I've heard from many sources that synchronizing the carbs regularly ie. every 5000 miles produces a much smoother running engine. I have about 10000 miles and have not had the carbs synchronized yet.The buzziness of the engine has progressively gotten worse. My question is Can I synch the carbs myself and what is needed tool wise to do so? Is it a big job? I'm fairly mechanically inclined and wouldn't mind learning how to do it myself.
Thanks

The only real specialized tool you need is the Carb Synch tool, you can order one in from any dealer or shop (Motion Pro sells them on line I think.)
http://www.motionpro.com/
I also recommend getting a long set of metric hex wrenches with the round-ball (bondhaus) tip. They make it really easy to reach the little bolts that hold the carb bank to the top of the intake mainfold.

You likely also need a pair of 6 mm vacuum take-off to bolt onto cyl 2 & 3 (depending on the year of your bike.) Again, you can order these in at any shop or on line from Motion Pro.

The hardest part of the job is taking off the airbox and various other bits so you can get down to the correct hose connections. Super detailed instructions here:

http://www.bikersoracle.com/zx9/foru...ead.php?t=2375

I synched mine at 6,000 miles, it made a noticeable difference.

Rob

I'd imagine a couple of your valves are out of spec at 10,000 miles, too. I know every time I approached the clearance check interval my engine was pretty buzzy/rough at low rpm. The valve checkup certainly smoothed it out! I've gotten to 38,000 miles, and never synched the carbs...just valves and other required maintenance (oil, filter, coolant, etc.).

A highly recommended Do-It-Yourself, especially if you can borrow someone else's synch tool. It is really that easy. Performance wise, I haven't seen a substantial improvement. However, throttle response and starting ease has clearly improved.

My used ZX-9r ran poorly at purchase and I performed an eyeball synch myself last year to smooth most of it out, but it still wasn't perfect. I decided to perform a real carb synchronization and purchased a Carbtune Pro 4 (58 GBP/$85 shipped) after reading good reviews.

Following my Haynes repair manual, I warmed the bike up (140 degrees) raising idle to 1,500 RPM, turned it off, removed the gas tank, connected the synch vacuum tubes to their intake points (below each intake boot), started the bike, synch'ed cylinders 1&2, then 3&4, then left side to right side. That took a whole 2 minutes, so for good measure I fueled the carbs up one more time, blipped the throttle to 1,800 to reseat the butterflies and repeated. The Carbtune made this work out to be child's play.

No more ruppity-ruppity. She purrs like a new bike, holding right at 1,100 RPM. Presumably the science behind carb synchronizing says that the engine will run cooler, be more efficient, smoother, with better throttle response & power. All qualities I admire about the 9.