New to bikes, engine running poorly.

I have one in my X, from the PO. It needed to be oiled but I think it lets a bit more air volume than is needed pass through. The bike seems to run OK without re-jetting so I guess I am lucky. You could probably find some weather stripping at a hardware store to replace the seal with.

 

Well.... I messed with the pilot screws, by seeing how close to seated they were and then returning them to where I found them. The carb with the coensiding plug that looked bad was way closer to fully closed than the others, basically only 3/4 turn open. So I opened it up to around what the others were to see what would happen. And it sounded much better and I could actually use throttle input and it sounded pretty smooth.
BUT
I let it idle for a while, still running seafoam through it, once it got up to temperature I gave it a little gas and she started to smoke through the front of the motor, she bogged down and died. (I didn't put THAT much seafoam in) Now it will idle but any choke or gas and shes dead, with smoke from under the headers. I'm assuming head gasket. Am I effed?
The bike was basically a free barn find from a friend, I was hoping to maybe get it running and learn a little bit, but I'm not sure if I could do a head gasket, and there is lots of rust on the headers and x pipe so no way I could get those back on without replacing them. Wasnt looking to put too much money into this.

Should I just go back to peddle bikes with my 5 year old?

 

Set all the mixture screws to 2.5 turns out and do a running sync.
If you're close to Waterloo I can help you with that.
If that doesn't do it then the carbs need to be opened up, you can do that.

The fact that it is able to idle now tells me it just needs some proper adjustments and no where in this thread is that discussed.

 

If you are close to Tillsonburg. I can lend a hand.

 

The smoke could be from accumulated oil/grease on the exhaust pipes...

 

Smoke from under the headers? Is this oil burning off or compression gasses leaking out? Kind of important.
How long did you let it run? Again important.
Re the fuel filter thing - as @k-moe said lawnmower ones are no good, but I'll say that for running it stationary it wouldn't cause any issues. Question is though, how much crud got into the carbs before you fitted it?
More than likely they need a clean. I don't follow the ethos of "church of clean" and all it entails, just clean the float bowls, starter enrichner jets, and idle jets and passages -ie don't break the rack, save that for another day. You can bench synch using the progression holes while they're off.
99% of issues with these bikes is carbs, or people not re-assembling them right. And if the bike won't take throttle, and it isn't chucking black smoke out the exhaust, it's a fuel starvation issue - back to carbs again.
If the carbs are clean, bench synched, float levels near correct, the bike will run, idle and take throttle. Then you do a running sync, mixture and idle set. If the idle is erratic, fails to come down, varies wildly, then you need throttle shaft seals - "church of clean".
Just my own opinion of course.

 

Thanks for the replies again, I'm back to work this week so won't be back into it until this weekend. Not sure if I can upload a video but maybe I can try and get a good look at everything and show you.
After playing with the pilot screw on the one carb it was definitely running and idling ok. Sounded pretty decent with choke at 4k rpm, didnt stutter or anything. But I left it idling for 10 minutes or more, running seafoam through it, and when it was was up to temperature (mid way on the gauge) I gave it a blip of throttle, some smoke came out from around the headers, it bogged down and died. Now it's running poorly again, and any extra fueling (choke or throttle) will kill it with smoke. I dont think it's just dirty headers, they arent that dirty, and there was talk of a possible head gasket from they guy that had it before.

Looking at it more though, I think I could do it, might as well learn and check valve clearances and all that while I'm at it as a winter project, I should have most of the tools available to me anyway.

You guys are all awesome by the way, the willingness to help and share input is incredible.

 

The head gasket on my radian 600 was blown when I bought it. There was a small constant leak of oil from in between the cylinder and head on the left of the exhaust side. Check to see if you have and oil dripping or leaking. Might help in diagnosing.