Page 1 of 2

Carb Balancers

Posted: Tue May 10, 2011 1:45 pm
by Azazel
Hey everyone,

Does anyone around Nottingham have a carb balancing kit I could borrow or know of a way to 'build' something to balance them...?
I dont really have the cash to invest in kit at the moment but I need to get my girl back on the road. :smt010

Any help appreciated.

Re: Carb Balancers

Posted: Wed May 18, 2011 7:16 am
by Mori Man
You can get away with just a twin set (cheaper to buy) balance 1&2 then 3&4 and finally 1,2 with 3,4

I have seen my brother do it with one guage and a bank of shut off valves as he got the guage from work for nought. Reading doesn't need to be the same as for bikes as long as you set all the same it will work out.

MM!

Re: Carb Balancers

Posted: Wed May 18, 2011 12:20 pm
by Azazel
Awsomo!

Thanks for for that will look out for one :)

Re: Carb Balancers

Posted: Fri Jun 03, 2011 3:25 pm
by hudders
Hijacked!!!

Ive got me bike in bits to balance the carbs, got one off ebay but only has one tube, and its got a loop in it with steel ball bearings? do i need all 4 connected? can you balance 2 with the other vaccum ports open on carb with it running? help!

Re: Carb Balancers

Posted: Fri Jun 03, 2011 4:47 pm
by hudders
hi guys, i panicked im ok now....

got some more hoses and followed your informative info sheet. I cant get 3 and 4 balanced. if i turn clockwise she revs up and i have to mess with the idle screw, and tother way aswel but needles aint matching, the keep hovering round the re sections which say theres a leak somewhere. Any ideas from experience wouild be well appreciated thanks

Re: Carb Balancers

Posted: Fri Jun 03, 2011 6:00 pm
by RedexRobB
If you have read my guide, it doesnt matter what the gauges read, long as they are the same!

http://www.zxrworld.co.uk/zxr400/balancing.html

Re: Carb Balancers

Posted: Fri Jun 03, 2011 7:09 pm
by hudders
Thanks rob, did that.

This is 100% operator error.Maybe old guages have something to do with it. 4 strokes arnt 2 strokes. Im in over me head.

I spent an hour messign around with it, getting different readings all the time. The guages came off ebay and had no damping knobs so i was slowly kinking the tube to get a reading. i got 1 and 2 in, then couldnt get 3 and 4 very close, but got 123 in basically. But it was a hash up. And I had to play around with the idle knob so much to stop it over revving or dropping out when i was trying to balance the vaccuums that now it doesnt work at all its gone loose.

And now the bike definately sounds different. It sounds almost like a slight missfire. cant explain the noise but its rougher. I took her out for a spin and it runs ok i guess, had a hoss with a bmw cl 230 and a merc and it was fine but the tick over is worrying me .

No chugging now though. Perhaps its running better im just not used to it / worrying... afternoon tinkering became nightmare. I travelled up to milton keynes to get them off a biker family with 7 bikes so i dont think they sold me a duck in the gauges. BTW anyone round luton Milton keynes the A4012 from Hockley onto the A5130 up through woburn and woburn sands - great road.

Anyone in the vicinity of Luton who perversly likes this kind (ie carb balancingsomeone elses bike :smt017 ) of thing I'll provide food and tea biggrin

Re: Carb Balancers

Posted: Fri Jun 03, 2011 7:53 pm
by RedexRobB
yeah you need the damping knobs, i wouldnt say you can do it properly without them.

Re: Carb Balancers

Posted: Fri Jun 03, 2011 8:31 pm
by hudders
if i have shoved them way out now instead of making them better what will this do to my bike?

Re: Carb Balancers

Posted: Fri Jun 03, 2011 9:29 pm
by hudders
ok, just spoke to a well versed diy mechanic and hes saying that i have got one carb way out from the rest cause i did 1-2 then 3-4 then 2-3. I had to screw in one of the screws too much to try to get readings which is holding the butterflies open therefore the tick over is ok even though the tick over thumbscrew is all the way out. He says that you can get false readings and rising readings from 1 to 4, so better to synv 3-4 then 1-2 then 3-4.

not easy this!!!!

Re: Carb Balancers

Posted: Fri Jun 03, 2011 10:57 pm
by Tirpitz
Sorry but that's a load of bullocks. I've balanced the carbs on ZXR400s loads of times and always done 1-2 first, then 3-4. It's always been a dead easy job, done in 10 mins or so and they balance out sweet and stay sweet. If you're having a problem there's something wrong as it really is a simple job.

You really need damping in the pipes. I wouldn't even begin to do the job without dampers. Take the gauge hoses down to your local aquatic centre where they sell tropical fish and tanks. You can get yourself four little screw valves for virtually no money to put in the lines. Just cut the hoses about 2 inches from the ends and insert the valves. They look like this http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/5-2-WAY-LINE-AIR- ... 35b2804890 Or just buy those off Ebay.

Also remember before you start to check that all the dials on the gauges read zero the same. If they don't, adjust the needles using the adjustment screw. You need to do the job very precisely to get the carbs exactly balanced. Sort of about the same won't do. Take a little care to get all the carbs showing exactly the same and you'll see the benefit.

Re: Carb Balancers

Posted: Sat Jun 04, 2011 7:59 am
by RedexRobB
In essence i think you can get away with 2-3 first then 1-2 and 3-4, it is a back to front way of doing it though, but as Tirpitz says, your issue is the damping knobs. Get those fitted and it really should be an easy job after that.

Re: Carb Balancers

Posted: Sun Jun 05, 2011 9:54 am
by hudders
ok thanks rob will do. Just got to try and find some now. Any clues where id get em?

Re: Carb Balancers

Posted: Mon Jun 06, 2011 11:28 pm
by hudders
Tirpitz wrote:Sorry but that's a load of bullocks. I've balanced the carbs on ZXR400s loads of times and always done 1-2 first, then 3-4. It's always been a dead easy job, done in 10 mins or so and they balance out sweet and stay sweet. If you're having a problem there's something wrong as it really is a simple job.

You really need damping in the pipes. I wouldn't even begin to do the job without dampers. Take the gauge hoses down to your local aquatic centre where they sell tropical fish and tanks. You can get yourself four little screw valves for virtually no money to put in the lines. Just cut the hoses about 2 inches from the ends and insert the valves. They look like this http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/5-2-WAY-LINE-AIR- ... 35b2804890 Or just buy those off Ebay.

Also remember before you start to check that all the dials on the gauges read zero the same. If they don't, adjust the needles using the adjustment screw. You need to do the job very precisely to get the carbs exactly balanced. Sort of about the same won't do. Take a little care to get all the carbs showing exactly the same and you'll see the benefit.
thanks tirpitz i will get the valves, try to reset the gauges (i may have fecked them up) and wait for a cooler day so the bike and my head dont overheat.

Re: Carb Balancers

Posted: Sun Dec 30, 2012 2:10 am
by JulianWerner
Hey guys..

Now i got abit confused, i bought a balancer kit on Ebay. (new)
And i havent done the job yet, but do mine have those knobs ??

--> http://www.ebay.com/itm/260798418307?ss ... 1439.l2649#

will these work ?