ATF Carb Sync

[Danny]

Trying to build my own carb sync tool and I really like the ATF method. I would like to hear from anyone who has tried this sync. What's the difficulty of the build and sync and how was your outcome. I have read a few threads from the search engine on this but only enough to spike my curiosity, I understood most of the Atf build thread but would like the first hand info. Thanks.


Danny

[Ken Tarver]

Danny,  my experience with it wasn't good, although others had good success. As note, I did have the column of tubing and fluid an adequate height. But my problem was that as adjusting a carb I would maybe turn the screw too far and either suck the fluid too low, thus getting air into the system, or fluid going too high and into the carb intake. I worked on this several days and gave it up.

I went to Harbor Freight and bought 6 vacuum gauges at about $12 each, got some fish tank valves to control the needle bounce, and reused all the tubing from the other sys.
Some folks use 1 gauge, some use 4 gauge sets.



here is a picture,

Ken

[PharmBoy]

Why not use one vacuum gauge, save some expense and you don't have to worry about having six gauges that are all calibrated the same.  After all, the only reason for any carb sync system is to set all the vacuum readings of the other 5 carbs to match the reading of carb #3.  (The hoses were changed to rubber hoses almost immediately after this picture was taken.)...Jim

[Patrick]

Its not what Danny asked or probably would want to hear,, but,, I prefer a single gauge too..

[Ricky-D]

I am suspiciously skeptical regarding results from using a single gauge although I don't deny that good results can be had from such a set-up.

I use a six gauge set-up and, like the obvious feature that allows me to see the vacuum results on all six gauges simultaneously.

Like the manual says: use a good tachometer for best results since the constancy of the rpm's is key to accurate adjustment.

With a single gauge set-up, constant rpm is an absolute must for a good result whereas with a six gauge set-up the rpm issue is somewhat compensated for.

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[sugerbear]

i really hate to agree with Ricky, but, with multiple guages you can see the others change as you change one.
just hook all up to a single vac to calibrate to start then your good to go.

just use quality vac line.

[GOOSE]

Yea, but you have got to admit that Ricky does come up with some decent observations/and/or conclusions!!

[97Valk_CT_Euless]

I'd like to say I really enjoy the posts.  I've learned a lot from you guys.
I had great luck using a tubing setup that just compared all the manifolds to each other, using ATF.  All the tubes are tied together at the bottom through a manifold, and they're all half-filled with ATF when all the lines are at atmosphere.  Admittedly, they had to be 4 ft tall and a leak or significant difference in vacuum would suck the atf through one line, and air was a pain to get out of the gage.  On the other hand, since ATF has such a low specific gravity compared to mercury, the accuracy is much higher than with a vacuum gage or even mercury gages.  but, being within an inch of mercury is fine as far as Honda is concerned.  I did use aquarium valves at the top of the tubing for safety and emergencies, but the ATF does a good job of damping the pulses.  It's pretty cool to watch the end of the columns of ATF pulse up and down, too!

[Danny]

Hey thanks everyone for the comments....kinda weird that the ATF sync doesent bring too much response it looks like a really good idea. After all the considerations and what research I could find and your comments I think I am going to forgo the ATF method and use liquid filled analog vacc guages if not just send her to the stealer. I readjusted my pilots the other day to 1.75 because of a rejet and she runs a lot better. Mist likely because the previous settings were all across the board 3.0....1.75....2.0.....1.5 yada yada yada....guess I had a little too much beverage on set your pilot screws day, haha. Damn beverages taste so good though. Seriously thanks again peoples.

Danny

[Mofla]

Where is ago is place to learn procedure for carb sync ?
Thnks Mofla

[Patrick]

Jim's single gauge set-up is a lot more sophisticated than mine,, he did a nice job on it.. Switching from one cylinder to the next is fast and easy as well as accurate.. Engine RPM is important.. But since Honda's spec is 1.6 in/hg this adjustment isn't too critical.. Its very easy to get these within .5 in/hg [needle width] without any trouble.. The only 'quirk' with the single gauge is making sure[ or remembering] that only 1 cylinder is being checked as its pretty easy to find yourself looking at 2..

[Chillerman]

Easy to build, works for me. There are articles on how to do it but I am too lazy to look them up.

[Ricky-D]

Where is ago is place to learn procedure for carb sync ?
Thnks Mofla

The service manual spells it out pretty clearly.

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