syncronizing carbs

I am getting ready to do a tune up on the bike I am buying. I was reading in the Clymer manual about syncronizing the carbs and there are two different sections. One is for vacuum adjust and the other is for mechanical adjustment. my bike is a 78 kz 1000 and I plan to take the carbs apart and clean them. what is the difference and which will I need to do? And does it vary by year?

jtsbh wrote:

I am getting ready to do a tune up on the bike I am buying. I was reading in the Clymer manual about syncronizing the carbs and there are two different sections. One is for vacuum adjust and the other is for mechanical adjustment. my bike is a 78 kz 1000 and I plan to take the carbs apart and clean them. what is the difference and which will I need to do? And does it vary by year?

Hi, Jordan! The mechanical adjustment refers to a bench synch attempting to attain the closest physical match among throttle slide positions with carbs removed from the bike. The vacuum synch is done later with the engine running by using a manometer connected to the vacuum nipples on the carb holders, to match the actual vacuum performance among the carbs on the running engine.

Good Luck!

Syncronizing the carbs using the "Vacuum" method will allow adjustments to be made for small differences in the cylinders effiencies. For example, if one cylinder has slightly less vacuum due to worn rings, the carb will be adjusted to attempt to make all cylinders even. If you're going to disassemble the carbs. you need to do a "mechanical" adjustment when you reassemble,as a starting point.
Hope this helps.

.....Paul