Motorcycle Repair: 1972 450 scrambler, plate adjustments, carb settings

Question
bill thanks for taking my question. i have  a1972hondacl450scrambler .m. with about 17000 miles when i bought the bike there was a slight pause when acererating out of 1st gear like the bike was loading up then it ran thru the gears with out missing a beat. now the bike starts up still has the slight pause runs thru the gears runs down the road 10 miles never misses a beat when i stop or slow down and let the bike idle it loads up and will not run idle drops off bike stalls i am lucky to get home. after the bike cools off it starts up idles runs fine at high rpm then dies or loades up . i have taken the jets out and cleaned them. the plugs are always oily and i wire brush them and they seem to fire fine. any help would be appreciated.

Answer
Randy... there are several calibrations for the carburetors, so look for a series number stamped on the body. I assume that you synchronized the throttle arm cables carefully after you cleaned the carb sets.

Before fiddling with the carb settings, you must always start back at the beginning... Valve adjust, camchain adjust, ignition spark advancer inspection for sticking or loose weight springs, then a careful setting of the point gaps to about .014" and then the breaker plate adjustments, so that the Right side points open at the F mark and the Left side points open at the LF mark.

Plugs that are oily are getting oil from the rings/valve guides. Plugs that are getting fuel fouled will come out wet or dry and black and that can be calibration or adjustment issues.

Bill Silver