1982 CB650 Nighthawk idle issues

[BenHume]

Hi! I have a 1982 CB650 Nighthawk I bought about a year ago and have done a lot of work to since. I replaced the head gasket, cylinder gasket, piston rings, and all the o-rings involved there. I also rebuilt the carbs (everything but the accelerator pump diaphragm which seems OK) I adjusted the valves (.002 intake/.004 exhaust), the spark advancer (and oiled the springs?) and have the mixture screws out 1 and 1/2 turns each. I synced the carbs and cleaned them twice (focusing on the idle curcuits) but it didn't seem to alleviate the problem. I also bought and installed brand new carb boots and have checked for vacuum leaks everywhere.

Here is what happens when I start the bike: I close the choke and start the bike, It always starts quickly and after about 10 seconds or so I open the choke because it is no longer needed (its not terribly cold here). I can then rev the engine at this point and the RPMs always quickly return down to around 1500. During this time, I can feel that the exhaust coming out of cylinder 3 & 4 is perfect, consistent, and powerful, like those cylinders are firing perfectly. 1 & 2 however feel weak, like they aren't firing nearly as powerfully, with an occasional full-blast puff of air. When I open the throttle, all of the exhaust from all 4 pipes feels right. I thought that maybe the idle curcuit of 1 & 2 might be clogged, but I verified twice that it is clear (removed all the jets and cleaned with cleaner/air)

All cables are working perfectly and the choke/throttle butterfly's open and close fully without issues.
I also swapped out the spark plug cables and the same issues occurred, which I assume means that the cables are not the issue?

After the bike runs for a while and warms up, I hear the rpms (hovering around 1500) start to fall and rise a bit like it might die. When I open the throttle, unlike when cold, the rpms are very slow to return to idle speed. Previously they would also suddenly start to rise uncontrollably, but I haven't experienced that since I cleaned the carbs for a second time. Soon the bike will die, and when I restart it, it will only run if I hold the throttle open. A few times when this would happen, I would open the main idle screw until it was propping open the throttle (way more then normal) and make the bike RPMs mimic idle (1500) and after a short time it was like something suddenly fixed itself and the RPMs would shoot WAY up to 4500 and I could then adjust the idle screw back to its normal adjustment and the bike would run normally again for a short time.

Spark plug 1 looks black and sooty. 2 is clean. 3 is also black and sooty, and 4 is clean...

I'm currently a bit stumped. Are cylinders 1 & 2 not firing at idle and become flooded? Does this eventually cause the bike to die when it warms up? Is there something wrong with the timing via the spark advancer? (I know that the timing chain is in the right place) Someone suggested that the floats might be sticking (explaining why the dying at idle issue would suddenly fix itself)

Any ideas? Thanks!

[Folsoml]

Welcome to the forum! You've given us a lot of information. It's tough to try to diagnose what seems to be an inconsistent problem.

Are you certain your coils and plugs are hooked up correctly? The left hand coil (as you are on the bike) runs plugs 1 and 4, while the right hand one runs 2 and 3.

Another problem could be in the pulse generator. I had one that ran fine until it warmed up, then it shorted out and only ran two cylinders.

What is your compression like?

[tario]

It sounds like you've checked over most of the mechanical things. The exhaust valve setting should be .003 though.

I'd clean out all the electrical connections and put a little dielectric grease in them. It sounds like you may have tried swapping spark plug locations. Like swapping 1 for 4 on the coil to see if the problem follows the coil or the cylinder. Obviously what Folsomi said should be checked out, 1 coil feeds 1,4 and the other 2,3.

[BenHume]

Compression is good all around, I am going to look into the air filter as a possible cause and check the spark advance springs as well as the pulse generator. I've played with swapping the wires/plugs and it doesn't seem to make a difference, thanks for the replies!