like many of you I have been catching up on bike maintenance during these unusual times. Last year I gave the NC30 a thorough service, the major work being oil and filter change, major work on the lower radiator, not sure how successful that will be, may time to but new radiators. Valve clearances done with thanks to Rick O for the shims. And carburettor balancing.
I follow "Bikemonkey's" guide but this time I decided to try and make the job easier for myself. I've permanently fitted pipes to the manifolds to connect to the gauges, this saves a lot of time and struggling to get at the connections. Getting at the adjusters on the carb linkages is difficult, I can just about get my hand to them. To do this i need to remove the choke control and reposition the ignition coil (for front cylinders). I made a temporary fixing to earth the coil. I also extended the adjusting screws. I felt it made it slightly easier to get them. For turning them I made an extended socket. Still a struggle to get my hand between the "V" buts once in its not too bad.
I bought a "Carbtune" manometer type carb balancing tool some 30+ years ago but found it had stopped working properly on a couple of columns, looks like a couple of the restrictors had become clogged so I bought a Bourdon gauge type.
I've added a few photos of what I've done.

The first two show the permanently fitted pipes for the gauges, gauges fitted and blanked off.



Next shows the temporary ignition coil mount.


Tool for turning carb adjuster.


The carbs adjusted, engine running at approx. 1700rpm. The red bottle is my auxiliary fuel tank.


The final picture is a guess what this is for? Nothing to do with carb balancing, very useful for another major service job.

Can't see pics unfortunately bud???.intrigued as to what the tool is though!!!

They're back, for good this time, I hope!

Yep,kool....tool is for valve clearances??keep the rocker arm to one side??

That is exactly what the tool is for. I put a hole in one end for a length of string so it was easy to retrieve if it slipped down between the valves.

Now just waiting to ride the bike when the current restrictions are eased!

John

Lol....Good idea bud..well handy...I like the carb balancing tool as well..that's real handy...Yep I'm waiting to get out to!!

i had permanently fitted spigots and pipes on an nc30 about 10 years ago now but i discovered the stock hose isn't really that great and maybe fuel blowby / ethanol? heat ? etc soon deteriorated the hoses and caused an air leak / crap running.. i could have replaced the hoses with some high quality heatproof ones but i just took it off as i only balance them every major service so wasn't worth the hassle.. might be worth keeping an eye on the lines for signs of deterioration.

I'm using some fuel pipe from a modern car, the vacuum connection to the petrol tap is the same stuff and thats been OK for a few years, never the less will keep an eye on it.

Great ideas.