Motorcycle Repair: Honda CB350, glimmer of hope, valve work

Question
Hey Chris, thanks for being available on this site. A glimmer of hope when I was just about to bag my 'project' motorcycle.  I inheireted an old (1972?) CB350 from my nephew. He acquired it the summer before his first child arrived and no longer seems to have the time to work on it. He cliams the bike was working when he got it but proceeded to tinker with it anyway. He claims to have adjusted the valves 'perfectly' and just need to refine the timing and add the new mufflers and air filters. After I dragged it home inside my minivan, I pulled the carbs to check the dirt level and prime the float bowls. Cleaned them out with carb cleaner. Replaced a cracked intake manifold and reassembled them. Charged up the battery and set out on a test ride. It started and idled just fine but found the bike had no power above 10 or 15 mph. Must be the timing, I thought. Did my best to get the timing right (Clymer's manual seemed overly obscure on this aspect) but no change in performance. Seems valve noise is excessive and suspect I'll need to re-examin my nephew's valve work. Someone told me it also could electrical (rectifyer?). The spark looks good but I'm worried its not enough or not enough at the right time. Likely more than one thing contributes to power loss. If you need more specific model info, let me know. Would appreciate any hints on the direction/order of probability to concentrate at this point.

Answer
Hi Bruce.
 You may want to synchronize the carbs.  Chances are that no matter what else may or may not be wrong with the bike, the carbs being out of synch will be a major factor in it.

 If you do not have a carbstyx or other synchronizer guage, then get one.  Doing it "by ear" will only make it worse.

I seriously doubt that the electrical is a problem in this case.  After you go over the adjustments again and make sure that the carbs are properly synched, then see what happens.

Good luck.
FALCON