Hey K2 (is that your droid name?)
Nah man by all means labour away! Having taken some time off and re read Bryanj's post, I did not in fact follow that procedure to the letter. I will take it back from the top.
Two things I have forgotten to mention: I do not have the spring retainer for the air filter and I haven't got either the air filter cover. I have used duct tape as a makeshift cover but no garantee it is air tight. Do you think these missing elements might leanen the mixture? I say this knowing that at the moment the mixture is rich ( sooty plugs) but if it does leanen the mix it wouldn't help getting a reliable setup right?
Lastly on that front: The airbox is the original and because of its age, it has warped a bit, the front end is a tad concave. Consequently connecting properly the air intakes for carb 2 and 3 is not feasable. I can get them in and even tighten the collars but not get the connectors all the way in. I guess that doesn't help either? Could not find a lot of info on those issues.
All the best
Nothing profound in my site name, met someone from this site at the Ace cafe that told me about this site, setting up first ever such interaction and just used previous Honda models that I'd owned. Not very inventive I'm afraid
For the surge problems, as we on here can't be present to see things it makes the process a little more laboured naturally. The bench synchronisation and then leaving it alone is also an important element in giving continuity of conditions. It is easily good enough to run any of the four cylinder engines at correct parity and importantly vetifies that technically correct status to analyse other components and their effects.
If, gradually, you fix down each variable (the box lid another good move) then the potential problem sites will just be less in number, and possibly more visible to help you find solution.
The significant problem that may arise with gauge carb sync at this point is that if you have an air leak or similar as principle cause, then the synchronisation with guages will direct you to adjust the slides to accommodate it, making another error included on the bike, then it just keeps you going round in circles.
Something else to check if the carbs are appart is the idle circuits as they are very small and hard to fully clean, but absolutely crucial to how the engine runs.
One way to check with the carbs installed is to try each carb on it's own (not change all four together) and turn the idle airscrew both in and out from it's accepted setting. Each one "should" give you a response in engine running as you move it. If there's no or very little response, that would indicate that one is partially or fully blocked and nor able to meter fuel consistently enough to run smoothly.
