Cheers for all your help. Almost got there with it. Missed your question before @zedders - yes I have a balancer snail meter thing.
Yep that's the way I did it this morning. I realised last night that I'd been adjusting it further and forgot to undo the linkage. Made a big improvement but clearly needs doing properly. Next week.
Hope the smoke is black really which is just very rich or fuel dripping through a carburettor with a leaky float valve, so its really only running on two cylinders. Try pulling off plug leads one at a time to see if all cylinders are working at idle.. If its grey smoke, its oil , check the compression. Could be worn valve guides. In which case the inside of the rocker covers will tend to be black or brown with cooked oil.. Do the tappet clearances anyway.
Tbh it is hard to say either way. It was so feint (like a tiny puff) that it could have been either. At this point I just shut her down and called it a day. When I'm back I'll check and adjust rockers and check compression. I'm hopeful the carbs aren't the problem as everything in them is new and spotlessly clean. For example I found this in one of the bowls when cleaning them out which I don't think is unusual as the factory doesn't do a great job: So I really went through them. To me it's running rich. I think the culprits are one of, but most likely a combination of: Timing New Malpassi Petrol King regulator Mixture Spark plug leads as I got a small shock through my forearm when I reached across to the linkage. It runs very smooth and balanced at idle. No engine rocking. I've not got a fuel pressure gague and relied on being advised they ship them set about halfway. I'll remedy this as well. I will check each lead as described also. Again, thanks for all your help and suggestions to date.
