plug chop doesnt show me anything? what gives?

Trying to dial in the carbs (vm26) on my 78 kz1000 motor. The idle is good, it runs ok, no sputtering or anything but very flat acceleration and really no spunk above 1/2 throttle. 50 miles ago I pulled the plugs and wire brushed them to start trying some plug chops. I've tried a few times now and every time I pull them out they look like I just brushed them. There is soot around the base but the electrode tip is still basically shiny metal with no indication as of to rich or lean! What gives, surely 50 miles should show some color on there no?

my strap has a tell-tail tan heat line on the strap...about half the length from tip to back bend....this means the heat of the plug is correct....the coloration around the base is normal and should be all the way around....it could be a bit rich on idle as you would like a dark brown to black...the porcelin should be colored from the tip down about a 1/8" to a 1/4" a light tan.....if white or little color...might be lean.

trip post... :lol: damm whats sup today?

dub post

So should I be reading the porcelain and not the strap? I've always just looked right at the strap.

whitskz wrote: ...very flat acceleration and really no spunk above 1/2 throttle....

Is the timing advancer functioning properly?

Good Fortune!

Yes, new dyna s, verified with timing light.

What are you using for air filtration? Ed

Pods and I have a custom exhaust I built for it.

These bikes are pretty finicky about intake and exhaust mods, so I suspect you have a fair amount of jetting experimentation ahead of you before you get good performance across the entire power band. Maybe someone here can provide a starting point for jetting. Ed

My question was more about the plug chop itself and why I'm not seeing much of any change after 50 miles.

what fuel are you using?