THOUGHT I only had one more question...(coil swap wiring question)

[motoman]

Glad to hear you've resolved the running issue! No win here as I didn't think of referencing the year of your bike to wire colors. Also, your yr. of bike still had the centrifical advance, which allows more constant movement. 81's and XJ's centrifical portion was incorporated into the TCI, so any constant rotation back and forth of advance assembly was reduced. Now you'll just have to re-set idle mixtures and re-sync in that order so it'll haul even quicker and smoother.

[ERM83]

Glad to hear you've resolved the running issue! No win here as I didn't think of referencing the year of your bike to wire colors. Also, your yr. of bike still had the centrifical advance, which allows more constant movement. 81's and XJ's centrifical portion was incorporated into the TCI, so any constant rotation back and forth of advance assembly was reduced. Now you'll just have to re-set idle mixtures and re-sync in that order so it'll haul even quicker and smoother.

yeah...i DID re-sync, set the mixtures, etc. but check this out: so, I had been talking about a slight popping out of the left exhaust...after the coil install, carb maintenance, wire fix, etc...still popping a little bit, but NOW out of the RIGHT side??

could one of the primary coil wires have a short?? I made sure to check all the wires before i hooked everything up...I'm leaning towards the timing. That was something that I wanted to wait to do until I got the coils. Oh, it won't pop at factory idle, but if it warms up and idles at `12-1300, THEN it will. Stumbles at low RPM a bit as well...nothing crazy. That is THE LAST problem...everything else is all good with it. After that, all i gotta do is clean'er up; try to make it look stock-sharp!

[motoman]

yeah...i DID re-sync, set the mixtures, etc. but check this out: so, I had been talking about a slight popping out of the left exhaust...after the coil install, carb maintenance, wire fix, etc...still popping a little bit, but NOW out of the RIGHT side??

could one of the primary coil wires have a short?? I made sure to check all the wires before i hooked everything up...I'm leaning towards the timing. That was something that I wanted to wait to do until I got the coils. Oh, it won't pop at factory idle, but if it warms up and idles at `12-1300, THEN it will. Stumbles at low RPM a bit as well...nothing crazy. That is THE LAST problem...everything else is all good with it. After that, all i gotta do is clean'er up; try to make it look stock-sharp!

My initial guess would be ACTUAL fuel levels in float bowls are not all the same, which can create a tad lean cond. in whatever cyl. is leaner than the others. For a 'shortcut' initially, back out #4 idle mixture screw and eighth turn. If it still pops out that rightside exhaust, back out #3 idle mix. screw an eighth turn also. If that doesn't resolve the issue, back to my first sentence.
Also, FWIW, setting floats all the same will NOT give same float bowl ACTUAL fuel levels. Reason being, is not all four float needles have equal upward pressure from float needles. Reason for that is, no two of those teeny internal springs of the float needles compress the same. Makes for some definite fiddling having to remove carb bank several times in order to get identical float bowl feul levels the same. Remember also, approx. 1mm of actual float change is equivalent to approx. 3mm of actual fuel level change. The positive of that is, you get really quick and good at carb removal and installation. Myself, got that down to approx. 12min.
Key to motor running silky smooth at cruisin' speed is that all four cyl. are doing the same work.
Overall, timing is NOT the bikes issue. If it is correct when running, hittin' center of that pointer do NOT change it. But you can check it with a timing light, just for grins & giggles. BTW, if timing were off, that WOULD be reflected by all FOUR cyls. when running.

[ERM83]

My initial guess would be ACTUAL fuel levels in float bowls are not all the same, which can create a tad lean cond. in whatever cyl. is leaner than the others. For a 'shortcut' initially, back out #4 idle mixture screw and eighth turn. If it still pops out that rightside exhaust, back out #3 idle mix. screw an eighth turn also. If that doesn't resolve the issue, back to my first sentence.
Also, FWIW, setting floats all the same will NOT give same float bowl ACTUAL fuel levels. Reason being, is not all four float needles have equal upward pressure from float needles. Reason for that is, no two of those teeny internal springs of the float needles compress the same. Makes for some definite fiddling having to remove carb bank several times in order to get identical float bowl feul levels the same. Remember also, approx. 1mm of actual float change is equivalent to approx. 3mm of actual fuel level change. The positive of that is, you get really quick and good at carb removal and installation. Myself, got that down to approx. 12min.
Key to motor running silky smooth at cruisin' speed is that all four cyl. are doing the same work.
Overall, timing is NOT the bikes issue. If it is correct when running, hittin' center of that pointer do NOT change it. But you can check it with a timing light, just for grins & giggles. BTW, if timing were off, that WOULD be reflected by all FOUR cyls. when running.

You know what, this makes total sense (obviously, but), because I had WAY TOO MUCH fuel in carb bowl #1, and I adjusted that accordingly. I didn't mess with any of the other ones, because it seemed fine. Like I've said before...not very experienced with these bikes, but I'm trying my damndest to get there! Maybe go to home depot, get some (MORE...about to re-plumb) clear tubing, and do the bowl drain test??

[ERM83]

Whoops....

I failed to mention that I already tried backing the idle screws out... nah-dice.

[motoman]

Also what can affect smooth running besides fuel levels being identical in all four bowls is if idle mixture settings are not truly allowing same amount of fuel up through all four(gotta have all four cyls. doing same amount of work). Setting idle mixtures FIRST, then sync is the 'attack' method. Would go back thru and re re-set mixtures then re-sync. This is commonly done anyways, as any bit of a change going back and double checking mixtures settings changes the sync, which has to be corrected.
Inbetween settings adjustment and sync, and bike is off to cool abit, flip and release the throttle several times. This will seat the threaded sync. screws in their threads. Then re-start and correct sync as needed. Do this part two or three times in order for sync to stay even across all four cyls.
One time thru the sync portion doesn't work. Also, the later model 80-82XJ carb tend to be a bit finiky when it comes to fuel levels and mixtures settings. These, not having the cross-over passage makes them a bit more finiky with settings than the 78-79 carbs.