Since this began, I've been kinda PO'd and haven't been back to it until today. But this afternoon I cleaned my plug, disconnected the vacuum line, plugged the carb nipple, turned it to PRI and started the bike.
Seemed like it took a few more turns than normal to start, but it fired right up. Nice and smooth, and I thought things might be okay. After 10 seconds or so, I gave the throttle a couple little blips to see how the exhaust looked in the bright sunlight. Sounded good with the baffle out of the Raask, but that shotgun blast of gray smoke looked like $hit....
The bike ran about 20 seconds total and I couldn't keep it from dying...it sputtered out quickly.
(Now mind ya, it took me a few minutes to put the plug in the vise and get my camera and tripod...)
What you see on that almost new iridium plug has got to be oil. The exhaust was gray and my carb is not flooding. I don't really know how to wipe off a small sample like that and know for sure without one of those spectrography thingies. After all, a spark plug smells like gas and oil anyway.
I decided to try something else...I turned the piston to TDC, grabbed a small piece of tubing, and a Q-tip. With the Q-tip in the tubing, I dabbed at the top of my piston. What I got on the Q-tip was black and liquid. It didn't rub off the piston like a powdery carbon. It soaked into the cotton.
My engine is screwed, and it's my own damm fault. I bet that should have bought those new rings.
More later...