Carb sync -- off the bike

[Lucky Duck]

I've got a '98 Std that sat for several years and the carburetor o-rings were dried and most of them leaked. I removed the carburetors as a unit then separated them in order to do a good cleaning and o-ring replacement. That all went well (lots of time involved) and it's back together but not in the bike yet, I'm waiting on float bowl gaskets.

What should I expect when I start the bike the first time, given the fact that the carburetors are going to be way out of sync? Is there a way to eyeball or measure the butterfly or linkage to get them somewhat close before the initial start-up?  I'm thinking the bike will start but run really bad until I can warm it up a little and do a proper sync on them, am I thinking right?

Thanks!

[Ricky-D]

If you left the screw settings alone I'd think you would be pretty close to what they were originally when you put everything back.

[KCvalk]

i did this same thing with a set of four carbs a few years back,  the word here is IF.

If you got all the crap out of the carbs and cleaned/replaced the jets and adjusted the float bowl correctly,
the carb  idle screw and the carb adj screws set at ( I think 2.5 out each  but check)  the bike should start up and run farily even

I would use some spray starter fluid in the carbs to get the engine turned over and the gas flowing other wise you will run the
battery down.

once the engine and carbs are working i would run a can of seafoam thru the beast before you attempt to sync the carbs...maybe even take it out for a few spins to clean out the fuel line and get all the internal stuff lubed.

good luck carb work is not the easiest thing to accomplish correctly

[Lucky Duck]

Thanks for the replies. 

I did mess with the adjustment screws because I wasn't able to get the spring seated straight w/out some slack in it -- I'm talking about the spring that the adj. screw works against.  I put each adj. screw back the same number of turns but as sensitive as the adjustment screws are, I'm sure that I'm only close at best.

Starting fluid kind of scares me but I do have some if it's needed. I've got a fairly new battery that will be fully charged and a back-up battery in the other Valk if I need that. I'll run a strong dose of Seafoam through it once it's started.

Hopefully, I'm over thinking this and it'll be a cake walk 

[Madmike]

Don't use the ether.  You can use a Mity-Vac to open the petcock or worst comes to worst suck on the petcock hose a bit and hold the vacuum with your tongue to allow the bowls to fill.  Give it a chance to happens then crank it over and see if it fires.

[KCvalk]

MIke that is the first time i ever heard of doing that   but makes sense to fill the bowls

learn something new every day....

[roboto65]

Is there a way to eyeball or measure the butterfly or linkage to get them somewhat close before the initial start-up

You can do a bench sync and very easy too do this will get the butterflys close. here is what you do..

Find 2 of the same size drill bits I use 1/8 inch slide one into the number 3 carb as this one is the base for all then go from one carb to the next and slip the other drill bit in the butterfly and adjust each to get a slight drag this will get the butterflys opening pretty close then when you get it running do the sync again if you like but the benchsync will get you pretty close!!!

[Lucky Duck]

Some good help here, Thanks!

I'll use the 1/8th" drill bit method to bench sync the carbs, that should make them close enough that I can actually ride the bike to warm it up for the vacuum sync.

Mike, I'll fill the bowls and lines before I put the carb set back on the bike, would rather KNOW there aren't any leaks before I go to the trouble of reinstalling everything.

Thanks again for the help. I won't have a chance to get back to it for a few more days but I'll let you know how it goes.

[Lucky Duck]

UPDATE: 
I did like Roboto65 said and held the #3 butterfly open (I used a short piece of brazing rod) and adjusted the other carbs with another short peice of the same brazing rod. I put the bike back together and let the bowls fill with vacuum on the #6 vac line.

It started instantly and ran smooth! I rode it and it runs great! Will do a proper sync tomorrow and I'll consider that project finished. 

Thanks to everybody that offered advise!