Richening my mixture

[Jon]

Took a look at my plugs today and found them nearly white.   To richen the mix, should I screw in the mixture screw or back it out?

[Blake]

the mixture screws only work at idle... so if your problems anything becides that it wont really help...  

but screwing them out makes it richer.. i think the standard everyone agrees on here is 4 turns out front and 2.5 rear?  someone whos fiddled with them more than me can give you a definate answer on the correct settings..

[Lucky]

That is the starting point, but it's only a base, you'll have to adjust as needed.

[Riche]

Jon

If you pulled your plugs and found them white you must be running very lean. Assuming your exhaust is intact and you have cleaned your carbs the most likely cause is a vacuum leak. These are stock bikes for the road, very little is going to need to be changed jetting wise unless you have made major engine changes. Look for a vacum leak first then go for your carbs to re clean. Float level, posible dirt left in teh jets etc. Good luck.

[Jon]

Thanks fellas.  As I also have a high idle, I bet those cracked intake boots are the problem.  I took off my YICS and capped the ports, so I can't imagine any other leaks.

[Lucky]

it's very common for the intake boots to be cracked on the outside but perfectly fine on the inside.  you can find vacuume leaks by getting a can of carb spray with the straw and spraying tiny, & I mean tiny shots of carb cleaner in areas of suspected leaks.

Unless your intakes are in really bad shape, I doubt they'll be the source of the leak.  check the fuel pump, petcock, and in the case of 83 carbs, the area around the acellerator pump diaphrams.  Also, those diaphrams can stiffen with age and cause an internal vacuume leak.  I had this happen on mine, and once I replaced the diaphrams with kits from Keyster, it was fine.