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Not stock was a poor choice of words. The tip with the slot used for adjustment is missing and a new slot was cut in the remaining piece to allow adjustment. The needle looks to be in good shape.

Some progress over the past 24 hours. New belts, t-stat and hoses installed. Did some deep cleaning of the carb jets (very much needed). Float heights verified and made sure they close properly. Filled the radiator, installed the carbs and fired her up. Wish I could say it ran great but...
Won't idle below 2k yet and some popping going on. All four cylinders are firing just not evenly yet. Didn't have enough time check the sync before I had to quit for the day. Progress is progress.

ritalz wrote:Not stock was a poor choice of words. The tip with the slot used for adjustment is missing and a new slot was cut in the remaining piece to allow adjustment. The needle looks to be in good shape.

Ah, makes sense. I'll dig through my junk carbs box and see what I have...

Guess I'm gonna have to get serious with cleaning these carbs. Synced the carbs and it still runs only a little better. The air screws are set a 2.5 turns, no idea if that is right. I know here is a special tool made for this job but don't have one (yet). Also found out the hd mufflers are a bit loud for my tastes.

Dug this picture out of Roady's 1100 carb rebuild post (thanks Steve). Seeing the dummy tube saved me from thinking there was a serious blockage in the first carb I cleaned. All other passages are clear. On to the next carb. It refuses to run below 2200 rpm.

Track T 2411 wrote:I'm curious, how is your idle air screw 'not stock?' If the adjustment limiting cap has been removed, they look quite different. If the length or taper of the needle end itself is different, then I'd question it. Just saying. (BTW, I may have a spare, I'll check later today...)

What Track T 2411 said above. This is something I'd take a pic of and save for reference.
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~CrazyJerry~

Not having any fun with this today. Got the carbs done and installed. Able to get cleaner and air through every passage I could find. Adjusted the valve clearance to 004 for the intake and 005 for the exhaust (several were too tight). After a few cranks to fill the bowls it fired up and ran for about 30 seconds. Could not get it to start again after that. Appears that I have lost fire on 1 & 2. I've swapped in a different coil, spark units and swapped the wiring for 1 & 2 with 3 & 4. By this time I was frustrated and not sure of my results. Time to take a breather.

Still trying to track down the no fire issue. I've swapped out everything I could and it leads me to believe the pick up coil is the culprit. Worst part is the location of the unit. Symptom is plenty of spark on 3 & 4 but only a stray hit on 1 & 2.

According to the service manual, there's not much testing that can be done.
Pulse generator: Measure resistance at generator connector; white and yellow leads (cylinders 1-2), white/blue and blue leads (3-4). Should read 530 +/- 50 ohms @ 68 degrees Fahrenheit...
Did you happen to test by swapping the spark units to see if the issue moves from 1-2 to 3-4?

I did try swapping the spark units. Swapping them has no effect. Resistance is slightly lower at 50 degrees but still within limits. Not sure what to think the problem might be.

I guess from there, I'd be looking at all the wiring connections and grounds on the primary side of the ignition system...

Been doing some of that as I go along. A single ground feeds both coils so I'm pretty sure that is ok. The resistance test above was the same from the pick up coil plug up to the ignition coil plug. I've got an old oscilloscope that I could try to hook up to 'see' the pulse and compare one side to the other. Hopefully I can get some time today to do more tests. I would be happy to find a bad connection.

ritalz wrote:I would be happy to find a bad connection.

Sure sounds like there’s one lying there waiting for you to find it. Figure that the harness is, what, 38 years old? Not too surprising to find a gremlin or two at this point down the road...

Spent three hours today chasing this gremlin, no joy. One of my sons has a 1100 not doing anything. Maybe go run some tests for comparison.

No progress today om the bike. Painted the kitchen instead. Gotta keep the boss happy.