Taken all in context and from the general condition of the bike,lots of corrosion and the odd noise I'd say doing most of the carbs is not enough. It is obviously running too rich. Take the float bowls all the way off, better yet remove the carbs check those needles and seats and clean everything,sounds too me like you have a jet clogged up or just general crap in the float bowl and most likely need to replace the needles and seats and any o rings sealing the jets to the carb body.
One other thing that just came to mind,check the floats especially if they are plastic they could have fuel in them.If they are metal they can be drained and resealed if plastic replace them

haha yes I am learning more and cleaning as i take it apart. compared to some other bikes/motors ive worked on, this one is clean enough. i know now its not all stock either

Check to make sure you have good fuel flow to the carbs. The the fuel pump still installed??

I have no fuel pump. And been reading other threads like this one:

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=95

I have cleaned the carbs and re tuned them and it took care of the idle problem. Bike is running well now! and idling just over 1000rev on start. It has stopped dieing during shifting and does not die when the clutch is in during stopping.

However still the choke kills the engine. The choke plungers were out of sync and are perfectly synchronous now so I dont know what else it could be. I was wonding how much should each plunger rise with a click of the choke? My choke seems to have 3 clicks with each click raising the plungers about 1/3.

Congratulations! It sounds like you're doing well.

The choke is there to help the bike run when it is cold, by enriching the mixture. It won't help the bike run when it is hot, and it should be retracted as soon as the bike will run without it. When the motor is warmed up, the choke is quite likely to kill it if it is applied.

ahhhh well the engine runs great! Choke is working. Clutch is slipping quite badly unfortunately. It will still get into gears at high revs but there is no power and lots of lugging. I will take apart the clutch to see what that problem is. Also when I bought this bike it had no speedo cable and I just installed one and the speedometer doesnt work, nor do the odometers.

Is it possible to take it apart the dash and try to fix the meters? Or should I buy a working replacement dash for 100$?

I would say if you can get a fully working dash for $100, you are a lucky man. Grab it!

87 engine in 88 frame



This plug is coming out of the back of the engine. The plastic cover has snapped and the wires are exposed. I have tried to slip a rubber hose over it but it was too thin



heres the wires from another angle



This is mounted where the fuel pump would have been. It splits the fuel line into a small line that runs into the engine (whats this for?) and then another line that splits and goes to each carb.



tail end mod.



No rectifier here



after market rectifier here



Here it is with all the fairings off. I will put up some more pics when I figure out the clutch




I will put up some more pics

Yes Ive noticed the imaginative wiring but I'm not having any electrical issues at all; will get the clutch out tomorrow and hopefully I can figure out what the problem is...