colortune kit....worth the $70???

[81xsproject]

Tunning mixture by the color of the combustion as it happens. What could be more kool .If I had a exhaust /gas analizer I might be picky too BUT ...

I had them running real nice w/o the colortune and very little experience. Then I got the colortune (because I believe in the basic concept). After I used it, it idled nice. It got rid of the popping on deceleration which I THOUGHT was good. However, when I got the AEM and re-adjusted, it was 2 full turns to rich AND set right where it was before the colortune. I got the AEM because I redo people carbs for money and it isn't that cheap. So, I want to KNOW that the carbs I do are performing as I tell people they should throughout the WHOLE RPM range.

My point is, you don't need the Colortune to set your idle mixture. Try a setting and number of turns out from lightly seated and then go for a ride. Then try a half turn out from there until it idles good and doesn't stumble off the low end.

[ross]

some progress i think.....

hey there folks...i took all the advice into consideration and just for sh*ts and giggles, i turned all the idle screws in 1/4 turn to 1-1/4 turns out....took her for a spin....notice that there was not as much popping as before.....gas mpg seemed 2 be up, but just could be the gauge...will have to see on a long haul with a full tank...overall performance was a little better, but still was medium on the "pucker factor"......guess i'm gonna tinker with trying to see what happens when you adjust it on the fly....i know 2 & 3 are b*tches to adjust just when she is cold...can't wait to try it when she is hot and running out on the road.....might check with the local auto parts and see if they have right angle screwdriver that can reach in there.....mind you i will be doing this with the seat and gas tank bolted down.....not much room under that tank.....now 2 the replies.....

dbeardslee.....thanx for the $.04....when i get with Schmeerman, ill keep that in mind...i know i have read that also in other random postings both on this site and others around the globe....

Flatlander....you are right in the middle of this with all the rest of us....i will let you all know what the poop is about colortuning....it should be very interesting....

psycoreefer.....i also have noticed this, but if you adjust all 4 at the same time, you will notice a difference.....i know i did today....

boyat68....once again good advice....but as i learned with syncing the carbs....there is quite a difference with just looking at one cylinder as opposed to the entire motor....each cylinder has a direct link to the others....adjust one carb and all the others adjust with it....also, the fact that some of us can't hear so well...i know i get a hearing test every year at work and so far nothing has changed, but with other members, i just don't know...to have a visual aid to help adjust them in correctly must be out there and i am starting to believe that colortune is the way to go.....

dbeardslee...very nice link...moderators, maybe we should include this in the "links" section...just a thought.....i consider information to be a direct link to power...both in bikes and in life....

bikerphil....very nice "show and tell" fotos...just kidding...thanx for letting me know just what comes with the kit and what size i need....

Yahman...nice 2 c a "newbie" getting involved....i believe the procedure to hook up an external tach would be to hook a wire clamp around the #1 wire and then to power the tach.....run one wire to a ground and the positive side to the flux capacitor......hehehehe...just kidding...i don't really know, but i'm sure we can find out in this thread....now ya got me wondering...hmmmmm....

81xsproject...from reading your reply, i take it your a mechanic....the popping i get during deceleration and downshifting is my main problem...that and the fact that the mpg was down (getting better the more i tinker...i think)....and that it still seems a bit sluggish....like i said before the "pucker factor" is slightly medium at this point....slight vibration when rpm's r low and trying to drop the hammer in an upper gear....like 30 mph in 4th and trying 2 jump 2 50....not bad, but not right.....

2morrow i will be testing some theories out and trying to get her close by ear....i still think that color tuning is a better idea.....sorry to disappoint the "ney-sayers", but to see what is happening in the cylinder has got to have some positive results....its like just "spritzing" some water on the pipes to see how much steam you get off of each pipe...then you find a $20 bill in the parking lot of the auto parts store, go in and buy a laser thermometer and realize that there are many different degrees of steam.....

once again i'm amazed at the length and depth of this thread...thanx 2 all for your opinions, good or bad...thats what makes this a "family".....bickering....talk 2 ya later...ross

[81xsproject]

I am far from a mech. Wish I had that kind of knowledge base though. At least for my 4-1, if the mixture is right, it pops on decel.

[Flatlander]

Like sync. the carbs.

Ross brings up a good point here.
When sync. the carbs, one adjustment to one makes other change, so my question is do you install 4 of these in the plug holes to see all while making adjustments or........ are you just using one? Possibly this is why some don't like the colortune, because there are using one.?.
I don't know much about colortuning at all, just learned it here, so if I'm way off here, forgive me.

81xsproject saying "far from a mech." and T.C. saying a "decent" paint job. Ya right you guys, we don't beleive it!

[dbeardslee]

Flat - The way to do it is to synch the carbs, colortune them (one at a time), and resynch. The synchronizing is what affects the other carbs, not so much the mixture adjustment. The reason you synch first is so you can get a halfway decent idle when you adjust the mixture.

Also, on the colortune, you DON'T leave it in for more than a couple minutes at a time. Leave a little time in between carbs for the colortune to cool down. It has some plastic parts and if you try to run it for a long time the plastic can melt.

