1. Yes, tight valves WILL keep it from starting.
2. Wild assumption, as we have not yet heard whether you followed the "strip and dip" method of cleaning.
OK, this apparently answers the "did you dip them?" question, but in a negative manner.
Not quite true. It will start OK, but will likely have problems responding to ANY throttle input.
See?
To me, this is rather conclusive evidence to show that your carbs are not clean enough to allow gas to flow through them.
There are holes on the sides of the pilot fuel jets that you can't poke with a wire unless you remove the jets from the carbs.
Besides that, there are small passages from the pilot jets to the mixture screw that you can't poke with a wire, either.
You HAVE to dip the carbs.
Actually, you do them both at the same time. On the first day, start by stripping the carbs down to itty-bitty pieces, put the pieces for the first carb in the dip. Remove the valve cover, start measuring your clearances. Some guy named "Steve" has a spreadsheet that he offers that will help you record these. Look in his signature.
Remove your shims (one at a time, please) and record their sizes in the spreadsheet. When you find out what sizes you need, order them from the "shim club" on GSR or from Z1 Enterprises. (Z1 also has the best price on valve cover gaskets.) This is also a good time to order new o-rings for the carbs from cycleorings.com. On the second day, remove the first carb's parts from the dip and rinse them in HOT water, then spray carb cleaner through the passages and follow with a blast of compressed air (wear safety glasses
). Put the second carb's parts in the dip.On the third and fourth days, you can repeat the activities of the second day, but by the fourth day, you should have received your shims and o-rings. Finsh assembling your carbs, put your new shims in, re-check your clearances with the 'new' shims, start the bike.
Again, it will start and idle just fine without the airbox. If you really want to hear it rev, and maybe even go for a ride around the block, fold a shop rag in half and clamp it to the outer carbs, while keeping it taut over the inner carbs. This will work well enough for a quick ride, but is not accurate enough to do any jetting checks.
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