Good advice from pettit. I never adjust anything from in front of the engine, I think it's not safe.

stewart,
The lift test is done at full throttle. Usually the plane is run up to full, then lifted and pointed upwards, so you are always dealing with the same "pull". Most of the time, you get someone else to hold the TX while this is going on, so they can pull back the throttle if things start going badly. Also, if you do start to slip or whatever, dump the plane on it's nose away from you, don't try to catch a slipping plane. Yes, the plane will likely be damaged, but it's better than getting turned to hamburger.

A lot of guys don't like the lift test, or it's impractical on larger airplanes. So the pinch test makes more sense. But sometimes the fuel lines aren't accessable either. In those cases, most guys just back off peak a little extra, and fly it. Once you've been running a particular engine for a while, you'll get used to it, and find that you don't need the tests as often, you just know when it's about right.

geish,
Yeah, nothing I wrote is new, or anything I came up with, just my rehash of the same old stuff . I have no doubt there are sites out there with even better descriptions. I just never know where they are when I want them

About the low speed settings, it's harder to describe because it varies a lot from carb to carb. I know it's been talked about on here and on other sites a fair bit though. (besides which, I don't have time to write that all out any time soon, I don't think)