The way I do mine is to connect the synch gauges, synch, adjust the carbs (colortune) with the synch gauges still connected, and then resynch. I leave them connected just to save time and so I can keep an eye on the synch while adjusting mixture.

I would only recommend this with dial gauges, not mercury sticks. Reason being, if the idle gets out of control while your adjusting you can suck the mercury out of your sticks and into your carbs. The other thing I don't like about mercury sticks is that, if you get a little back fire while adjusting it can blow fuel down the line into the stick, ruining the gauge.

I built my own synch gauge using vacuum gauges from Harbor Freight and some needle valves from Ace Hardware. It works way better than my stick gauge did. If I had it to do over again, I would get the gauges at Northern Tool - they're about $6 apiece. $4 apiece for the needle valves, and a couple bucks for some 1/4" copper tubing and some vacuum hose.

[planedick]

Misstatement

If you look closely at the mercury carb sticks you will notice on the back there is a short hose connected to the top of the resevoir and to one of two posts. Look closely at those posts you will see that one of them has a slot cut into the side of it. When this hose is attached to the one with no slot it is VERY hard so suck out the mercury, impossible is more like it, because no air is allowed in the resevoir. This is the setting to use when starting the synch just in case it's a long way off. After getting the synch close you can move the tube to the post with the slot and the mercury will move higher in the tubes and the action will be more sensitive for a closer setting. In this position it might be possible to suck the mercury out.

[dbeardslee]

Planedick - You must have a different kind of stick gauge. Mine just has four glass tubes sharing the same mercury reservoir. There is a little damping plug in the flexible tubing where they attach to the glass tubes. There is a small hole near the top of the reservoir for venting, but no other tubes. It is (or rather was) an old Motion Pro gauge.

I've seen the mercury get high enough in the glass tubes to make me real nervous. What really did the gauge in though, was some backfiring that happened after I rebuilt the head. It blew some fuel back down the line where it mixed with the mercury and that was the end of that. Tried separating the two and all I accomplished was spilling mercury on my garage floor.

I went to the dial gauges because they will not put anything in the line and if I get another backfire, no harm done. Also, I have a young nephew who has been known to play hide-and-seek in my garage/laboratory/warehouse/man-cave. I didn't feel real good about having a toxic substance hanging around out there where he could conceivably come into contact with it.

[ross]

calibrating vacuum gauges...

hey there folks....when i did my setup with vacuum gauges, i took each one and with the engine warm and running plugged each one into the vacuum line for #3.....to set a standard of measurement.....if one gauge was off a bit, i wrote the difference on the gauge face and went on.....when i got it synced, i took the gauge that had a difference and measured it against #3 just 2 make sure....trust me, all gauges must be calibrated to make sure what they read is what you think they read!!!!...outta 4 gauges, i found one that was off.....so far, so good.....ross

[planedick]

Mine too

I have a Motion Pro mercury synch tool. The resevoir has a tube on the hole. I wonder how you would fill it with no hose or tube. Maybe the tube mount was broken off leaving the hole. If you were to put a peice of tape over the hole until you have them close it would do the same thing. Then remove it to do the final synch without fear of sucking up the mercury.

Maybe a little better understanding of physics would have helped you.

[dbeardslee]

Planedick - Don't know if something was in the hole originally or not. A friend gave me the gauge, so maybe there was something in the hole originally. An understanding of gravity is what moved me to go to the dials.

[planedick]

But

it's atmospheric pressure that makes it work.

[dbeardslee]

But but

I thought it was differential pressure that makes it work. Of course that requires the vent hole so that the pressure exerted on the mercury reservoir remains constant. But that's just me

[Pat Kelly]

The 1st time I used my ColorTune (Ebay) it uncovered a problem I didn't even know I had.
Working from cylinder 1 to 4, 1 and 2 were adjusted fine (I purposely set them rich to make the engine run cooler and keep the pipes from blueing). Cylinder #4 was good too but #3 had spark but no combustion. I revved the engine and at 4,200 RPM it lit-up.
I determined that the pilot jet in #3 carb was plugged and even after cleaning was FUBARed. I moved the suspect jet to #4 and the symptom followed. I ordered 4 new jets and all was well in my world.
A side-effect of the bad pilot jet was a mean-sounding idle (on 3 cylinders) then when "getting on the gas" the 4th cylinder would kick-in and YAHOOOOooooo......

[79XS11F]

Overall I think hi-tech turning tools are a bonus when working on these older bikes. Color tune as an example is something I had never even heard of back in the 70s.
Older carbs are easier to work on then the new non adjustable modern carbs but that does not make them easier to "get right", It just makes them workable. For me ... any tool that can help me dial the carbs in is a worthwhile tool to have. This is even more the case when working on bike with modifications.
Rob

[Pat Kelly]

If I remember right, I first heard "ColorTune" mentioned in a thread about broken a/f needles.
With the ColorTune you don't need to "lightly seat" the needles, possibally breaking the tip off in the carb.