Carbtune and colortune

[alke46]

Is it really required to use both of these tools for proper carb settings?

It seems like you would want this if you were looking for "track" type performance.

Can these tools be purchased in the USA?

 

[SqDancerLynn1]

They are not required but if you do a lot of MC work and can justify the cost They make life much easier.

 

[alke46]

are they available in U.S.?

 

[GQROD]

They both are sold by many dealers online however when i needed a color tune EVERYONE was backordered by two weeks or more not counting the time to ship it.

I went through the UK and got the carbtune in ten business days and the colortune in 8 business days, granted the the first was late due to a holiday.

Make sure you get the right thread size, my 83 gs550E is a 12mm.

The colortune is not needed if you are really good at doing plug chops etc.

I found it to be worth it because it let me know right away without having to ride the bike around ( sometimes when tuning you can't ride it cause it's running so bad) that the mix was wrong, and how far the adjustment range was before the needles bottomed out.

This in turn made me realize that my pilot jets were too small. Confirmed this with plug chops at idle, got some jets from a member here who sold me parts carbs ( thanks again melodic!! and the advice of those who helped ) and the bike has run great ever since.

Hope this helps

 

[alke46]

It does help a lot. Thanks GQROD

 

[Guest]

If your considering buying a carb sync'er, then i strongly recommend the Morgan carb tune.

http://www.carbtune.com/

I also have a colortune plug & think it's a POS - I do a better job by ear...

good luck,

mike

 

[alke46]

I don't understand what you say about the colortune. From what I have read, it should be the definative setting tool that lets you see the perfect color of blue flame. No?
By the way, this colortune tool is something new to me. I had never heard of them until joining this forum. Insight is very valuable.

 

[Guest]

Well, I've used mine on all 4 of my bikes - it seemed to work better on some than others, meaning the nice blue color is a bit of a subjective thing... I found A LOT of blue colors during the process.

After I "tweak" the mix screws with the colortune, I then fine tune by ear, listening to both the engine & the exhaust, looking for that smooth rumble sound.

Of course, plug chops are the only real way to "know" how the bike is running under different conditions.

The price of the colortune isn't that much - buy one & try it, along with all the other methods of getting your bike to idle/run like you want.

At the end of the day, I found I really didn't use the colortune, mainly because there wasn't a point where it definitively went to that "blue" color all the time.

My opinion, perhaps it will work for you.

 

[alke46]

Thanks for your opinion...... I think I might just try it by ear and listen to the engine revs, thereby saving my hard earned $$$$$$$$

 

[GavinJuice]

one things i learned with the colortune is if your possibly burning oil, your never going to get a proper reading and it will mess with ya. You can adjust your pilot through the whole spectrum but never that steady bunsen blue only flashes.

 

[Guest]

If you aren't in a huge hurry, you can probably score a reasonably priced Colortune kit off ebay....I just received mine (new old stock) that I snagged for $22.00. They usually go in the $40 to $50 range. Make sure you get the correct mm plug for your bike. I will probably use it next spring as this season is pretty much done. I was also lucky to recently score a Morgan Carbtune-2 advertised on the local Craigslist for $80....dude used it once on his FZ-1 before selling his bike. I used the Morgan a couple weeks ago, and it is probably the best, hassle-free, carb sync tool around, but not cheap at around $140 imported to Canada.
Tony.

 

[GQROD]

Thanks for your opinion...... I think I might just try it by ear and listen to the engine revs, thereby saving my hard earned $$$$$$$$

Colortune is not the definetive end all and be all of tuning. It is just a better way to get closer to achieving the best fuel/air mix ratio. Especially for those who have not had years of experience tuning engines.

I have worked primarily on german cars all my life, got my first bike and felt like i was starting from scratch. The colortune helped me get the mix right and plug chops confirmed that my mix was correct or needed tweaking.

