if there is a carburator god, HELP!!

[TexasGS]

1981 shaftie gs1000, after carb clean and bench sync ,briggs straton on/off gas valve, plugs , intake air sealed, and the covered up air adjustment on top of engine side tweeked, got her running, got a idle spurts and sputters a little on take off, 1st,2nd 3rd seems to progressivly get better , my problem is im getting 8-10 miles per gallon, defeating my purpose , well maybe my justification.(married gs man), I have to turn off gas when i park it or fuel will drain out the air box. I have one of those pet cock with no lever just a small slot for a flat head, tried with vacume line connected, and disconnected same result..throttle cable has some play,
plugs story is #4 is fireing tip was a dry brown,#3 was black and fluffy
#2 black little fluff but not like 3,#1 not as bad as 2 & 3, my questions is how do i lean her out any suggestions would be greatly apprieciated.

[HiSPL]

OK, we need a little more information from you to really help. Like Is it stock jetting? Does it have the stock exhaust? And does it have the stock airfilter?

My initial thought is the float needle valves are not sealing and passing too much gas. Some of it goes in the engine while running and some of it just runs out of the airbox drain. New needles and seats might be called for, or take them out and carefully clean them. Also recheck your float height while your at it.

Where are you in Tejas? There's a bunch of us here to give you a hand....

[rustybronco]

OK, My initial thought is the float needle valves are not sealing and passing too much gas.

So thats my problem. SORRY! had to do it.
excuse me for the diversion, i return you back to real answers.

[SqDancerLynn1]

THE FIRST thing to do is clean the carbs, replace the float seat O ring, check the float level

[TexasGS]

yes its the original airbox, dont know if its been jetted, and this may help, when i turn the gas off it runs real good for a few moments untill it runs out of gas.

[duaneage]

YOu could be sucking gas through the vacuum line from the petcock to the engine. Is the #2 plug wet with gas?

[focus frenzy]

float needle seat O-rings, they are good at driving people mad.
also as Tim said, float hights.