Contributed by Craig McDaniel

The first time I synchronized my carbs, I nearly had a nasty accident involving my tank and the garage floor while I was getting everything set up.  Like many of the other ZR7OA readers, I figured there had to be a better way, but at the same time, I wasn’t ready to cough up $50 for one of those specialty pony bottles.  So I made my own and, since it worked out really well, thought I would share the results with you.

I was able to get all of the parts from my local Ace hardware store for about $10 (look in the plumbing section where they sell ice-maker lines and valves).

1 - camping water bottle (I already had several of these and just used the oldest one)

3 or 4 feet of 5/16” Inside Diameter hose

1 – 5/16” barb adapter (this is threaded on one end and has a slip on adapter on the other.

1 – nut for the above adapter

2 – neoprene washers

1 – ¼” X ¼” flare valve

1 – 5/16” line splicer.

Assembly:

Drill a hole in the bottom of the water bottle just big enough to twist the threaded end of the barb adapter through.  Before you twist it through, though, put one of the neoprene washers on it (these washers help seal the hole).  Twist the adapter through the bottom then put the other neoprene washer and nut on the adapter on the inside of the bottle.  I used a long screwdriver to line them up and a socket with an extension to thread and tighten them.  Cut off about  12 – 18” of the hose and slip it on the adapter coming from the bottle.  Twist the ¼” flare valve into the line (you may want to put some sealant on the threads to make sure it doesn’t leak at all).  Then twist the remaining hose onto the other end of the valve.  The line splicer is used to connect the line to the fuel line, but don’t put it in yet.

Using it:

To fill the bottle with minimal spillage, disconnect the fuel line from the tank and connect the open end of the hose to it.  Turn the tank valve to Prime and if your bottle is lower than the tank, the gas will flow right into it.

Once the bottle has enough gas, turn the tank’s valve back to On and disconnect the hose.  Don’t close the flare valve until you have lifted the hose high enough to clear the line behind it.  Once the gas is out of the line, close the flare valve.

To use the bottle, raise it higher than where the tank is, put the 5/16” line splicer in the end of the hose and connect to the fuel line.  Open the flare valve and you’re in business.

I found that a camera tripod works great for holding both the fuel bottle and carb gauge.  It adjusts for height easily and can be moved to the most convenient location.

When you’re finished, you can put the end of the line in the gas tank filler cap and drain it right back into the tank.  Hardly any gas at all gets spilled during the whole process.

One other thing that I do is use car ramps to set my tank on while I’m working on the bike.  They’re more stable than propping the tank up on its end and the petcock can fit between them easily.  Just make sure the ramps are pointing in opposite directions J