Any suggestions?

[SLB1963]

I just got my carbs back together( this is my first rebuild on a 4 carb set-up).
I am trying to get the bike to start. It barely fires when I first turn it over but will not crank. the bike sat up for years. I had to replace the float needles and one of the pilot jets. I adjusted the floats and also found the vacume hose was plugged and cleaned it out. The bike has 1,400 miles on it so it has sat up most all its life. 1981 MS. any suggestions on how to get it to fire up or what I may have done wrong. I do not have the air filter on. I figure if it would start it would do so without it on. The bike ran 3 years ago when my Brother in law took it to the shop then he let it sit again.
Any suggestions would be appreciated.

[petejw]

hi SLB1963,

hows the condition of the battery?
the tci needs around 10.5 volts to fire the plugs,
try jump starting the bike and see how u go,

also there shouldnt be any problems trying to start the bike
with out an air filter.

[SLB1963]

Thanks for the reply, Your bike is awsome!. I have a charger on the battery and it just started running. It is backfiring at low rpms but will rev good. I will let the battery charge overnight and see what happens in the morning. I noticed the headlight did not come on when it started. another issue for another day!

[L0rdexpectati0n]

did you sync the carbs? mine was backfiring syncing help out but i'm also looking into valve lash with mine. and also running the bike without the air filter is letting the bike breathe unrestricted increasing the air flow and leaning out your air/fuel ratio

[BA80]

Unfortunatly if you are running a stock airbox/aircleaner the carbs will have to come back off to get it installed.

Don't try to tune the carbs without whatever air cleaner setup your going to run. You will just be wasting your time.

The air filtration system needs to be installed to get it right.

[petejw]

glad u got ur bike running.