Carb problems 81 Kawasaki 550 LTD

Hope someone can shed some light on this one. Just picked up this barn find recently for a good price. It has 16000 miles on it. I cleaned up the carbs well and replaced all vacuum lines. No gas leaks.The problem I am having is the the bike is running to rich on all four carbs. Put new plugs. After the first ride they were all black and lots of black smoke coming out both exhausts. Also backfiring through both exhausts on deceleration Some suggested removing the air crew plug to adjust it. Any ideas. Thanks :dry:

The black smoke is unburned gas. Perhaps the air/fuel mixture is too rich but it is more likely that you have either poor spark or compression. Suggest you visit our website and have a look at the tech articles on "Coil Repowering" and "Valve Clearances" under "wg's Tech Stuff" index linked from our homepage.

Other common reasons for the black smoke is a dirty air filter or the wrong heat range spark plugs.

Well. wiredgeorge I checked out my bike on Saturday with my buddy who had voltmeter.I was surprised to find that the voltage for my coils was a little over 11 volts. We bought the wire and hardware. Fired it up. Runs a lot better. A little popping and not as much black smoke. Made a considerable difference. Going to throw some new plugs, run it, and go from there. Excellent advice. Thanks.