I changed out the throttle cable for one pre-assembled for VM30's by Motion-Pro. It's super smooth and connects nicely to the throttle. I also opted for a pair of shorty velocity stacks. They have a mesh screen to keep any heavy road dirt out of there. I also fitted my new coil (ACDelco D555) with new 8mm spark plug wires and NGK caps. This allows the plug gaps to be a bit wider than stock and gives a good steady idle.
I took the bike for it's maiden voyage last night, it idles nicely now that I've adjusted the pilot on the carbs. a couple of observations... it tends to bog down a bit at 1/4 - 1/2 throttle - but above 1/2 throttle it takes off like shit off a shovel. Definitely more tuning needed here because in the city I spend a lot of time in the 1/4 - 1/2 throttle range.
The mufflers are pretty loud - maybe a bit too loud - I don't think there is any packing in there, so I'll do a muffler-ectomy and pack as needed to take off the tinny vibration it is giving off now. At high revs though the sound is pretty awesome - the tinny-ness subsides and a roar emerges.. it encourages you to change down and lean on the throttle.
Over all - even though I know the bike needs some fine tuning that I may end up taking to an expert to perform - I can't believe this is the same sleepy bike that I started cranking on 7 months ago. A lot has changed in the meantime, but now that it can breath and has a strong spark it's a totally different animal. Also the euro bars over the stock "apes" make a world of difference in handling - I was cautious throwing it into corners because I wanted to see if the swing arm and forks were up to the task. Would they be better if they were a bit beefier? of coarse - but they are pretty good as is.
I think I also answered the question for myself of whether this bike qualified as a café racer or was it a restoration project .. it's a café .. no question about it - sure it doesn't have clip-ons or rear sets (I'll do that in the next incarnation when I have a garage and the GF has her bike-confidence up), but the performance upgrade from where it was to where it is leaves no question.