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HOW TO: $10 Throttle Body Sync

66K views 108 replies 44 participants last post by  mordantly 
#1 ·
This procedure is meant for the 2003-2005 r6 and the 2006-2009 r6s

So I was just not going to pay $200-$300 dollars for the stealership to do a throttle body synchronization for me. So now what do I do then. I read up on a few sites on how to's and do it yourself MANOMETERS. I assesed that it is entirely possible to make a very good, cheap, manometer, that will allow easy sychronization of the throttle bodies.

The factory recommends doing this procedure every oil change. I can bet all I have that the dealer did not do the throttle bodies when I took my bike in for an oil change. Needless to say I have had this procedure done 2 times. Once at the dealer at 24,000 miles and now again at 31,000 miles. The adjustment was pretty far off. This procedure doesn't really provide performance gains, as much as it aids in the smooth running of the engine. This procedure is simple and any one that can raise the fuel tank up can do it. So here is the how to on how to make a simple manometer and sync. the throttle bodies.

First you will want to get a wooden yardstick from your local hardware store. It will look something like these...


This is what you will use as the base for your manometer.

Next you will need about 35' of clear plastic vinyl tubing. You want 1/4 " to make your manometer. The 1/4" inch size refers to the I.D. of the tubing.



This tubing will be used to make the individual channels for your manometer. Now you will have to go to the gardening section to find the next parts. You will need 2, 1/4" connecting T's, and 4, 1/4" coupling nipples. they look like these.



These are what will connect the tubing together. The T is for the individual channels and the coupler nipples are to go to the throttle bodies.

Now you need to assemble everything. Take the clear tubing and cut it into 4 equal lengths. They don't have to be exact but it helps the closer they are in length. Then you will want to cut about a 1/2" to 3/4 " inch off of one of the lengths of tubing. This short length will be used to connect the 2 T's together. Then you will connect a length of tubing to each of the other nipples left on the T connector. The 4 coupling nipples will go on each end of the 4 tubes that come from the T's. It should look something like this.



This isn't mine but is very similar in construction and shows in good detail how the manometer is put together. As you can see there are now 4 tubes that can hold a fluid and will self calibrate thanks to good old gravity. Yours will be smaller in scale to this one since it will be installed on a yardstick. Use ZIP TIES to fasten the tubes to the yardstick. You will want to keep them as straight as you can and you should run zip ties up to about the last 6" of the yard stick. You will want to drill a hole in the yard stick at the top to hang it from. Each run going up the yardstick will represent a paticular cylinder or throttle body on the bike. You will want to keep track of what tube is where. It is important that the tubes line up in the order that they will be attached to on the throttle bodies. 1-1, 2-2 etc. This guy here crossed his at the bottom. This is not a big deal as long as you know which tube goes where. In the picture above tube 3 is crossed over and is now actually connected to throttle body #2. Just line the tubes up in the proper order and you won't have issues. Also be sure that there are no kinks in the tubing at the bottom. The length is not important since they will self calibrate regardless. You will then need to fill the tubes with some sort of fluid. Water, new engine oil, used engine oil, anti freeze, anything can be used. Try to stick to products that won't hurt the engine. Things like MERCURY are not suggested. You will only need to have about 6" or so of fluid in the monometer to have enough range to work. The whole thing will look something like this. Again not mine but shows the simple construction.



Ok now you are ready to prep the bike. To do this I would say be sure that you have all of your other maintenece done first. fresh oil, clean air filter, new plugs, recent valve adjustment, good fuel etc. None of them are needed to do the throttle body sync. with success, however doing them will allow the bike to be set up under optimal conditions. You will first need to remove the seat ( find another how to if you don't know how to do that ) then you will need only to raise the tank ( again with another how to if you cannot do this). You will only need to raise the tank enough to reach under it. I used a 1 qt. oil container to prop the tank up. You will not need to disconnect anything from the fuel tank. You can hang the manometer on a wall or off the garage door near the bike.

