It won’t start, and I’m stumped. I bought this bike not running from an owner who had also not had it running, and didn’t have any background mechanical info on it.
It did start right after I first cleaned the carbs and put them back on. That was, however, without connecting them to the air box. It would only run with the choke on, then would die after about 20 seconds. It backfired twice. But now that I’ve connected the air box, I’m getting nothing.
I’ve ruled a few things out. The brand new battery is charged and the starter is turning over. Compression is good (while cold, at least). The spark plugs are new, and each is sparking against bare metal. I’ve cleaned and rebuilt the carbs with the correct replacement parts. All float bowls are filling with gas. Pilot screws are at 2.5 turns each. The air box is unobstructed.
The spark plugs are coming up dry after I try to start it. I put a few drops of gas directly into each cylinder before putting the plugs back in and trying to start it, but only got a couple hints of ignition, followed by one mega backfire. I sprayed starter fluid into the air box while cranking it, and it would ignite the fluid, but die when I pulled back the throttle.
One thing to mention is that I’ve bypassed the SOS, and run a hose from the petcock to the carbs themselves. The SOS is completely detached from any other parts on the bike.
Any ideas?
