[greenmonster]

Some background first...
Bike has been sitting since last October, gas stabilized, etc. Ryan and I worked on the bike earlier that summer, (new chain, sprockets, CCT and valve shims) which included inspecting the carbs and cleaning them. Also synced them and adjusted the air/fuel settings, etc. He did a great job. When all was said and done, bike ran great. Over the next few months, it slowly lost the crisp throttle response it had earlier. I also began to notice a raw fuel smell…especially when the engine was hot, and I’d turned it off for 10 minutes or so. When I went to restart, it would crank longer than usual to fire up, and even when it did, it was a slow and sluggish idle. Also, the gas mileage sucked. Then, last October, I started it up and got a steady plume of whitish blue smoke out the can that and it didn’t burn off…just kept smoking. This had never happened before. So, not knowing what was causing it, I shut her down before any more possible damage could occur, if any. Fast forward to two weeks ago. Drained all the gas from the tank and replaced with fresh. Time to investigate the smoke issue. Take everything off right down to the carbs. Havent touched them yet. Next, oil change. Here’s where it gets interesting. As the oil drains into the catch pan, all I smell is RAW gas!! The oil reeks of it! This is a first! I’m thinking that is what most likely caused the smoke…the gas diluted the oil to the point that it could get into the combustion chamber and cause the smoke. Ive been in touch with Ryan, and he hit the nail on the head…no amount of throttling or running would be enough to dump so much gas into the oil. It must be a carb-only prob. He’s going to temporarily loan me a set of his carbs to see if the problem clears up. If all goes as expected, things will point back to my carbs. I feel its definitely a carb/fuel delivery problem, but what could cause gas to be dumping into the crank case? Im gonna do the visual inspection, use carb cleaner, change the plugs, and go as far as my limited experience with carbs will take me…this will be a good opportunity to learn more. But I need to have a good idea of what direction to take, or I might overlook something that would be obvious to others who’ve dealt with this sort of thing. Anyone familiar with this issue?

Oh, almost forgot...a few years back, the pilot/float(?)-forget which ones-needles were shimmed, each with two .5mm shims, just in case this might be a factor to consider. Thanks for any help!