First Colortune session - does this look right?

So I decided to kick back and relax with a little work on my Maxim-X tonight. Haven't tried the ColorTune set I've had for a month, so I fired it up tonight. First cylinder results:

ColorTune #1 (YouTube video)

and picture of plug (not a 'chop' but just a picture of the plug because I had it out of the engine to put the colortune plug in).

Picture of plug #1

Does this look right? The plug looks too white (lean) but the colortune looks blue... when I rev it, but hard to see at pure idle.

 

Hard enough to read a colortune in person. Impossible on on YouTube.

Plug says WAY LEAN.

You need to dial the mixture rich until the colortune is yellow, then dial back in until the yellow just disappears.

 

Really? Wow. I thought the colors came through pretty well on YouTube.

Better to follow the "Old School" method?

I'll record the current setting as best I can and then go richer and see how it looks. Thanks!

 

Was the bike hot and ridden first?
What is all that soot on the plug.
I would think plugs look better after riding on the highway for 20 min. or so.

 

I rode it about 4 miles through town, shut it off for 10-15 while I was reading the colortune instructions, getting tools, swapping the colortune plug in, etc. Too much soot? That's what, engine too cold, or mixture too rich?

The Colortune pamphlet said it's easier to see if you rev the engine a bit, but then I think people here have said Colortune is only useful for idle, and if I rev it... I'm not at idle.

 

I can see color when the throttle is open, but nothing when it's idling. That and the color of the plug says too lean. You should see a fairly steady blue at idle... could be the video though.

 

Thanks for the help. I went richer and found the blue point. Went too far and found orange, then dialed it back. Just had to go a few turns farther than I thought.

So I thought I remembered someone saying the colortune is "only for idle" but can you use it to tell if you need to rejet as well? If I rev past 4000 rpm and it goes rich/lean wouldn't the colortune tell me that as well?

Still need to sync the carbs/engine... which do you think would make it run worse, lack of a good sync or pilot mixture screws out of adjustment? Does timing ever need to be adjusted?

 

The colortune is useless for higher rpm "tuning" since the engine is not under any load. No load = incorrect reading. Idle speeds are the only situation when an engine is (properly) under a no-load condition, and thus it is proper to use the colortune for setting the IDLE mixture screws.......and of course, we recommend that the screws be set just the tiniest scooch under rich (just when the mixture goes blue before orange, which is rich) in order to accomodate the off-idle, under-load pilot circuit richness that is necessary to prevent a lean-stumble during the transition from idle to load conditions.........

 

Thanks Chacal. All the parts I've bought are coming in handy.