Just finished a top end overhaul and she won't start

Hey yall,
So I fished out the piston ring from the crankcase, installed new gaskets and o rings, tightened everything to spec after cleaning the heads and the plugs. The timing is correct, and there seems to be compression. I haven't done the test yet but before this, the bike ran on compression that was all over the board. 60, 80, 50, 90, so I'm not too worried about compression. The ings are new besides the ones I snapped, they were bottom, thicker rings, and I replaced them with the rings from the old pistons.

New Pistons and a good, meticulous clean of everything I could handle, and I've put everything back together. She turns over via the timing plate, as well as when I press start. There's spark to all cylinders, and it smells like gas is being fed. But then the plugs come up dry. Sometimes there will be a little pop while she's turning over, but that's all that happens. I didn't really touch the carbs other than take them off, and I suspect the floats might be stuck after being off the bike for two weeks. Could this indeed be the case? I don't know why all floats would have seized, and I don't see why the bike wouldn't run off three cylinders, or perhaps even two, but I may be being too optimistic.

Is it possible that the floats are stuck, or the carbs some other way malfunctioning? I'm unafraid of pulling the carbs off and apart, but I wanted to appeal to your higher combined wisdom, gentlemen.

You've all been so instrumental in my motorcycle mechanics education. I hope you guys know that being here and answering questions for young, eager guns like myself, you're facilitating greater knowledge, teaching things which go a long way for our bikes and our happiness, and though your tutoring sometimes goes unsung, we all appreciate it.

Thanks

 

are the cams in right?

 

check the ignition pickup wires and coil wires are right. then

 

I ran through the entire electrical system, everything feels tight. The cams are in the only way they can be, since the tacho drive is on the exhaust cam, and I just match the intake one up to face the same way - that's all good.
I've ruled out float height and all carb stuff, because the intake boots are moist with fuel.
I'm getting desperate so I'll check compression today. It's possible I MAY have read one of my 4's as a 1, and switched some cam followers into different chambers. Plugs aren't exactly blue across the board, but that's fine, since they don't come out wet.

It sounds and feels like one cylinder is firing, because its almost like the bike is chugging, with a rhythmic pulse rather than just a straight, flat regular turning over.
Onward.

 

so you put the cams in the right sides but are the adjusted right i had the same problem and the cam timing was off

 

i'm going out a limb here and say you don't have a book

 

Well the limb broke, because I do, and I followed meticulously.
I adjusted the cams according to the timing dots beside the middle cap, and after the chain was tightened with the tensioner, I rotated it via the timing plate a few times to make sure.

There is one thing I may have done hastily, which was marking the cam followers.

Which means valves may be off. On all four inlets.
May be.

What happened was when I was cleaning the head, I had it upside-down, and the followers were in so snug that I thought I could leave them in while the head was upside down. Well I tilted it right side up to brush some of the scrubbed carbon on the floor, and noticed that a few had fallen out. I hastily grabbed tape and a marker to label them, but MAY HAVE marked followers aND their shis in reverse.
Could this put the valves so out that they are the culprit of my no-start? I'm assuming it's one of the last sensible reasons.

In short: I may have marked the followers wrong and gotten the shims mixed up, and now the valves are so off that they won't let it work properly.

 

Remeasure your valve clearnaces and see. If you moved any of the buckets, then you also moved the valve shims along with them, and that will change the valve clearances. The buckets themselves can go anywhere; it's the shims tha matter.

 

Yes, and I think this could (if all of them were mixed up) make it so that there's almost no compression, and then the engine doesn't turn because of pressure escaping through prematurely opened valves. I don't think the shims could make such a difference, but maybe when they're all out of whack, they could?
Some in my mechanical circle think that the timing could be off by 180°, but I checked a few times judging by one cylinder's rotation visually, through the spark plug opening. Could I be so wrong to have rotated the cam by 180 degrees? The dots lined up, and the T mark was TDC - I checked.

 

Saw that bike on Craigslist way back and if it's just going together now carbs probably pretty gummy inside. And if you mixed up shim and buckets valve might not close at all. Eg if valve had a 160 shim and now has a185-190 it's at least 1 + mm open all the time= no copression on that cylinder . Try setting each cyl at tdc and use compressed air to see if that is blasting air out exhaust or carb.

 

Yeah, I've been working steadily on the bike. Carbs have been done thoroughly, and even when I did them they were alright. I even released them because I thought the valve needles were stuck, but all good in there.
That's a good tip, toomany. Thanks, y'all, I'll keep you updated as I move forwards. I'm in a different city now so I have to find time to swing by and fin is the deed.

 

Give yourself credit, you've gone into the top end of the engine, the carbs should be no problem for a die hard as yourself. What about your compression, is it good? I don't know much, but seems if valves are off, the compression will be off, yes? no?

If all else fails, add gas and check the petcock

 

DoubleTiger if your spark plugs are dry after trying to start your bike and there is gas in the tank and your petcock is working and have gas in the carbs, it is clear that gas is not reaching your combustion chamber. You either have clogged carbs (you cleaned them) or your intake valves are opening on the wrong stroke (cam timing) or the valve clearances are way off. If you believe everything is correct try priming the engine. Every now and then I come across a bike that needs to be primed before it will start. After you have checked and are sure everything is correct try dropping a little gas down the spark plug hole of at least 2 of the holes, (all 4 is better) then install the plugs and give it whirl and see what happens. Good Luck! CactusJack