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Best TB sync tool?

Do you have any data regarding health consequences to professional and do-it-yourself motorcycle mechanics arising from the use of mercury sticks?

How about data about nurses and doctors using mercury manometers for taking blood pressures. I haven't noticed a lot of those folks falling over dead.
 
Found the vibration moves around some. My current state of tune smooths out the vibes at 3500 (70 mph in 6th). And the kind officer reminded me of that last night while traveling through a 55 zone.
He let me go with a verbal warning (and watch out for the deer), i wished him a merry Christmas.
I wonder. If been on one of those LOUD twins would he have done the same?
 
For those of us with uncertain gravitic anomalies in the garage...

(i.e. I drop 'stuff' sometimes)

I wound up with a refurbished Kowa Tools KEK-55 (the original version, with the vacuum tube ports on the back of the unit). It's done a credible job so far (now 10+ years), and usually checks close enough to the factory BMW Synchro.
 
slightly off topic, sorry

P

There will at some rpm always be a rocking couple imbalance. Frequently it is around 4,000 to 4,200 rpm. Perfect carb synchronization won't make it go away.

Interesting, Paul. After a number of years of riding my '82 R100, i "discovered"that there was a real sweet spot right at 4200. I've kept thinking there was something out of whack because my 2000 R1100RT wouldn't do the same, and was, in fact, rough at 4000-4200.
 
It's interesting that we used to play with mercury when we were kids and none of us died from it as far as I know. Today it is cast as one of the worst poisons ever. If ingested internally I would imagine so but I take these things with a grain of salt.

I've used mercury sticks, home made balancers, the Morgan Carbtune, the TwinMax and the Harmonizer to synch 1100 bikes. I've found the Harmonizer to be the best of the bunch by a wide margin. It's accurate, easy to use and I've checked it against the expensive BMW shop tool with good results.

I also really like the fact that I can hook it onto my windshield and ride the bikes around the neighbourhood to check my handy work. Try doing that with mercury sticks! :laugh

+1 on the Harmonizer.
I have had sticks (still do but rarely use) , Twin Max, and finally the Harmonizer.
I would never go back, an easy to use, well designed product. Love the rpm feature!
 
The power produced on the sides needs to match. Since both injectors fire at the same time they need to be matched before you do anything else.

Most major cities have someone that can clean injectors using a machine. Before cleaning my flowed 1% different, after it was not measurable on the machine cylinders. Mine is a little smoother. Not much, just a little.

Then you need to clean the intake. I used sprays for this.

Then I did a water torture combustion cleaning.

change oil, set valves, new plugs, it was wonderful for about 2K miles.

Our gas does not burn that clean. Some vibration is the nature of the beast.

Personally on my bike, Bosch 4417 plugs do pretty good for more miles than anything.

Rod
 
I've had mercury sticks in the past and they worked but you had to be careful to not suck the mercury into the engine. Also other issues with breakage of the glass rods etc.

I now use a Carbtune and it works fine, with no issues adjusting any engine with 1 to 4carbs/throttle bodies. To tame down the fluctuations in the sticks you have to use the restrictors in the lines, that's why ordinary vacuum gauges don't work, too much movement in the needles.

My vote goes with the Morgan Carbtune because it will do so many different types of carb/efi engines. As long as they have a vacuum port you can use it.
 
So, to be clear, even restricting the vac guages won't reduce needle movement to acceptable levels?
I made\use a clear tubing version and interested in something more portable & has other uses besides balancing oilheads.
 
So, to be clear, even restricting the vac guages won't reduce needle movement to acceptable levels?

I used to have a tech day at our house every spring. Lots of folks wanted to synchronize carbs or throttle bodies. I used to play a game. I would synch things by ear first, and then attach either my mercury sticks or Twinmax and see how close I got. I occasionally had to readjust the synch at idle but seldom readjusted the synch on the cables.

I am fairly confident I can synch by ear a lot better than I could trying to use two vacuum guages. There are just too many better devices for balance: Carb Stix, Twinmax, Carbtune, Harmonizer, etc.

If I had a use for a vacuum guage for other uses, I'd just get one. They are fairly cheap.

http://www.amazon.com/Actron-CP7802...F8&qid=1355083745&sr=8-3&keywords=vacuum+gage
 
I have done the vacuum gauge thing. It does not work well for me. I used "snubbers" to keep the needles from wiggling so fast I could not see them. Then what I was reading was the average vacuum compared to zero or the atmosphere.

When I had everything matched to watch the 4 gauges all read together was satisfying. This is different, only two cylinders.

With any of the other gauges you are only comparing one side to the other. Much easier. I think more accurate.

I just use a 6' stick and 20' of clear line with ATF in the U. It works on all my 2 cylinder bikes.

David
 
Lot's of high-tech stuff here.
I'm still using my home made manometer with ATF in it.
Seems to work quite well.
Maybe I'm just cheap.
No. Frugal. That's what it is; frugality. Sounds much better and is more easily defended.
 
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