Throttle Body Balancing with Carbtune

[cdubya]

Yup, yup.  Makes perfect sense.  Thanks fellas.  Parts should be here tomorrow or Friday.  New throttle body gasket, new fuel pump/filter plate to fuel tank gasket and air filter.  Reinstall throttle body's, balance, full reassembly, 12k mile maintenance...CHECK!
Surely appreciate the guidance.
Chuck

[iansoady]

I found it worthwhile to replace the adjusters with stainless allen screws as it's quite hard to get them spot on with the standard cross-heads. Also used a drop of light loctite to stop them moving afterwards.

[cdubya]

Thanks Ian.  Headed to the hardware store today.  Will do.

[cdubya]

Well Gents, I'm finally getting around to putting the Tiger back together.  I have a question regarding the balance process and in a nutshell, I'm trying to avoid buying a carbtune for the simple fact I built a twin manometer using two class Sobe Drink bottles, two rubber stoppers and some tubing.  I works fantastically well for the Bonnie and Scrambler.  My question is this:
Can I hook up my balancer to #1 and #2, make adjustment as necessary and then leave #1 hooked up and move the hose that was on the #2 to #3 and make adjustment as necessary and have it be somewhat "balanced".  My concern is that it may be inaccurate if one port is left open while the other two have tubes attached.  I gave it a try this afternoon and results seemed great if it is actually accurate......#1 and #2 balanced, #1 and #3 had slight differential easily adjusted.  Double checked #2 and #3 = balanced.  What says you fella's?  Should I shoot the lock off of my wallet and order up a carbtune or am I on the right track?

[EvilBetty]

Like you say I would be worried that an equal amount of back pressure would be required on the ICAV port you're leaving open while doing the balance.  

Unless someone has some experience trying this, I'd guess the only way to know for sure would be to measure with a Carbtune or similar after using your method.  :?

[Bixxer Bob]

Buy another bottle of Sobe??  :lol:

As EB says, only way to be sure is a back to back check....

[cdubya]

Ya!  Another bottle of Sobe would be the answer but I'm not sure if what I have in mind in adding the third bottle would be an accurate measurement.  The third bottle, (the middle bottle of the three ie. #2 TB), would have an extra hole in the stopper and it would seem to me that it wouldn't flow properly to provide an accurate measurement or provide the information that would specifically identify an out of balance TB.   I've searched the internet for a home made manometer for a triple but have had no success.

Mine is identical to this one....
http://www.triumphrat.net/maintenance-a ... -tool.html (http://www.triumphrat.net/maintenance-and-workshop-talk/103136-cheap-effective-carb-tb-synch-tool.html)

[cdubya]

Just sat down and drew it out....
How about attaching the third bottle, (the one with the extra hole in the stopper), to the Non-adjustable #1 TB.  I'll have to study my drawing some more and possibly just build and try it but, it seems like one might be able to identify the out of balance TB with this set up and maintain accuracy being that all three TB's are hooked up to the system.
Oh man, this giving me a headache.  I should just spend the $100!  :lol:

[John Stenhouse]

Isn't that what you do with carb tune anyway? I mean one isn't adjustable, so you are balancing two to that, then three to that, so what's the difference?

[cdubya]

I think what is concerning me is symmetry.  With the carbtune, all three TB's are connected.  Using my Two Tuber leaves one TB just pulling air in from the atmosphere.....which may or may not throw off the reading that I'm getting on my Sobe Bottle TB Balancer.  When I gave it a try a couple of hours ago, I restricted the air intake on the TB that wasn't hooked up with my finger to see how it would affect the reading or flow.  It was negligible but I'm still unsure.  Guess I'll experiment with it a bit more.

John,
just saw you have a Norton on order....Very Envious!

[John Stenhouse]

You can be envious WHEN it turns up......long story, still waiting

[cdubya]

She's back together.  Idles smoothly now which is very pleasing to the ear and my ego.  :lol:
Not sure what the single culprit was but probably a combination of a leaky throttle body gasket and the IACV gasket not sealing properly.  Upon reassembly I saw that the airbox was not sitting/sealing on top of the IACV gasket.  I put a thin layer of rtv silicone sealant on one surface, mounted the airbox, then pulled it off again looking for a consistent imprint in the sealant all the way around the gasket.  Nope.  Very spotty.  So, I added a thicker layer of sealant in the areas that had an obvious gap.  When I mounted the airbox this time I could see the sealant press out a bit, mostly looking inside the airbox.  A better fix might be a custom cut out of some sort of gasket material or 3/16" foam using the OEM gasket to trace the shape and install between the OEM gasket and the airbox.  Seems as though the OEM gasket is just barely thick enough and not pliable or squishy enough to make a good seal.  Hoping my rtv sealant will do the trick until my 24k mile valve adjustment which is 12k miles away!
As far as the throttle body balancing goes; my Haines Manual desribes using a manometer as an option balancing #1 and #2 then, #1 and #3 and then rechecking a few times.  I initially had problems using blue 2 cycle oil in my manometer.  The viscosity of the oil just didn't give me the micro-movement reading I was looking for.  Too thick!  Looked through ALL cabinets in garage and my pantry for a lighter weight oil.  Ended up using water as I typically do with the twins.   :shock:  As long as one is careful not to suck any water into the intake and to let the bike idle for a bit afterwards to burn off any condensation it seems pretty safe.  And, most importantly, I was able to really fine tune the balancing of the throttle body's.  What I thought was "balanced" with the two cycle oil was actually way off.  A little blue thread locker and she's complete.
Next:  Knocking the rear end apart for a cleaning/greasing of swing arm, shock and linkage bearings.
Then:  Hurry up and wait for spring.  
Thanks for all of your help fellas.
Chuck

Forgot to add:  I also dremelled out the plate/baffle from inside the airbox.  My bike has the TOR tune so she should be fine.  I have yet to ride the bike but the throttle response is noticeably snappier and more crisp.