This picture shows a bike with the tank removed. It also shows the four vacuum lines connected that you will be using.



When you lift the tank you will see a bunch of things of course. What we are looking for are 4 vacume tubes that come from the throttle body. These tubes connect to each other in pairs. 1 connects to 3 and 2 connects to 4. They are gray in color with a white line. They will have a black coupler in between the pairs. These vacuum lines should pop out around where each of the injector connections are. In this photo the lines are connected to a manometer already. I numbered the lines. As you can see line 1 runs over the top of two in the picture. Disconnect each of the 4 lines from the couplers. You will notice that the couplers do not have a hole through them, and that is normal. Now connect in order as noted in the photo to the respective lines on your manometer. You will notice that I did not put an arrow on #3. This is because you are not going to make any adjustements to # 3. You will only connect it's vacume line to the manometer for reference. Once all the vacuum lines are connected you will need to locate the 3 screws on the throttle body that you will be adjusting. T.B #1 and T.B #2 are easy to find as they are located near the vacume line coming from the throttle body. It is a small brass screw that is located on a small boss of the T.B and you will need a 6" long small flat head screw driver to get to it. The #4 T.B is the easiest to see but most difficult to get to. It is located near the frame of the bike. You will have to come at it from an angle. The red arrows show the general location of where the screws are at.

Once you have located all of the air screws you can start the bike. Keep a close eye on the fluid in the manometer. If one of the T.B's is way off it could suck the fluid up and then down the tube and into the engine. If one of the T.B's is that far off simply shut the bike down or pinch that line and turn that respective air screw adjuster to the left or out just a tiny bit. A little goes a long way. Once there is no fear of fluid being sucked into the engine then you can allow the bike to warm up as normal.

THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT!!!!!!!! DO NOT ADJUST ANYTHING ON THE #3 T.B. The number 3 throttle body is your reference or controll cylinder. You want T.B 1,2, and 4 to match as closely as possible to the pulse created in the number 3 channel.

You will need to wait till the bike is warmed up before you can complete the process, however you also don't want the bike running with the fans on. So I rough in the setting while the bike is warming up. This should get you close enough to be quick when the bike is at running temp. Once the channels are roughed in and hopefully before the bike is running at full engine temp. You will need to adjust the idle ( AGAIN with another how to thread if you don't know how to do this ) down to 1,250 rpm's as per the service manual. To me this is rather low but that is how they do it.

Ok so now the bike should be roughed in and the idle set properly. The channels on the manometer will seem to bounce like crazy and will be tough to tell exactly where it's at. I want to inform you that this is ok and normal. This manometer is very sensitive and even if the channels are off by an inch or so there is not that much of a difference in the vacume pulses. You will notice this as you adjust the air mixture screws that a little truly goes a long way.

This is how I approach the adjustments. Clockwise turns of the air screw increases vacuum and will raise the fluid in that channel. If you turn the air screw counterclockwise it will lower the fluid in that channel. I take the channel with the higest level and adjust it down till it's close to the #3 control cylinder. Once a channel is matched up to the number 3 channel I give the bike a quick couple of gooses at the throttle. This messes things up purposefully. I can use this to see an average for that cyclinder. I then go to the next highest and repeat. You will notice that as you do this the other channels will move. Just get them close and move on. If by chance you end up with the number 3 channel being the highest channel you will have to adjust the other channels untill they are all back in line. Simply screw each channel in a little to bring there vacuum pulse up higher. You will have to go back and fourth several times and you will still never get it spot on. As metioned before this instrument is very sensitive. Even if there is an inch or so of difference between the lowest and highest channels they will still be fairly close. I would say that if all channels are within an inch you are good. If they are within half of an inch of each other you are really damn good.

If the bike starts to get higher in temps and you havn't nailed it down yet, take a break. Let the bike cool down for a bit and come back to it when the bike has had a chance to cool down a little. Once you are happy with the settings, disconnect the vacuum lines from the manometer and replace the plugs between the T.B lines. Then you can drop the tank back down button everything up and reset the idle to your liking. I usually set it for the idle that is as high as I can go and still have a snappy response when I goose the throttle. Throttle response will be sluggish if the idle is too high. So there you have it.

