How to: FZ-07 throttle body sync

[V8titanpwr]

Disclaimer: I am not a mechanic. I am not responsible for any damages you do to your own bike, this is simply a guide and is not intended to replace what any service manual says or what your dealer suggests. If you cannot use a wrench or remove a sticker, please DO NOT even attempt this. 
 
 
 
Alright so here it is, how to sync your throttle bodies without forking out a ton of money at the stealership. This guide will cover from start to finish on how to sync your own throttle bodies including taking the covers off your bike.
 
So with that said lets get started. If you do not have a manometer (the tool used for testing sync) then go ahead and make one. All I used to make one was some wood, 1\\4" tubing ($2.99 at lowes) and some MC oil.
 
 
The allen keys needed to undo all the bolts are right there under your back seat so lets go ahead and remove your back seat. 
 
Remove the front seat by taking out the two bolts in either corner
 

 
 
Remove the two bolts under the seat that hold the rear of the side panel. If you look underneath the bike you will see a pop rivet either side also, make sure you remove these.
 

 
 
Remove the bolt that holds the top black piece on and slide that off. Remove the two bolts joined to the side panels
 

 
 
Remove the four bolts that are circled and also the lower pop rivet. You will notice that just above the upper bolts that are circled there are clips that help keep the side panels on, don't forget to pull those up before removal or you could snap them
 

 
 
Remove the front bolt from the side panel and the lower bolt from the black air scoop. Once these bolts are out, start from the back and gently pull on the side panel, it will pull out of any holders keeping the panel there
 

 

 
 
Remove the top two bolts from the inner panel piece, not forgetting about the pop rivet
 

 
 
Remove the two upper bolts and the two lower bolts that hold on the gas tank cap cover
 

 
 
So you should be looking at your bike with no front covers and an exposed gas tank, lets just get thing out of the way.
 
Caution: cover any exposed frame or fairing pieces. There are metal pieces on the bottom of the gas tank that scratch anything in sight so please be careful.
 
Start by removing these two bolts that are either side near the rear of the gas tank
 

 
 
Next we will remove the front bolt that holds the front of the tank in place. It is a 12mm
 

 
 
We will not be taking the gas tank completely off, just simply moving it to the back of the bike to make room for us to work. 
 
Remove this plug from the bottom of the fuel pump, it restricts what we can do with the tank if it stays connected
 

 
 
Remove the two hoses from the right hand side of the tank. No fuel will come out, they are simply breather hoses
 

 
 
Remove the plug from the front right side of the tank
 

 
 
Once you have done all that good stuff you should be able to position the tank near the back of the bike. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE protect any fairing or frame parts, the black textured pieces especially scratch real easy. You will end up with something like this
 

 
 
 
CONGRATULATIONS! The hard part is done. Now you simply have to attach your manometer to the bronze tips coming out of the throttle bodies and test that sucker. Where are they you ask, well lets take a look.
 
This is the left side of the bike. The piece marked "1" is the tube you need to remove to expose the brass nipple that our manometer will attach too. The piece marked "2" is the brass screw that will adjust the throttle body.
 

 
 
The right side of the bike is a little trickier. You will see the nipple cover and just below that will be the adjuster screw. The best thing to use is a pair of angled needle nosed pliers, I got right in there.
 

 
 
Once you have located the two brass nipples, hook up your manometer, making sure you mark which side is which. Make sure you are level on both side to start with so you get a good reading.
 

 

 
 
Once everything is hooked up you need to reconnect everything back to your gas tank. You can actually keep the tank on one side more than the other to work one of the adjuster screws if necessary. Make sure you don't twist up your fuel line moving the tank around, I was trying to figure out why my bike wouldn't start for 20 mins, lol. I didn't get any pics past this point but the basic premise is that you need both sides of your meter to be even. You will notice that one side may suck fluid more than the other. I used the left adjuster screw as my starting point and went from there. I ended up only adjusting 1/8 turn on the right side just to have her running that little bit better.
 
