Motion Pro carb tool

[pancho]

I received the tool the other day, packaged well enough to go to a war zone.



I am impressed with the build and materials, although I would have made the adjusting part of the handle bigger if I was doing it, also the ease of use. The tool should last for a lifetime with proper use.



Now I have had the "stubby tool" since I got the bike, and it has served me well, but it is so hard to use that once I have it tuned decently on all six, I just leave it alone as I don't want to mess with it any more than necessary.



Now since I got this tool, I have synced my carbs again, and every time I pull in I can adjust the pilot screw on a cylinder that has a slight pop going through it or whatever, I have the bike idling smoother than it ever has,,, one of those things that makes you wonder how you ever got along without it.

I have one problem, and from reading the reviews, I think it is common. The split pin it the gear set keeps wanting to back out and stop the tool from turning, maybe falling apart.



I am thinking of putting some lock tite on the pin and reassembling it, but wonder how others have remedied this, if  it has come up?

[John Schmidt]

I got one of those some years ago and trying to use it drove me nuts. I couldn't get it to seat into/onto the D shaped head with any reliability so quit trying. I used the D socket in the kit and stuck it in a small socket, used that by hand to make my adjustments. When the engine was cold, I just set them all at the same number of turns out and left them alone. Next time I had the carbs out and all sets I've worked on since, I use my Dremel and cut a screwdriver slot in the head of each screw. Found it easier to work with than that fool D shaped head. Those screw head should have been made long enough to protrude above the housing so you can actually see what you're doing. I've watched guys trying to adjust using that tool and think they have it in place so start turning, only to find out it wasn't and now their adjustment is all out of whack so have to start over. Nice thing about working on the old GL1200 Wing I built a few years ago, the pilots were on the side. Made it real easy to adjust since you could actually see what you were doing.

[pancho]

I agree with you John that the screws could have been made so they are easier to adjust, but I think the idea was that to be sold in this country they were not to be easy, per EPA smog regulations.  I remember many carburetors having plugs over the pilots.

I have found that if you get a good right angle onto the screw, it works properly. Any deviation from an almost perfect shot, and the tool binds and slips out of contact. There is a "feel" to it. You might want to pull it back out someday and give it another shot keeping that in mind and see if it helps. I got the hang of it pretty quickly as I saw what was happening and think I have some what mastered the thing,, I like it a lot.

Nice thing about working on the old GL1200 Wing I built a few years ago, the pilots were on the side

Yeah, that would have helped a lot....  nothing like trying to get your hands and fingers into the Valk motor to do the adjustments on a hot motor.



I've been thinking about it John and could see it being a problem if you were trying to get an exact number on turns out (ie. 2 1/4) using this tool.  For that, I would just use the stubby on a cold motor. Where I have found this thing to excel is fine tuning a running motor by RPM and popping. Old school tuning to max and then leaning it a bit.

[-mike-]

FYI, European carb screws are JIS.

Just a call for all of you that want to get rid of those pesky D-shaped ones.

-mike-