Carb balacing

[cabbage2404]

After owning my RD03 for a few years now, i've finally got my finger out of my a**e and bought a set of vacuum gauges to balance the carbs.
After spending time messing around getting all the plastics and tank off to get to the carbs and connect the gauges up AND setting up a seperate fuel feed i was at least hoping for a little improvement. But F**K me, it's like a different bike, it's smoother, pulls harder and spins up quicker. And all on a 90,000 KM 19 year old bike So if anyone is considering balancing theirs, DO IT. It,s the best 20 quid i've spent

[chronyx]

Mutter grumble




Tried. RD07 balance screw is the work of Satan's mother in law. Glad your Twin is better for it though.

[XR Mad]

Save your £20 get some clear small bore pipe staple it to a piece of 2x1" wood in a u put some liquid in it (i think i used brake fluid been a long time since i done this) mark the fluid line when level then connect one end of the u to one cylinder inlet and the other end to the other cylinder and adjust untill the fluid is at the level line you may have to experiment a bit with different levels and fluids at first but this does work with two cylinder engines and is more accurate than gauges.

[ladder106]

I'd strongly recommend using some type of oil in the "homebuilt" manometer.......they work well but - -

If your carbs are grossly out of balance, the first time you start the bike you just might suck some of your indicating fluid up into the intact tract. If so, it's better if it's something the engine doesn't mind ingesting.....brake fluid......gggaaaaaccckkkkk...p'toowee!

[BobA]

I'm inclined to agree.

If you're doing a oil & filter service yourself, balancing the carbs will only take you a little bit longer (especially on an RD03 or RD04) and if you get it right (it's hard to get wrong) is the single thing that gives the most satisfying results.

I actually balanced my RD04 the second time by ear and feel (I'd lent someone my guages) and it still felt better.



Bob

[XR Mad]

I'd strongly recommend using some type of oil in the "homebuilt" manometer.......they work well but - -

If your carbs are grossly out of balance, the first time you start the bike you just might suck some of your indicating fluid up into the intact tract. If so, it's better if it's something the engine doesn't mind ingesting.....brake fluid......gggaaaaaccckkkkk...p'toowee!

I quite agree i didnt want to try coloured water as it was a bit thin and the gear oil i had was too thick to get into the pipe so the only stuff i had left that was free was brake fluid the carbs were quite closely matched so the fluid stayed in the pipe mind you it was about 2 foot high and i had a couple of squeeze offs on the pipe ends which i released slowly