Once you have everything calibrated go ahead and take off the tubing from your meter and put the cover and the hose back on the brass nipples. From here on just go back the way you came and get everything back together. If anyone has anything to add to this please feel free as i'm sure there is need for improvement here.
 
Heres a good video showing you the basics of using the manometer and what to look for: 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

[Cruizin]

Wow, a spot on and awesome "How To"! Thanks for sharing and I'm gonna sticky this one!

[jerryv]

Wow, a spot on and awesome "How To"! Thanks for sharing and I'm gonna sticky this one!

I agree, great post and I'm not skeered to do it.  Tomorrow I get to do the front struts on my Camry .. time to get dirty again.

[Cruizin]

It is very important to check and adjust Throttle Bodies on a new bike. Do it at 600 miles or pay someone to do it for you. One is always a little off and that can cause issues.

[hobbs]

Great write up, thanks!
 
Question: can you use a vacuum gauge instead of a manometer?

[V8titanpwr]

No idea on that one, sorry.

[jerryv]

Great write up, thanks!  
Question: can you use a vacuum gauge instead of a manometer?

Purely and intuitive guess, but does a vacuum gauge only measure one thing at a time?  I'm guessing that would not work, the manometer hooks up to both throttle bodies at one time and the vacuum is sucking on both silmutanteously.  The adjustments are very sensitive and adjusting one affects the other immediately.  Seems that would not be possible.  Any real mechanics out there?

[Cruizin]

A regular vacuum guage will not work. As stated above, a manometer is easy to make at home or you can buy one online pretty cheap. I check my throttle bodies right before the first ride each spring. HEck, this Winter my FZ-09 will be torn all down for winter maintenance anyways so it will be easy to do. I usually fully disconnect my fuel tank and wrap it in bubble wrap for the winter. I'll go out and swirl the gas around a bit ea month to avoid rust.

[hobbs]

I see, just thought I'd check. I have a 4 bank vacuum gauge that was used to sync the 4 carbs on my CB550. It measures the vacuum on each carb so they're all pulling about the same amount of fuel. Figure I'd use it if I could, but I'll just make the trip to the hardware store and fashion my own manometer.
 
Thanks fellows.

[aeisan]

Awesome write up. I'm totally going to do this myself if the dealer doesn't at my 1st service.
 
A quick search on Google netted this site, in case anyone was looking to buy a manometer: http://www.dwyer-inst.com/Product/Pressure/Manometers/Stationary/Series1221-1222-1223
 
I would think the cheaper series 1221 with red gage fluid would suffice.

[feliz]

If you go to the dealer to have it done they will use proper gauges not a homemade affair although my home built manometer is more sensitive than my gauges. The manometer measures vacuum the same as gauges, I have both but prefer gauges as with the manometer if you make a mistake the engine can digest the oil:( I use transmission fluid in mine as I find the red easier for me to see.
 
Good post OP, thanks.

[jerryv]

The manometer measures vacuum the same as gauges, I have both but prefer gauges as with the manometer if you make a mistake the engine can digest the oil. I use transmission fluid in mine as I find the red easier for me to see.
 
Good post OP, thanks.

MAN-O-METER just sounds way cooler too  8-)

[feliz]

The manometer measures vacuum the same as gauges, I have both but prefer gauges as with the manometer if you make a mistake the engine can digest the oil. I use transmission fluid in mine as I find the red easier for me to see.
 
Good post OP, thanks.

MAN-O-METER just sounds way cooler too  8-)

Right, it's about being cool and hip, who cares if it works.  

[googletx]

What an awesome & helpful write up. I think im going to have to do the throttle body sync myself since the dealership didn't do it when they did the first service. Needles to say im pretty pissed about them not doing it, but dont know if its worth the hassle of arguing with them and trying to make them do it for free.

[hippiebikerchick]

The manometer measures vacuum the same as gauges, I have both but prefer gauges as with the manometer if you make a mistake the engine can digest the oil. I use transmission fluid in mine as I find the red easier for me to see.
 
