Yes there is.

 

There is a fine line between the **** being too closed and too open. But it's not hard to get the hang of it.

 

Sure. I am just concerned that the imbalance I see is because of the **** position. I will use one gauge on different cylinders to make sure I am not messing it up as a checkpoint. As you said, I am sure I will get the hang of it.

 

Yea, you will see that they will drop in and settle down easily.

On my gauges, I can unscrew the gauge face cover and tweak the needle position so they are all statically the same. Not sure if you're concerned about that or not.

A couple things other than sync adjustment that can cause things to be wonky. 1. If you have a vacuum leak somewhere it will throw you off. 2. If your valves are out of spec nothing else you do will compensate for that.

 

I actually calibrated the gauges using a common vacuum source. They are very close. I figured a vacuum leak would make the bike happier with the choke on which is not the case. In general it seems to be putting gas into the pipes as evident by the backfiring it does. I am still not convinced the ignition system is 100%; but since I can't buy replacement parts for it; not really sure how to proceed on that front. The valve adjustment is a good idea. Would you expect to hear the bike fluttering with an occasional backfire based on valves needing to be shimmed? The compression numbers are good, by the way. I would think valve issues would not allow the cylinder to build full compression. All cylinders test at 150+. One was bit high hear 170. You can hear the flutter in his video:

 

If your compression test is good, then then valves are likely ok. A vacuum leak can cause erratic idle as well as backfiring. The isolator boots are very common sources of leaks. One way to test them is while the bike is running spray some sort of flammable around them. If your idle increases, the boots are leaking. Some people use WD-40 or the like. I prefer to use a bottle of LP or map gas (like you use for soldering copper pipes). It works pretty much the same and doesn't cause a mess.

 

Thanks. The mounting boots are in the mail; from China. I had this on my list of things to just replace and purchased a set since they are actually available

 

I have decided to go further with the overhaul of the existing carbs as well as ordering a second set of used carbs from a running '89 so I should be able to get enough parts out of 8 carbs to make 4. I have completely disassembled everything, soaking main components in carb cleaner bath etc. Haven't decided to use the new jets from the rebuild kit or original jets (since I feel like the bike has gotten worse). But the question is, do folks disassembly the throttle plate from the carb body and are there seals to change in there? I saw a video on an older Honda where the repair guy explained that the throttle shafts had felt seals that would result in vacuum leaks and were often not worth repairing. So do I have seals in the throttle shaft that can result in vacuum leaks that I should worry about? And is there anything I can do about it? I see no reference in the manual carb tear down manual on removing the throttle plates and shafts. Thanks.

 

There aren't any seals in the plates that am aware of on these carbs.

I don't remove the plates. Rather I simply open them and insert a small dowel rod so the cleaner and get to everything. The deposits usually wipe away easily afterwards.

If your original jets can be cleaned properly and are not stripped or broken in any way they are usually fine to use. I refuse them any time I can. The trick is they have to be really clean.

 

Thanks. I have cleaned the original jets but then had a rebuild kit that included them; so I used the new ones. No numbers on the main jet in the kit so not sure if that size is now different; but that clearly has nothing to do with my inconsistent idle and acceleration issues.