1981 XS 400 H Troubleshooting Help

Jrod

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Hi all, newbie here. Really appreciate the people who've taken the time to assist me so far - got my XS400 started for the first time last night! The backstory...acquired a non-running 81 XS400H as a winter project two weeks ago. I've been going through the forums and following this one in particular for where to start (http://www.xs400.com/threads/how-to-what-to-do-first-with-your-new-xs400.10595/).

What I've done so far: checked compression (roughly at 140 each cylinder), checked spark (good), replaced spark plugs, replaced battery, replaced fuel hose, checked the petcock, drained and got new fuel in the fuel tank, replaced vacuum caps.

After all that, I gave it a try. It would turn over, but took a bunch of kicks and then immediately if it fired would stall out. I smelled fuel, figured maybe flooding/carb issues, and followed another forum video to pull the carb apart and clean it. Put everything back together last night to the specs given on the forum. I gave it a couple kicks and it started right up. Anytime I gave it throttle, it immediately stalled. (Side note - I no longer smell fuel, so I think the flooding problem is more/less fixed). I tried giving it very gradual throttle, and I got it to rev up a little, but then it died after about a minute when I twisted too quickly. Any ideas what could be causing this?

Another thing, it appears that the left cylinder isn't firing at all. I say this, because the left header was completely cold last night after getting it to run. Rechecked spark and it's strong, so again, curious to get someone's thoughts on what to try next?

Today, I went to try to do ignition timing, but after researching, it appears that the 81H model cannot be statically timed, based on the attached excerpt from the manual. Could someone confirm this?

I've attached a few pictures as well. I really appreciate any and all help/ideas!
 

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In one of your pics there I see two screws holding the round ignition plate with sensor down, loosening those two would allow the plate to rotate to change or set the timing. Unless possibly the timing gets set and then a pin is driven in to lock it in place. You can loosen the screws and see if the plate rotates or not.
 
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