Good post OP, thanks.

MAN-O-METER just sounds way cooler too  8-)

Is that similar to a man o gram?  

[superboots]

On my FZ-09 there is one screw that you're not supposed to change and you're supposed to adjust the other cylinders to match that one. Does anybody know if the FZ-07 has one cylinder that you're not supposed to adjust? Alternatively, does anybody have an approximate vacuum amount (mm hg) that we should sync to on the 07?

[yotaman02]

i did mine without taking the bike apart. just need long needle nose to get the hose on the nipple and precision screwdriver with flexible extension to get to the adjustment screw.
 
 

[stefano225]

Mine was done at the 600 miles maintenance interval (which was actually at 700+ miles) by the dealer,they had my bike in for 2 hours not sure if it needed adjustment.

[phyciocc]

MAN-O-METER just sounds way cooler too  8-)

Is that similar to a man o gram?  

Since we are in a non-metric country, perhaps it should be called "man-o-foot"
Marco
Physics Prof. Be aware

[rick]

Sorry, a bit late to both the party and this discussion.
 
As you can see by my avatar (from 1981, iirc) I've had my hands on (and off, lol) a couple of bikes in the last 44 years of riding - Yeah, I'm old, my avatar may as well be also.
 
I've a question about that rubber hose over the left side vac port. I've not done this yet, only just reached 600 miles on mine. Thse nice picts allow me to actually see where the right side pot is - very helpful. I'll be doing this w/o touching the tank as well, btw.
 
That rubber hose on mine seems way too loose to be making a seal on that port. It's a bit unusual to find a downstream vac port with a hose on it. Does anyone know where that hose goes and is there a seal on the nipple underneath it. On mine it looks like there's a plastic pipe rising from the throttle body that the hose sits loosely on.
 
A couple other points,
 
vac gauges, manometers Carbtune, Twinmax - it doesn't matter what device is used to measure the vacuum as long as both gauges (2 in this case) read the same when one vacuum source is applied. My set of 4 vac gauges are so old (1970s!), I'll hook up a small vacuum pump to all my gauges at one time using 3 Y joints to check that at least 2 read the same vacuum. I'll then use those to check the sync.
 
And the question about leaving one air screw alone is a good one. I also- have an Aprilia in the garage and one of those screws is actually left closed. The other is used to balance any manufacturing imperfections between the 2 cylinders.
 
To my eye, it appears that my left side screw is turned in further than the right.
 
thanks,
rick

[ksy222]

I'm going to be doing the throttle body sync soon. Thanks for the diy guide. I do have a question though. What is the absolute amount of vacuum for both throttle bodies supposed to be? I understand you should equalize both sides, but one could open both wide open or close both completely and be able to achieve equilibrium in both cases.
 
In other words, if I just hook up one throttle body for vacuum measurement, what is the reading supposed to be?
 
TIA

[jake]

the difference between the 2 should not be more than 1.33 kPa (10mmhg) if you need to Adjust use [HASH]1(left side as sitting on the bike) throttle body as the standard ( so leave it alone) and adjust number 2 to bring the vacuum below the 1.33 kPa .Engine is at idle speed when checking 1100 to 1300 rpm. so you hook it up to both to see the difference.
 

[Guest Ralph]

Is there a adjuster between the throttle bodies  to adjust the high speed balance or is that not needed.

[jake]

Is there a adjuster between the throttle bodies  to adjust the high speed balance or is that not needed.

Each TB has a screw and from what I understand is you leave the one alone and adjust the other to bring the difference of VAC down if it is above the 1.33kPa. nothing in between.  

[Guest Ralph]

Yep but that can only set the balance right at the bottom at tick over, but maybe
they don't need a high speed adjustment as they can set them up at the factory I will
have a look see if I can see a adjustment but suspect there isn't one. Done a BMW and
a Kawasaki recently and they both did so that's why I asked just used to doing both.