On cars you have an exhaust gas analyzer to determine when the fuel mixture is within specs for both correct running and for emissions compliance, which is why you never used to need a colortune the gas analyzer was more accurate, however even that would make some engines run leaner to comply with fed regs and i would have to richen the mixture to get it to run better and not blow head gaskets.

If you ever watch top fuel drag racing you will notice teh chief mechanic or other crew member looking at the plugs as if he were a jeweler looking at a diamond ( they are both looking for flaws ) in order to see if the mix is correct and to see if there is pitting or contamination of the plug.

Running lean is very bad and can blow holes in pistons, if tuning an engine by ear were so easy and safe no one would need this forum or mechanics.......as for me i'm tone deaf when it comes to guessing that an engine is running correctly so i'll take all the tools i can get my hands on and save my engine.

Hope this helps

 

[howling60]

*enter stupid newb here*

Ok, bikes, are a completely foreign concept to me, carbs even more so... with that being said, cars & i get along just fine... just finished a complete custom build of a vw corrado with a 2.0 16v fed by an eaton M90 supercharger... as a result, i have all my datalogging tools used for tuning that...

now... why could i not, say... grab a spare exhaust (or make one, or.. something)... weld in a bung for my wideband o2 system on each header, and use that for tuning in the carbs for correct mixture?

maybe this is a really stupid question, but... i'm curious.. enlighten me please

(sorry about the thread highjack... it just seems like this thread works for this question)

-Nate

 

[GQROD]

*enter stupid newb here*

Ok, bikes, are a completely foreign concept to me, carbs even more so... with that being said, cars & i get along just fine... just finished a complete custom build of a vw corrado with a 2.0 16v fed by an eaton M90 supercharger... as a result, i have all my datalogging tools used for tuning that...

now... why could i not, say... grab a spare exhaust (or make one, or.. something)... weld in a bung for my wideband o2 system on each header, and use that for tuning in the carbs for correct mixture?

maybe this is a really stupid question, but... i'm curious.. enlighten me please

(sorry about the thread highjack... it just seems like this thread works for this question)

-Nate

You can do that, the only issue is that you will still have to look at the plugs to verify mix at all throttle positions and re-jet if needed.

Not everyone has gas analyzers or welding skills which is why the plug chops and high idle method are popular. Plus plug chops are definetly accurate indication of burning in the cylinder.

Plus bungs may not look so good ( shallow i know but it's food for thought) among some riders.

I was going to do the same when it comes time for me to fabricate my new exhaust, i don't feel like throwing away 300.00 bucks on an aftermarket header system that has tin foil thin tubing.

 

[rustybronco]

as a result, i have all my datalogging tools used for tuning that...

now... why could i not, say... grab a spare exhaust (or make one, or.. something)... weld in a bung for my wideband o2 system on each header, and use that for tuning in the carbs for correct mixture?

Not a stupid question!!!!!
you could do it and it would do just fine.

 

[hampshirehog]

Colourtune is a cracking tool - cheap, easy to use and has more uses than what it says on the box. I wouldn't be without mine.

It's designed really for only setting your slow run mixture. However, if you turn your multicylinder bike in to a single by pulling off the other plug leads you can check the mixture on each cylinder at other throttle openings without the motor revving its head off. (For obvious reasons this doesn't work on singles!)

Plus one cylinder not firing properly but the exhaust getting hot so you can't tell which one? Pop in the Colourtune and you'll see immediately. I can't even hazard a guess how many blocked pilot jets I've found on multis using this method - it's usually the first port of call if a bike has a bad tickover.

Mine's around 30 years old, has had loads of use and still works fine. Oh, and it cleans up like new in the diswasher (don't tell her indoors).

 

[bwringer]

As noted above, the Colortune plug will get you in the ballpark. Then you do the fine tuning by ear and by feel.

It's a great thing to have around when something is wrong, you're getting confused, or if you don't even have a baseline setting to start with. If you work on several different bikes, it's very useful.