trying to lean out my carbs!!!!!!

O.k I finally got around to trying to lean out my carbs and did the following. On the top of the carbs (near the hats)are the tiny brass mixture screws. I went to make a small tweak to one of the screws and found that it took hardly anything to move it. It feels real loose and I was just curious if that is correct. It seems like this should have some resistance but mine are so loose that it seems like if I breath on it then it might change.I did go ahead and make a small tweak all 4 because all of my cylinders are real rich (black plugs). I turned them in about 1/16th of a turn or so.

 

If your running "real rich" a small 1/16th of a turn probly wont help much.

Did you check to see if the loose one was around the same turns out as the rest? I would try turning them all in, then back out 2.5 turns and then see how she runs and do a plug chop.

If you can afford it, buy a colortune....

 

If I turn them all in THEN OUT 2.5 TURNS will that have any effect on the balance of the carbs ( I think its the bigger screw that syncs 1~2 together and 3~4 together. I dont have any tools yet ( sync meter etc.). I just want to try to make it a bit more lean. I have a bad cell phone pic in order from left to right 1,2,3,4. As you can see 1 ~2 are closer then 3~4. I think what you by a plug chop is getting on it and taching up for a bit to heat the plug? Not sure but it`s most likely a bad guess. I took it for a quick ride around the block getting on it a bit. "RickCoMatic" sent me a good procedure for tuning but I have not got that far yet. What I can say is that when I give it alot of throttle it bogs at higher RPM`S. It takes off real good and idles fine. I need to read his procedure because he had some good advice.

 

Here is a pic and also should the mixture screws be loose?

 

got about 10 seconds out of my digital camera--left to right 1-2-3-4.

 

No, adj'ing mix screws will not affect carb bal. in fact many will
save the air/mix adj untill after a carb balance.
2 1/2 turns out is a perfect place to start. You should see results
right away.
A plug chop tells you how the cyl's are firing under load.

First adj the screws.

Then check at idle. if good. Take the bike down a road the has little
traffic, and a safe shoulder to work on. scoot along at 5k ,
pull in the clutch while hitting the kill switch. Check the plugs.

Of cource you really should do a carb cleaning/valve adj first,but
you can still do the above with good results.

 

So do I only need to go for a short distance? The guy I just bought it from said he did a rebuild and the carbs are pretty clean. I did the clunk test and it clunks...I did not dig real deep into the bike yet because it seems to run good and I dont want to do much until the fall. Ill post a link to you tube of the bike at idle so at least you can hear it run. I`m new to older bikes so I might be missing something. Right now I have it idleing at abot 1k or just under and it seems to idle fine. I am letting my digital cam charge so it will be a few minutes.

 

Im going to post this video but it sounds so much better in person. My digital camera has a horrible speaker so here it is.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YkxS3MebXyo

 

From what I can tell from your video, she's not far off. I didn't detect the usual sync problem - "takes a while to rev down after throttling up". So your sync seems ok.

1&2 do look to be a bit lean and 3&4 look rich.

#2 looks funky, wish the pic was better, but it looks to show signs of advanced timing.

Your exhaust sounds nice. I could hear through the microphone distortion enough to contemplate it.

Like I said before, screw all your mixture screws in(careful not to over tighten) then back each out 2.5 turns. A true plug chop involves using new plugs to check proper burn in. However, if you just clean up/brush the ones you have so they are clean, so new deposits can accumulate, then you should still be able to get an accurate reading.

A quick run "up to the store and back" should suffice as far as getting a good plug chop. (8-10 miles)

Colortune is your friend... Invest in one... Trust me...

 

I think when I get out of work I am going to do the move ( all the way in and 2.5 turns out). Hopefully this will help with my rich condition.

 

Hey vedalkin how close can you get with a colortune? What I mean is can this actually be used to sync as well or this simply for air/fuel mixture? I hate syncing carbs and had a hell of a time with my car. I remember spending hours trying to sync up the carbs on my car and never got where I wanted them to be.

 

You can't sync the carbs with a colortune. It is a visual aid for tuning the pilot mixture. The procedure as described to me by others here and the one that I have followed (once) is to bench sync, color tune, sync with manometer and color tune again. I forgot to blank the YICS passage the first time so I will be doing it over this weekend. Though I got fairly good results the first time through, I don't see any reason not to do it right since I have the tools.

 

do you need to block the yics passage when you use colortune??

 

I never thought to ask that one! It is just a guess but I would think not. I didn't anyway.

 

Exactly.

The first time I colortuned I didn't have the YICS tool, so all I was able to do was bench sync and colortune. Then once I borrowed a YICS blocker, I then was able to manometer, and colortune again, with better results.

It's my opinion, that bench syncing, then colortuning without a YICS tool and a manometer, will get you fairly close, but not perfect. If your striving for perfection, a YICS tool, a manometer, and a Colotune are the way to go.

 

Plugs from left to right after plug chop.
left is 1,2,3,4,
My guess is that they are as follows
1- lean
2- lean
3- rich
4- rich

At a light it takes off o.k but not scarry fast but sometimes when I get on it if I`m up at about 3~5k rpm it will bog a little then come on. Idles great and seems to run fairly smooth if I drive easy. Like I said a little sputter if I get on it but once it`s on it goes o.k

 

everytime I upload a picture it comes up with this stupid border. is there a way to get rid of it so the file can be better detailed?

 

I took some time and adjusted all the screws all the way in and 2.5 out. This really did get it close. It looks like I might be just a hair lean now on 3 out 4 cylinders and pretty god on the 4th. It`s tough to tell because of how black my pugs were to start with. I might actually buy new plugs. The other thing I found was that the gaps were way off on 3 plugs. 1 was almost completely closed and the other 2 were at about .015". The 4th was at about .030" so that was o.k.

 

I talked with a few people about tweaking the mixture screws and some people go to the extreme of removing the tank to get to the sunken mixture screws. I went to walmart and bought a magnetic extension and put a flat head bit in it and it works pretty good. I just thought I would put this in here with a pic because it might help someone. The good thing is that you can select different size bits and it`s magnetic so It should stay in place. I suppose you could even glue it together if you needed. I also marked it with glyptol so I could easily count how many turns I am making.

 

Mafia,

you can put larger pics by uploading them onto a hosting server(Picasa, ect) and embedding the image onto the post

Plugs clean themselves after a highway run, replace if necessary though as they do have a limited lifespan. After you replace allow them some time to "burn in" before you do another plug chop