TOPIC:

have you checked you valve clearance latly????

yeah, I checked all the valve clearances about 2 or 3 months ago. All were within spec. I actuated the cam chain adjuster, according to the Clymer manual. The bike's only run a total of about an hour and a half since I checked them.
The compression readings(motor hot, choke off, throttle held wide open) at that time were; 130, 120, 130, 135.

UPDATE:
My bike has been starting and running perfectly every day for over a week now!
I believe I had two problems; Carbs, & Battery.
The bike would never start with the choke on. I would have to leave it off and use starting fluid to get it running. WG handled the problem like a prince, sent me another set of carbs that work great, choke and all.
Here was the 2nd part of my problems; the battery. I bought that (Yuasa) battery new a year or so ago, while the bike was still not running. I got it to test lights etc while working on it. Since the bike wasn't actually running during that time, I would put a trickle charger on it for a couple of days, about every 3 weeks. The voltage was reading 12 and a half volts. Once the key was turned on, it would drop quickly. 2 weeks ago,I decided to get a hydrometer (the kind with the floating balls)and check the cells. Even fully charged, 4 cells were at 75%, and 2 of them were at 50%!
So I bought a cheapie $30 Walmart battery. I keep the trickle charger on it every nite now, which I have plugged in to a timer, limiting it to 12 hours a day.
I've been riding the bike almost every day. It starts immediately, warm or cold(choke works perfectly), and runs and idles beautifully now. No missing, backfiring, none of that crap anymore. It cruises nicely at all RPMs/speed ranges.
Just a reminder that I also did upgrade to a new regulator/rectifier recently, so not sure if that made a difference or not.
Hope this helps anyone who was as frustrated as I was

I suppose, since I started this post, I should let everyone know what's going on with my project as well. I had updated the cracked stock coils to the green Dyna coils and added the WG relay mod but still had a really weak spark...

Well here's the deal, instead of buying a spark plug lead kit or even stock spark plug lead cut to length... I cheaped out and went down to the nearest auto parts store and purchased some automotive coil leads that looked like the same thing... what I found out was that the particular wires that I had installed had quite a but more resistance in them than the old leads, so I ended up purchasing a set of Dyna leads from Z1 and the darn thing sparked like a champ!

There was another catch though... When I started the bike, it still had that stumble on acceleration and after it warmed up, it refused to idle.

So I got out my shop manual studied all the trouble shooting guides, tune-up recomendations and descriptions of the ignition/carberator systems... then I went back and started tracing the vacuum lines and checking all the fittings... I traced the two lines between the carbs and the cylinders and discovered that one had been used to supply the petcock(incorrectly) so I followed the other one up to where it was supposed to go and found a "T" connector that was tucked up in a very difficult to see space(easily looked over) and discovered that it was totally open and providing a huge air leak to the right side carb... I capped it off and the bike runs like a scalded ape! That little "T" connector has cause a number of people a lot of frustration and I believe was the reason that I was able to get the bike for so cheap....

Anyways, thanks for all the advice and input from anyone that has bothered to answer my silly questions... I hope that I can return the favor....

I just got my tank back from paint and waiting for my seat from a buddy of mine that works at an upholstry shop... got a plate for it yesterday... pods and new jets are installed along with clip-ons... the bike is coming together quite nicely now, hope to have pics up soon.

Thanks,
Claude

Bike has been running pretty good. Every once it awhile it'll lack power, but always starts nice and idles good. Usually though, it runs pretty good (or so I thought - read on). I was in the process of running some heavy duty Prestone Fuel System Cleaner thru it with a fresh tank of Mobil gas. No change. When I started it today, I felt #2 & 3 exh pipes and noticed they were not getting as hot as 1 & 4; I checked it with the timing light; NO Spark on 2 & 3! I know that's impossible, the bike wouldn't run on only 2 cyls, no less idle as nicely as it was. I removed those plugs, they were slightly black, slighty moist, not too bad. I layed those plugs on the head and cranked the bike. I noticed they both had a weak spark that fired to the side instead of the center. I cleaned the plugs in my mini-plug-sandblaster, and tried it again; now a nice fat center spark!
Rather than reinstalling those plugs, I decided to try a hotter plug – NGK B6ES as opposed to the NGK B7ES I had been running, since most of my riding is stop & go, very little highway riding.
After installing them, the bike started at the touch of the starter button –AND RAN LIKE NEVER BEFORE!!! I HAD TROUBLE KEEPING THE FRONT WHEEL ON THE GROUND!! Absolutely incredible!! I didn't think this bike was capable of this kind of power. I believe it is twice as fast as it ever was, even on it's best days! I parked it for the day, before I hurt myself on it. Will ride it tomorrow when I'm not drinking beer. I'm totally elated, all I can say is WOW!

I haven't been able to stop riding this thing for the last 2 days. NOW it's the bike I always wanted! For anyone else having alot of BS/intermittent problems, I recommend going to a hotter plug before trying anything else. I wish I had done this a year ago. I can't say enough, about the difference it made. I took my girl out on it yesterday, she said it was like I put a new motor on it. It starts instantly now, and idles real smooth, consistently. Never any more missing etc. At idle, it has a nice throaty sound that it never had before. When I blip the throttle now, it sounds more like one of them crotch rockets.
Hey - suns up - time to go ride! Maybe I'll have a Harley for breakfast

Congrats!! Will have to try a step hotter meself.....just for kicks and grins, as most of my putting around is stop/go in-town stuff as well.....