CunningStunt

Pull start it, and check battery voltage across terminals at idle and revved up. If voltage does not go above battery's idling voltage, then I would start with the rectifier/regulator, then check stator/generator continuity.

Check the voltage across battery terminals while running at idle and revved up. I have seen a lot of these issues for people being resolved if the voltage regulator/rectifier goes bad. I am having a similar issue and have a regulator on the way as mine was not providing voltage at all while revving. Hoping this is the fix so I can finally ride my bike.

I think the allen plug you are talking about is the TDC port for you to rotate the motor when checking compression and adjusting valves. the vacuum lines usually go to the petcock on this years bikes because there are vacuum petcocks to theoretically only allow gas into carb when engine is running. Most of these are bypassed when they go bad or the fuel leaks into the engine casing and mixes with oil. Just plug the vacuum lines with a threaded bolt.

I ended up buying a 2000 Qrunner 500 4x4 for a thousand bucks, wish i coulda got this one too though...lol

I thought just SAE 10w40 was sufficient - syn, non syn w/e since oil changes are frequent on smaller engines.

So, I went in, rotated crank to the alignment mark for TDC - valves appeared shut, and the rockers moved a freely on intake and exhause side of valve port. I do not have the adapter for my compression tester to fit the small plug threads but I figured since piston was at top, mark lined up, and the rockers had some play that I was TDC on compression stroke. Am I thinking this through correctly? I have never done valve adj. before and when I was done, I started her up and still hear noise when getting the RPM's up there and it sure sounds like the valves or something in the top end. I also don't want to rule out that possibly the previous owners could have adjusted the valves on the wrong stroke and gave therefore masking the fact that it may not have actually be on the compression stroke that the rockers had play for me.

run it for a bit and remove the spark plug and describe exactly what color the spark plug tip is. This to me sounds like the carb jets and air/fuel mixture settings are just out whack

I think i need to adj. the valves as I get some engine noise from the valve area when getting on the throttle really good. Lower rpm;s no noise. Any tips/thoughts? Also, i am relatively sure that the intake valves are the ones on the top and exh are the ones on the exhaust side...just need a dummy check as I have never worked on an engine before.

Where can I find the specs on the shocks for this bike? The OEM is like 250 bucks! Surely I can get some cheap aftermarket shocks if I knew the load capacity and dimensions...part specs are not in my service manual.

Lol, i just bought it online for 13 bucks haha

I purchased the manual - the 98-02 manual in the downloads section is not correct - the manual on that link is for 2003+ I purchased and downloaded it, but it exceeds the 100mb threshold for me to share with the forum, so please advise how you would like to proceed - i can link you to my Google drive and if you have the capability to upload it or whatever.

When I downloaded the manual its for 2003+ moodels unless i am missing something.

I am thinking of buying the manual, clydes i think is the brand...I did find a really good vid on youtube of a dude breaking down my specific carb - which proved invaluable

I think you are on to something with the jet, i'd try to get a hold of service manual. If you bought a kit though it should be specific to your model.

Whats the best thing to soak the carb in and for how long?