RickCoMatic's ColorTune Report -- "I'm so blue ... "

Well, I did it ... ColorTuned my 750 Max. What a deal. I have to admit; I was a skeptic on this. I figured the "Feel and sound" method of taking 45-minutes to tweak it, was good enough.

Today, I ColorTuned!

1. It a "Piece-'o-cake" to do. (After you pull the factory plugs and learn to juggle the ColorTuning parts.)

I started at #-1 and worked my way across. All you have to do is look-in and see what's going-on and make the adjustment. An experimental tweak confirms you've found "The spot" ... on to the next one.

With all four of my cylinders hitting right on the edge of -- "Just exactly rich enough" -- the bike idles so smooth you can leave your drink on the airbox and not worry about it vibrating and spilling. Well, that's not a good description ... but, smooth! Real nice. Full control at the idle adjustment rod allowing you to back-off the idle to 900 rpm without the surge and bucking syndrome.

My hats off to the folks that invented this invaluable tuning aid!

 

Well..well...welll....has Rick been playing with my colortune? Is he ready to admit that precision is better than guesswork? Inquiring minds want to know!!!! 8P

 

Ab-so ... freakin' ... loot-lee !!! It don't git no easier thun dat. I felt like a grave-robber drilling-out the plugs to get at the Pilot Screws. But, once I got the first one odda-there ... the other three knew I was comin' !

I looked at that ColorTune plug and I just wondered if it was the mechanicak equivelent of a "Mood Ring"

Undaunted ... I followed the instructions right down to the letter. Got the bike fired-up and peeked down the little black chiminey. Low and behold ... I'm looking at the combustion chamber firing. That's when I put my -- Especially made for Pilot Jet's -- screwdriver on the # 1 Pilot and began the tweak. It didn't take me long to understand to what precision you can adjust that mix with ... when you have a nice little window letting you see just exactly how the mixture you are dialing-in is getting burned on the power stroke.

After I got comfortable using the tool and tweaking all in one motion ... I started looking at the "window" on the tool, surrounded by the electrode, as the exhaust of a wound-up carrier jet! Oh, yeah! Show me that afterburner!!!

BlueMaxim wizzed that fastball right by me. He had it right. If you can git yerseff Cullah-tooned -- Whale den ... Gid-id-own -- Gid-id-own -- Bang-da-gong!!!!

 

Roflmao!!!! I just knew it! Now wait until you have a colortune and the carbtune II hooked up together. I feel like a mad scientist at work when I do this at carb clinics. 8) You have to do it to appreciate it. It is an intoxicating experience. The icing on the cake is to see the smile on the bikers face when he/she returns from that first ride after a tune.

Colortune plug $60
Yics Tool $36
Bikers smile Priceless!

 

PRICELESS ... Indeed!

 

Well done Rick. Shucked those old skool gremlins off and embraced the tool!.

How far from the standard setting did you have to go to get it "spot on" or were you too excited to count the turns. :wink:

 

Hey hey hey, another turned from the dark side! Glad to hear the results were beyond expectation. Got to try my units out, any takers? I haven't an XJ up right now (besides, it uses 10mm plug) and am itching to give it a whirl. Rick, I'm curious to know how close you were too.

 

Hey, what extaly is a carbtune II? And also, when using the colortune, do you also use the YCIS tool inserted? Or do you only use the YCIS tool while you are synching the carbs? Seems that the crossover passgae would also affect the idle mixture settings (while using the colortune)? Thanks for your insights!

 

A colortune is a special sparkplug with a glass top that allows the viewing of the flame color. The YICS needn't be in place to utilize the colortune but I agree with you that the idle cross over may lead to slightly off readings. Might be a good idea for optimal results.

 

1983 XJ750MK Midnight Max (Well, no more after I de-blacked that baby) ... anyway, I'd say the Factory Settings were probably one to one and a half ... possible even two ... (miles) away from showing me a BLUE combustion mixture.

This bike was factory-fresh -- engine wise. Initially, I was thinking the Colortune wasn't working for me. But, I kept turning the Pilot screw out until I started seeing evidence that there was "something" happening in there. I had to keep tweaking it out until I got a steady burn. Then, maybe another quarter-turn to bring-in the BLUE.

All in all ... I'd say I have the Pilot screws just shy of three and a half turns out. I got so involved in looking into the sight tube ... that I wasn't really paying attention to the "How many" ... as I was the "How good."

I will add this ... during today's Carb Clinic ... we tore-down the 4-Pack off WolfMajors 700 Max. After drilling-out the #-1 Pilot screw ... we took 'em all out and cleaned the set 100%. (We -- I mean SHE!) After seeing one carb get stripped and cleaned ... she did all the rest ... and they were squeaky-cleaned. ++ And, cleaned-tuned with 800 and 1000 to get the slides falling so fast they might go right through the float bowls !! )

We stuck them back-in Factory (2.5) ... the bike fired right up -- after I turned-on the supply valve from the aux tank ... and ran pretty good. After the sync and Colortune ... it was idling real nice at 900 rpm.

I'd say we had to enrich the mixture just shy of another full turn OUT to get the really nice looking BLUE needed for the (Oh this is painful) "Precision adjustment" capable with the Colortuning!

There, I said it. On-the-money. Oh, yea ... a marble wouldn't have rolled off the level of sync we achieved. It wasn't "Ball parked" into the same gradient. Not "Close enough for Government Work" either. All the mercury columns looked like they had just left the barber shop after getting a Flat-top!

 

The carbtune II is a vacuum sync tool that uses spring loaded weights instead of mercury. So it can be moved about with no worries about spilling mercury.
I use the YICS tool when colortuning and syncing. I hook up everything and start the bike. A quick look at the vacuum sync tool tells me if I need to concentrate one cylinder first. So a missing cylinder can be tuned in and the bike will run better making the other cylinders easier to tune. Sometimes a cylinder will steal fuel from a rich cylinder and run ok. But when isolated from that cylinder it will miss. Once all are hitting as they should then I bring the vacuum into sync.

 

Where can a Colortune be purchased???

 

E-Bay has several listed at this time. I think one actually ends today that I'm bidding on. If I'm correct we need the 14mm plug correct?

 

Yup, 14mm for 80-84 650-750.

 

Is this the same ColorTune you are talking about?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ColorTun ... enameZWDVW

 

Yes but you can have it new for about the same price (with a warranty) at http://www.international-auto.com/index ... 48/sc/8189. I would go that route rather than Fleabay. Google Colortune and check out the various suppliers.

 

http://www.carbtune.com/colortune.html

 

Thanks for all the info, RickCoMatic!!
I just bought me a ColorTune and i hope to tackle that job this weekend. I'll let you know how it went! Thanks again for posting some good Colortune info! I'll let my dad read this so he has a better idea of how it works!