Colortune writeup?

I tried to do my first colortune last night and quickly realized that I really didn't have a good idea what I was looking for and I didn't have a good process in my head on how to do it. I know I have seen instructions in the forums in the past but now that I am looking for them it seems they are nowhere to be found. I do think I have it tuned in better then it was but not as good as it should be. So my question is, has anyone put together a writeup on how to colortune? If not, does anyone have any good suggestions on search criteria so I may find instructions that have been given in the past? Or door number three... would it just be easier to explain it again on this thread?

 

do you know the basic's of carb tuning - ie bench sync, then vac sync, then adjust mixture screw?

If you know that, then just put the colortune plug in and play with mixture screw and see how it effects the color of the flame. whiter is lean, yellow is rich. You want a nice "Bunsen" blue flame. Once you have that at idle, do some plug chops to see how the bike is running in the higher rpm's.

Here's another link.

 

Pretty much follow the instructions that came with the colortune.

Block your YICS; then-

You'll likely be "seeing blue" to begin with; richen up the mixture until it just starts to go yellow, then come back until you're "just into" the blue, from the rich side.

"Blip" the throttle between tweaks, and make the tweaks MINUTE, like 1/16 turn or less at a time.

One you're pretty happy with your results, go back and re-check your vac sync; and that's about it really.

Unblock the YICS, reset the main idle and go for a ride.

 

You have to tune between the "cool blue" and the "yellow" - you will find the "bunsen blue" which is hard to distinguish. Some tune with the YICS blocked - some without.

Regardless - your FINAL tune is done on the road and with plug readings and seat-of-pants feel. Get a pencil and paper and write down your fine-tune adjustments, and a comment on how the bike feels, then change all 4 either in or out (1/8 turn or less) and ride again. Get all 4 plugs the same color. This will take a while.

 

Crap, I know what I am doing tonight....

@wrxg33K, I do know the basics of carb tuning, they have been bench and vacuum synced in the past and the bike as been running fairly well, at least I think it has, I have no benchmark since it was hardly running when I got it. Reversed main and pilot jets will do that... When I got it, it was running so rich at idle that it would make you cry.

@Fitz and Timetoride, I was having hard time finding the bunsen blue but perhaps I was adjusting too quickly... Right now I have it tuned so there is just a slight bit of yellow still showing, I see now that I should fine tune it a little more.

I haven't had a chance to check the plugs since I tuned it (it was getting late last night and I had to get home) but it sure felt and sounded like it was running much better on the ride home. I will be checking them when I get home. After reading your tips I am suspecting I am set a little rich right now so I will be checking that again tonight and will revacuum sync it as well if I don't run out of time again....

I seem to remember reading something about having flecks of yellow. Should there be or am I remembering incorrectly?