.
The excessive play probably beat your cam and valve tip to shit.
-valve tip seemed fine I had to the top end off, bike runs very nice even with the tappet off I was able to do 70 on the highway, just with hesitant acceleration with popping, it feels good now.
then you are incredibly fortunate and dont really have a problem other than the gas smell
-very fortunate I thought my bike was fucked.
exactly when does it smell like gas...at idle?....on the freeway?
-idle
if you have no air box, it can smell like gas . . it can smell like gas from the gas cap vent.
-I have the stock air box, the entire bike is stock.
well you didnt post a photo of the plugs and it runs perfect so go down 1 size on the main jet . . if it starts easily without the choke, go down 1 size on the pilot jet . . if it still runs perfect, lower the needle by raising the clip 1 position.
-probably wont touch jets until I switch floats over back to OEM
it will run and smell differently now then it did in 1970 if you are using corn gas . . that shit smells like...well...shit.
-word
why did you do that if it ran perfectly?
-I went through my carbs before I did my valves (stupid) and still was getting popping. Popping is leaner, so I thought maybe the cylinder with the missing tappet was running lean, maybe the floats were just too mangled or something from time, so I got what I thought were OEM replacements.
what did they end up being then?
78 cb550 floats from 4into1.com theyre oem replicates but not oem theyre regular spec height
it smelled like gas before you changed the floats and still smells like gas after you changed the floats? . . you could install correct floats and set them properly but since it runs perfect, you could try the jet changes first.
ok, it did NOT smell like gas before you changed the floats?
I don't really remember not that I can tell. If you'd like I can PM you the entire background of this bike from the time I owned it on.