Set the floats on the two inner carbs, updated the rubber on the manifolds and put her back together.
I checked the synch with vacuum gauges and it was so damn close I left it alone.The #1 cylinder was pulling more vacuum than the other three by about the thickness of the pointer tip on the needle. Close enough for me.
She's no longer hanging up. I have a slight bit of the "slow to return to idle" thing going on, but only when the bike is static. I've fiddled with the mixture screws a bit, and it helped. I plan on riding it for a while and make very minor adjustments as needed. It doesn't seem to do it as bad or at all when riding/under load and coming back to idle.
Even though I thought the floats were correct, it turns out that something that simple made me chase my tail for weeks. It sucks R&R'ing the carbs, but it sucks even worse not being able to ride!
To GregK: According to the specs on this site, the CB550 carbs should be set at 22mm as well.
http://www.sohc4.net/index.php?q=content/cb500550-carb-id-and-specs
