need help getting 650 running

First off, sorry if it seems like ive been away for awhile. Just started my agronomist internship and for the next few months i will be working some very long days. Well im working on an 81 kz650 csr with vm24's. Owner said the bike was running great 2 years ago and just wants it running again. I have never seen carbs this bad before. The slides were stuck and would not move PERIOD. Bowls were full of jelly like muck, and jets were all completely clogged. After soaking jets and pulling each slide out through the top i got everything cleaned and operating great. I was very proud of my accomplishments. Blew out pilot and main jet passages and everything looked great. The bike will not run at all. Has popped a few times but will not even attempt to run whether choke is on or not, and at any throttle position. It has good spark, and new gas. Only thing i can imagine it could be is that i made the noob mistake of soaking the deal under the main jet in carb cleaner without removing the rubber gasket. When i assembled the carbs i noticed the gaskets looked pretty rough when i tightened down the main jet. Could this cause the bike to not run at all? any other ideas of what could be my problem?

forgot to mention, has good compression, and i have tried starting fluid with no success. I will check if the coil wires are mixed up but the PO said the bike ran great when he parked it and he never messed with it

I have the same problem as you, let me know if you get it running. I need help.

Coil wires mixed was my 1st thought. Been there, done that.
Just swap the green and black coil wires and try to start her.
Just takes a momment and will let you know if it's that simple.
Other wise, are the plugs getting wet with gas?
What's the air filter/s like? Should still sputter with air filter problems though.
Maybe the enricher circuit/choke system is clogged.

Did you soak the carb bodies? The starter circuit (choke) needs to be functional. Is it still clogged? The brass tube that projects down from the carb body is the fuel pickup for the starter circuit. Are its tiny holes clogged?

This shouldn't be a starting/idle problem, but how about the accelerator pump circuit? That probably was/is clogged. Test by actuating the throttle pulley vigorously - fuel should squirt out the pump nozzles straight back without hitting the carb bore walls.

Did you do the initial mechanical synchronization?
The gap should be about 0.8-1.0mm or thereabouts.

The right side coil should have the red/black igniter leads & the 1-4 spark plug wires connected to it.
The left side coil should have the green/black igniter leads & the 2-3 spark plug wires.

Did you check/lubricate the timing advancer?

Does it have anything to do with the jets rubber o ring? I just took my carbs off, and put ib 17.5 jets for my pilot, and 107.5 main jets because i put on a v&h header& k&n airbox in the airbox, and mine ran at a high idle on cjoke, and died when i lowered the choke.

The plugs are wet, might have to check the starter circuit, but yes i did run a small carb cleaning wire down the small holes. I have the accelerator pump hooked up but not sure if it is working properly. With airfilters off and spraying starting fluid into the carbs i would atleast think it should sputter like that wouldnt u?

We threw a set of carbs from a running 650 on and got the same results. Not even a pop. I was beginning to lose hope on this bike and just sat and held the starter button for a very long time. After a while it popped, slowly kept getting better then it ran. Not only did it run but it ran great. We let the bike warm up, and put the original carbs on and it also ran and started good. Im happy that its running and ready to go back to the owner but it really bothers me that it started so hard the first time and made no attempt to start before but all of a sudden starts/runs fine now

jordan wrote:

We threw a set of carbs from a running 650 on and got the same results. Not even a pop. I was beginning to lose hope on this bike and just sat and held the starter button for a very long time. After a while it popped, slowly kept getting better then it ran. Not only did it run but it ran great. We let the bike warm up, and put the original carbs on and it also ran and started good. I'm happy that its running and ready to go back to the owner but it really bothers me that it started so hard the first time and made no attempt to start before but all of a sudden starts/runs fine now

Perhaps a slower than normal fuel supply through a partially blocked petcock took longer to initially fill the dry float bowls.

If this is the case, fuel flow may still be slower than normal. Just not so readily apparent once the float bowls are full, with reduced flow being enough to keep them full.

A dirty in-line fuel filter could cause the same thing.

Good Fortune!

I had numerous bikes do that to me over the years, especially air cooled engines. My problem was the piston rings would get stuck and the compression was low below 100 psi. After it fired up and ran the rings would free themselves and the engine would run great.