ho
ly
crap
I GOT TO RIDE IT DOWN THE STREET!!!
All right so it wasn't quite that earth-shattering, but damnit I'm happy. I got about 1.5 gallons of fresh gas in the tank, fired it up and had even worse problems with holding an RPM and there was a lot of backfiring on one side. Once I got it warmed up again I noticed the right side was cooler so I checked the pipe temp and figured #4 wasn't firing. Popped the plug and it was wet so I hit it with the brass brush and put it back in. That did the trick, fired it back up and the RPM's shot up to around 4500 so I killed it and pulled the idle screw back out several turns. I played with it for about 20 minutes before it finally started calming down and settling into a smoother run and I managed to set the idle to about 1k which was just high enough to keep it running steady. Plus it was actually starting without the ether so if it died on the street I wouldn't have to push it back. Well hell, time to pull it out from beside the garage and see if I can actually make her run.
So the clutch feels much different than the Yamaha. Might actually be a little too mushy, maybe I have it tightened down too far (I have to let it out almost completely before it grabs). Got her rolling, and yeah this is definitely a heavy bike, and just has a completely different feel than the Yamaha had. It will take a little time to get used to it but I made a few trips up and down my street without any problems. One thing did come up that worried me -- when I got to the end of the street and started turning around I heard a grinding. I was feathering the clutch at the time and was afraid the noise had come from the transmission, but no I got moving again and there were no other odd sounds. Ok..? Made a couple more trips up and down, then once again heard that sound while turning in the same direction. WTH? Oh crap, the center stand is dropping because I never got the spring back on it! Kicked up tight again st the pipes and didn't have any other issues while I was moving. Brought it back to the house and briefly considered leaving it parked on the street, then thought better of it. No plates, not even a headlight, yeah this is just screaming for a cop to give me a ticket. So she's tucked back up beside the garage again.
Getting a load on the engine seems to have been really good for clearing the cobwebs. I never got above second gear but by the time I parked it I was able to start it without throttle, and she popped right up at 1000rpm. It will be interesting to see how it starts again tomorrow once it is cold. I also need to check the oil level since it still throws a lot of smoke when I first start it. But the most important thing is that it DOES idle now, which means I can start working on adjusting the air screws and getting the carbs balanced. Oh I just thought to look, it appears the actual idle speed SHOULD be set at 1000 rpm. Well hot damn. And that explains why she was really loping when I tried to let it drop below that. So I'm actually in better shape than I thought.
The other issue that I'll have to watch is that it hesitates really badly when I crank the throttle. Considering how much change there has been to the way it's been running today, I'm fairly confident there was some gunk still plugging the carb passages, but it is definitely getting pushed out now. So perhaps a little more riding will clear out the rest and solve this problem too. I should probably also check again for vacuum leaks, but then if it's running well enough that I can balance the carbs that will at least give me a good starting point for troubleshooting. So much more work to do and I'll have very little free time until April, but I'll squeeze in what I can and try to get her ready to get new plates. By next month we might even have some decent riding weather, or at least good enough to make some trips around town and try to shake loose any problems.
Last night I went to bed bummed out about the mix-up with the jets. Tonight I'm too excited to sleep. What a turn around!