So, last fall I traded the 82 cr480r for a "I promise that it will run on all four with some TLC" 78 kz650 that had been under my buddies outside lean too for the last 6 years. I was thinking to my self that the 4 into 1 mac exhaust on the bike was worth more than the dirt bike I traded for it....so I could not possibly go wrong! Weeks and months have passed with new carb kits installed sometime just prior to the start of 2012. I hate dirt wasps! I did not know that so many pine needles would fit inside the fuel passages of a bank of carbs, and do you know how hard it is to get pine sap out of idle air inlet passages? Any way, I got it done. In go four new spark plugs. Out comes the can of carb cleaner and it is time to hook up some juice and kick the old girl over. Several minutes later...cough, cough, cough and I have life. Life was short. I finally figured out that she was only running on the two outside cylinders. Real life steps in and I have to take a break for a few months. During that time I decide that the answer to my problem is points adjustment. Several months and 15 minutes later (points adjusted) I am back with fuel in the tank and a can of carb cleaner in my hand. Kick. Cough. Kick. Cough. I think the temperature in the garage was some where around 38 degrees that day. She sputters to life. Life is short. I keep up and all of a sudden it was like she woke up from a coma and remembered what life was all about. I spent the next few seconds grinning from ear to ear....then all *ell broke loose. You see I had forgotten about the few squirts of "special sauce" that I had blessed each cylinder with when I decided to take a break. Now I know what a mosquito feels like in its final moments of existence. I made a break for the roll up door through the fog of burnt oil and heard the old girl start to scream. I scrambled back over and she must have been at 8000 to 9000 rpm and not looking back. I casually reached down and levered the choke off. Nothing. I checked the throttle. Not stuck. I reach up and click the kill switch to off.........Not a thing. Now my vision is starting to narrow and my mind is thinking crazy things like: great now I am going to blow her up and get to rebuild an engine....I grabbed the fuel tank and ripped it away from the fuel line to the carbs and then realize that the float bowels will still have plenty of fuel for more high rpm running. Next, the ground wire gets yanked free. No dice. In fact she starts running faster..I guess my generator is working well (but what actually went through my mind at the time was *!@#) Then it hit me. Moron, you have been trying to stop spark from getting to fuel pull the spark plug wires you idiot. Yep, you guessed it. The generator is working very well and I shocked the crap out of myself. Life finally faded and several minutes later as the smoke cleared out of the garage I had a smile back on my face. The old, sky blue, hand brush painted 650 is going to be a worthy project after all. Happy that I did not burn down my house or blow up an engine, I went over to the new '12 CRF450X and decided to take her out for a ride in the snow. Life is good. Cheers.
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