Float Bowl Question

[Sniper]

Ok, finally getting back to the bike (82 850L), so here's my issue.
I cleaned the carbs, and durring the process, decided to remove the exhust and replace the premuffler. Well made the stupid mistake of shearing a bolt and now it's this huge monster, so the bike sat for 8 months. Anyhow, I'm dealing with that best I can, but my question is this:
When I hook the carbs up to my external fuel source the #3 and #4 carbs leak gas out the airbox side (#3 pretty bad) while #1 and #2 bowls are dry. Previously I hooked it up to the bike and #1,#2 cylinders were the only ones to run while #3,#4 were flooded and gas was coming out the exhust pipe (hence hooking it to the external source).
Is this simply a float height issue or is the #1,#2 being dry something completely different.
The thing that's got me baffled is the 1/2 dry and 3/4 flood, but the 1/2 cylinders fire. don't make much sense to me. Any wisdom would be great!

Love the bike, but man, what a pain not being able to ride for the short riding season here in WI! I've actually looked at other bikes, but just don't want to give up yet!

[BassCliff]

Hi Mr. Sniper,

If it's been sitting that long, you may want to consider a complete disassemble/dip/rebuild of the carbs. Here are a few threads about "gas in airbox" found by using the search feature. Main causes: bad petcock, stuck float needles, or bad O-rings in the needle seats.

http://www.thegsresources.com/_forum/showthread.php?t=139098&highlight=gas+airbox

http://www.thegsresources.com/_forum/showthread.php?t=107960&highlight=gas+airbox

http://www.thegsresources.com/_forum/showthread.php?t=100841&highlight=gas+airbox

Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff

[Sniper]

Thanks BassCliff:
Yep, I actually did a cleaning durring the time it was sitting. Complete breakdown/dip of the carbs and parts. I had to replace a jet too due to it sticking.
The petcock and o-ring are new, and I tested that theory, so I'm pretty possitive that's not it, and I replaced all the rubber in the carbs. I'm going to recheck the float height tonight (didn't get a chance yesterday) and pull the needle vavles out to make sure they are ok and clean too.
The thing that really confuses me is the flood of 3 and 4 and nothing in the bowls of 1 and 2 yet 1 and 2 fired when on the bike. I just wanted to make sure I wasn't missing something easier than I was thinking (or found in other threads), or that there is something else wrong here that I don't know about.

[rustybronco]

I would suggest a THROUGH cleaning of the fuel inlet needles and the bore of the seat or replace them.

I had the same issue with my '80, only a 24 hour soaking in carb dip, kept them from hanging in the bore. no amount of manual cleaning of them, helped...

***edit*** and I used a 7X eye loupe to inspect them before I dipped them the second time.