The total cost of parts should set you back about 10 dollars. It's about 5-6 dollars for the tubing and the rest is dollars and cents. I did this procedure in about 20 min. It took me about 20 min to actually build the manometer once I had all the raw materials. I am pretty familiar with the bike so I already knew where the air screw adjusters where, and the rest is stuff I deal with regularly anyway. I would say a person with the skills to do an oil change or air filter change on this bike can do this project with no ill problems. It may take longer is all. This procedure should help smooth the bike out making vibrations and other power delivery issues even out. it is also fun to see what the bike has done since it was last done. I would say that doing this at every oil change is not needed but certainly everytime you clean the air filter or at least the spark plugs. Please feel free to add.
 
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#10 ·
So why is this so different from the 06-10 bikes?
 
#13 ·
Made my manometer today and synced my throttle bodies! My setup cost me about $30 because the stupid hardware store by me only had assorted fittings. I couldn't just by them individually so I had to get an assorted pack... Bastards... Oh well $30 is still better than whatever the dealer would have charged.

Thank you for the EXCELLENT write up. Now time to go for a test ride!
 
#16 ·
The manual suggests that every 4,000 miles it should be done. This works out to every oil change. To me that is a little to much. I would say every time the oil filter, spark plugs, or air filter need to be maintained. That basically means every 8,000 miles.

The 06 + r6v and r6r have a slightly different protocol for the process. I think it is even easier to do. Basically they want you to use the cylinder with the least possible vacuum and match the others to it. Every thing else is pretty much the same. The major difference being that the reference cylinder is the one with the white paint near, or on the air screw adjuster being the reference cylinder.

As a rule the only reason to do this process is to help KEEP top performance of the bike. It does not add H.P or anything. It will reduce vibrations and help with throttle response, outside of that though; there is nothing. If you follow these steps you can do this on your own and have GREAT results.
 
#18 ·
I need to do this when it get a tad warmer. My 02 hesitates on hard throttle. I need to change my plugs out when I do it too.
 
#20 ·
Alright i need some info, i went and bought 40' of 1/4" I.D. vinyl tubing and some "1/4" barbed tee" connectors. Apparently somewhere in the world 1/4" is different than 1/4" where the tubing was made because it doesnt provide a snug fit into the tubing. The tee's and nipples are slightly smaller than the tubing but they fit snug if i wrap them with plumbers tape. Will the smaller diameter hole in the tee make a difference in the test? I assume not but i'd like to see what others think.
 
#23 ·
Well i used the tee's that i bought, seemed to make a good enough seal once i wrapped them in plumbers tape haha. But i ended up taping around them too just to be sure i don't wake up to a puddle of Amsoil in my garage tomorrow. Now my plugs get in on Tuesday and we'll see how well this goes. Though i do wish i would have used some colored water or something instead of the oil, the oil moves so slow in the tubes, i wonder if water would have been more accurate?



 
#24 ·
Alright, installed new plugs and put my manometer to test. I'm am thoroughly impressed by this walk through and the results that i have seen after completion. This definitely needs to be a sticky if our manuals are calling for it that often! People should definitely give this a try instead of paying someone to do it. What do you have to lose? $10? That's nothing compared to these lame ass dealers. Redwood, is making this sticky still an option? :p
 
#26 ·
Oil is nice because it's slow to react. Water will bounce like crazy in the tubes. I used fork oil which is pretty thin and it bounces a bit. It is also clear which doesn't help. You can use anything fluid though. As long as it won't hurt the engine like mercury or something.
 
#27 ·
Roger that, i used some Amsoil i had left over from the last oil change, worked like a charm! I could get them all within about 1/2" of eachother, but after goosing every time they'd settle around 1" as the biggest gap.
 
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