Gizmo Questions

[cberkeley]

Folks:
Would like your comments on the following two gizmos from J.C. Whitney:

Item One - Carburetor Synchronizer

http://www.jcwhitney.com/autoparts/Search?catalogId=10111&storeId=10101&sku=cad888813&searchbtn.x=23&searchbtn.y=17

If this unit would work for me I would prefer it over the Mercury Tubes.

Item Two – Air Pump and Tire Repair Kit

http://www.jcwhitney.com/autoparts/Search?catalogId=10111&storeId=10101&sku=cad063890&searchbtn.x=0&searchbtn.y=0

Given the limited space on a bike, if this works it may make for a convenient emergency repair kit.

Anyone have any experience with these gizmos?

Cheers, Cletus

[Dave8338]

Hey Cletus, how's the weather... :-D I like the four guage system for the simple fact that you can see by the vacuum reads on all the carbs at once and how adjustments to one carb, effects the others. The big question here is, what quality are the gauges? A cheap guage system is better than none at all but may vary in their accuracy.

.02 cents and a gumball. 8-[

[cberkeley]

Yup, just what I was thinking. However, since each gauge has an adjustable damping valve, I figure that if all four gauges were first set equally (calibrated) against one carb (say carb #1) then that should negate a lot of the error in accuracy and now we're down to overall sensitivity and linearity issues. Trying to decide if I should take a gamble on this thing. I have a single automotive vacuum gauge I will attach an adjustable valve ant try it on one carb just to see the response.

[cberkeley]

BTW the weather's GREAT! ....93* outside now, slight drizzle this morning.:-D

[cberkeley]

I just read these two reviews on the gauges:
Review #1
"I have had this product for years and have never had a bit of trouble with it."

Review #2
"Two of the gauges froze up and couldn't be re-calibrated after the second time I used them. As cheap as junk as you can purchase."

[Dave8338]

I just read these two reviews on the gauges:
Review #1
"I have had this product for years and have never had a bit of trouble with it."

Review #2
"Two of the gauges froze up and couldn't be re-calibrated after the second time I used them. As cheap as junk as you can purchase."

Hard to say...one might want to consider the source and its' application or misuse as a possibility. I think your idea of using a single carb to sync all the gauges is a good idea. If you have a high quality automotive gauge that you trust, use it as the benchmark and adjust your calculations to it + or -

[bwringer]

The gauges are very cheap, and people have had mixed luck with them.

I have a mercury gauge which sort of works OK, but if I had it to do over again, I'd kick in another $50 or so and get The Good Stuff:

http://www.carbtune.com/

58 British Pounds delivered, which is, umm, err... (google, google, google....ah.) $113.81 in USD. The converter says that's $715.85 in Trinidad/Tobago dollars.

This is the finest carb sync tool made, and I want one bad.

[Tom MLC]

Cletus, I just bought this one from z1enterprises. http://z1enterprises.com/detail.aspx?ID=2727 'Bout the same price. It works okay. The valves have to be closed down to dampen the vibration, or else the needles dance wildly. And calibrating each gauge to one cylinder is a must. After that, it's no problemo. I like the longer rods for the inner cylinders, too.

That carbtuneII that Brian linked looks like the cat's meow. RenoBruce & I just went halvsies on one. Can't wait to get it.

I don't know 'bout that tire kit.

[steely]

Cletus, I just bought this one from z1enterprises. http://z1enterprises.com/detail.aspx?ID=2727 'Bout the same price. It works okay. The valves have to be closed down to dampen the vibration, or else the needles dance wildly. And calibrating each gauge to one cylinder is a must. After that, it's no problemo. I like the longer rods for the inner cylinders, too.

That carbtuneII that Brian linked looks like the cat's meow. RenoBruce & I just went halvsies on one. Can't wait to get it.

I don't know 'bout that tire kit.

That is the same kit my buddy has, and I used them to sync my carbs. Works a treat!

[wizard]

I've had the gauges for about 12 years and have never had any problems with them. I do check them before use by connecting each to the same vacuum source to be sure that they read the same. Usually I use manifold vacuum on my car.

[cberkeley]

58 British Pounds delivered, which is, umm, err... (google, google, google....ah.) $113.81 in USD. The converter says that's $715.85 in Trinidad/Tobago dollars.

This is the finest carb sync tool made, and I want one bad.

Well after the shipping, duties and taxes, it will end up costing me about TT$1138.10
Would love to have it but can't justify having it for just one bike. Any future bike(s) will most likely be single Carb V-twin or FI V-twin (have my cross-hairs trained on a VN-1500 Kawasaki Nomad) :-D