-up and also make one side a little smaller to accommodate the idle screw. It worked great and is a permanent part of my XJ tool kit.

 

Which works great for doing a "dry" set, I'm sure.

Unfortunately, "dry" is only the starting point; there can be enough variances in actual fuel-shutting-off operation that it still makes "wet" VERIFYING (at the very least) necessary.

Ya gotta check them "wet" to be sure.

 

I did the wet, but this just made it easy to do the dry setting first and got them pretty close.