TOPIC:

You are correct, #2 hasn't fired in a while. Or not much, anyway. I think the oil is drowning out the spark. The piston crown is pretty much the same as when I sewed her up last time, so nothing's happening in #2.

So today, I:

-Plugged both oil galleys and tested for leaks and found nothing. Filled both intake and exhaust valve chambers with oil, and nothing leaked out the valve stem, anything. This test doesn't replicate running conditions, but still.

-Helicoiled the #2 spark plug hole. It was stripped, and I actually saw gas and crud bubbling underneath the spark plug last time I had it running. So that's fixed.

I think the leak is from the old metal cylinder head gasket. I think its a combination of oil coming leaking from the cam chain space, as well as from piston ring blow-by. The poorly sealed exhaust header blows the oil that the gasket lets out, all over the #2 header pipe.

I think a new head cylinder gasket, plus new rings should make things at least semi-normal. A rebore plus new pistons just ain't gonna happen. Not this summer, not on a basket case.

Pictured is the area to the front and right of the #2 cylinder where I think the leak is coming from.

Man, I hope I'm right.

If not already done, would check:
Float bowl fuel level in #2 carb, using the clear tube method;
Sniff-test the crankcase oil and examine its condition to determine whether it might be fuel contaminated.;
Check #2 carb to assure main jet is securely in position;
Double-check that all the old copper crush gaskets are gone from #2 exhaust port, because it's for some reason failing to seal.
With fully charged battery, measure Vdc at coil primary terminals, and compare with Vdc across battery terminals..

Am still more suspicious of a fuel issue rather than an oil issue in #2 combustion chamber. Or perhaps also a spark quality issue, for whatever reason (possibly weak voltage to coils).

Good Fortune!

Actually synched the carbs, though they clearly run a bit rich. Cleaned the carbs last year, replaced the gaskets and drove a total of two thousand feet since then. Already dumped the oil, dammit. Will definitely lean it out when bike comes together, definitely part of the problem.

Coils are good, tho wires are patched. Good visual spark from all plugs when tested. Worth testing with multimeter though you are correct.

Oh man, blackhawks game back on. More later.

So, as far as rings go, should I go with standard or oversize? I believe there is .02 and .04mm oversize rings. All my cylinder readings are 61.90mm plus or minus a few tenths of a mm. I can do the math, but just wondering if anyone had any thoughts on this.

So, new rings are in the mail, head gasket and base gasket, plus a whole mess of o-rings and so forth. Thought I'd take the opportunity to hone and de-glaze the cylinders.

There seems to be an alarming scorching on the inside of the cylinder, never seen the likes of it before. It seems impervious to light honing, won't polish off. Is it within the parameters of normal, or is it a sign of something worse? Shown is cylinder #1.

Had a very similar issue with my GPz, after tearing down the cyl. head, we observed a #1 cyl exhaust valve guide that siezed to the valve stem.

Yeah, if there was a bent valve, the PO took care of it, but I doubt it, considering the care (or lack thereof) this bike had. There's similar scorching on the #4 cylinder. I wonder if the engine stopped suddenly and on its side, after some sort of crash, allowing crankcase oil to seep past the rings or something?

The bike has road rash on the gas cap, anything's possible. Here's a fun pic of the stator cover.