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New Guy with '77 GS400X running problems
Hey folks, New guy here from the west coast (of New England... Burlington, VT 
) with a slightly lame 1977 GS400X on my hands. I picked it up for a good deal from a guy 50 miles away from me- got it running at his house and was able to ride it home. However, the next day I couldn't get it running again. I had a local bike mechanic clean and rebuild the carbs and I installed a new battery. He said the points were slightly pitted and the condenser may need replacing.
Currently I can get it running, but only on the right cylinder. The left is totally dead, it makes no difference whether the spark plug wire is on or off the plug. I inspected the points- they both had a discolored circle in the middle, surrounded by shiny metal. I filed them a little bit, cleaned them thoroughly, and gapped them to the tolerances in my Clymer's manual. When I kickstart it, still only the right-hand cylinder is operational. I can see sparks in both of the points when they open, so I'm not sure why the left one wouldn't be working. Am I missing something really obvious? Anything specific I should be looking for or checking?
It's finally nice again today after a weekend of rain, so I will be out there troubleshooting to the best of my abilities. I really don't know much about classic bikes, I'm used to modern EFI systems so any help in this matter would be very much appreciated. Thanks for looking!
Ride safe,
dpatlak
) with a slightly lame 1977 GS400X on my hands. I picked it up for a good deal from a guy 50 miles away from me- got it running at his house and was able to ride it home. However, the next day I couldn't get it running again. I had a local bike mechanic clean and rebuild the carbs and I installed a new battery. He said the points were slightly pitted and the condenser may need replacing. Currently I can get it running, but only on the right cylinder. The left is totally dead, it makes no difference whether the spark plug wire is on or off the plug. I inspected the points- they both had a discolored circle in the middle, surrounded by shiny metal. I filed them a little bit, cleaned them thoroughly, and gapped them to the tolerances in my Clymer's manual. When I kickstart it, still only the right-hand cylinder is operational. I can see sparks in both of the points when they open, so I'm not sure why the left one wouldn't be working. Am I missing something really obvious? Anything specific I should be looking for or checking?
It's finally nice again today after a weekend of rain, so I will be out there troubleshooting to the best of my abilities. I really don't know much about classic bikes, I'm used to modern EFI systems so any help in this matter would be very much appreciated. Thanks for looking!
Ride safe,
dpatlak
OH...did I mention the money it saves... 
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