Topic: Syncronizing cb550 carbs

[Hondaboy]

 I have just rebuilt my carbs and I am now in the process of syncing them. I built the home made syncronizing device (manomometer) that is shown in the Clymer manual and had it all hooked up and ready to sync the carbs. I did not really get alot of suction on the water column and could not tell that I was getting any suction at all. I built four washers with gasket material and wired them to the carbs. Had a 1/4 aquarium hose drilled through the inlet of the carbs. Is there another place to hook up my 1/4 hoses to get the suction from, or does it need to be hooked up to the inlet of the carb? Any one an expert on this subject? Thanks for the help.-----------NEXT DAY   What I need to know is where do I hook up the tubing at the carbs. According to the Clymer manual I have to hook up at the inlet of the carb. Or do I hook up between the carb and the intake manifold? (phillips screw between the carb and intake manifold) Thanks again

[joecool14u2]

first you need to take it easy on the drilling things, especially on the bike, what i used is vacuum gauges and some vacuum hose connectors bought at autozone, i did'nt want to buy four so i used two, and used a y connector and vise grips to switch em back and fourth, hard to adjust, run idle at 2500 with a big fan blowing on engine to keep it cool, work fast, set is a #$%*, get it all set up and ready before starting, work fast, or you will burn it up, dont fiddle poop around here, keep the fan on and be quick, you should get them to around 5-7 inches of vacuum at 2500-3000 rpms and all is well, before you do this, look at this site and set your timing "oldmanhonda.com" he has a cool page there that explains that ok, also adjust your valves, with engine cold ok, i mean cold let it set overnight ok, these are important before messing the carbs, valves first, clean and read your plugs next, if you dont know how to read plugs this guy will teach you "dans motorcycle repair.com", then check points gap, file off a little, and gap them to .014 inch i think but check your owners manual, then set timing, let it cool down, then adjust the carbs, and are you sure there out, and not one of these other things, after you get the set, you will want to go back and check timing again, then if timing was out after setting carbs, fix it and check carbs again, and you may as well pull the peacock off and make sure the filter is clean, and that fuel flows as it should, as they get old they stop flowing even though it looks clean, and if there is rust in the tank before you do all this take the carbs out completely and clean them with out carb cleaner, and if you need help on that search around there is a lot of info on how to do it, but i can help you if you dont find out how, just make sure you remove the tube behind the main jet with a hard wood dowel and clean in there, it often causes spitting and sputtering at 4000 rpms, use compressed air and gas to klean carbs not carb cleaner, the o ring in the carbs will distort if you get them even close to carb kleaer, gort that, and do not over tighten the screws holding the bowls on ok, just snug is ok, better off one falls out then strips out like a couple of mine did after many trips inside to clean and degrim the jets

[Jay B]

Um..... The short answer is you need to draw vacuum from between the outlet of the carbs and the motor. That's what the 5mm phillips head screws are there for. Sounds like you were trying to measure vacuum between the carbs and the filter, which woun't tell you much except maybe how plugged your air filter is. A good tune up should be done first. You really aren't concerned about vacuum numbers here, you will be trying to get them the same across the rack.

[Hondaboy]

In the Clymer manual it says to install an orafice plate over the intake of the carbs. (I chose washers as they had a large enough hole for the carbs to breath, and also where I could drill a 1/4 inch hole in it to hook up my tubing) This did not result in satisfactory readings from my home made manometer. Thats where my question came in,  I did not know the proper place to install the tubing. After looking at the bike again I saw the phillips screws and figured thats where I should hook up my tubing. I have ordered some new points and a new coils set and hopefully will have this thing running this weekend. I just got the bike a couple of weeks ago and it ran nicely. After a few miles it started missing a bit. Checked the plugs and saw that they were fouling with dark black powdery carbon substance. Was told that the plugs were not burning hot enough. Found out that my plug wires were gooey inside and not making good contact with the boots. Tried to drill out the coil and install new wires. I was somewhat successful doing this, but decided a new coil was a better option. I was also told to try a different Champion plug that ran a little hotter and would have better results. Thanks for the help.   

[shocktek]

Riddle me this batman, I made the home made manometer also, but I did the four tubes all connected instead of the bottle method I've seen, started my bike up and my number 4 sucked that water like it was koolaid. So I figured I had to much water in my hoses lowered it and tried again with the same results. Anybody have a clue what I did wrong? And why thr orface plate over the intakes? If you use the regular vaccuum gages do you still need the cover? Should I use something other than water? Or should I just sac up and buy the right gages for the job,lol