John, so are the symptoms you mentioned the only thing going on?

Doing a compression test isn't any big deal, assuming you have a gauge
available. But do you think your bike is running really hot and therefore the
head warp worry? If so, you might want to buy one of those infra red no-touch
thermometers and check you cylinder temps. If you look around, you can find rule
of thumb acceptable temps people have posted (warning, can't always believe what
everyone posts). And if you have high cylinder temps then you may have a lean
burn situation.

The symptoms you described could be caused by some different problems. Sometimes
a problem will cause symptoms (like the poor firing) when the vehicle is under a
hard pull, as accelerating from a stop, or a low RPMs and the symptoms will be
apparently gone when running at high RPMS or when not putting the engine under
so much stress.

I read posts for quite a while on dumb ass Dan's group and there seemed to be so
many people with the same problems. Many times problems were caused by crud in
the gas tank, the petcock leaking or being clogged, or the carbs being screwed
up in some way. I have experienced all of these too. So my suggestion to you is
to start looking at these types of problems and do just an overall tune up and
general search for things that affect firing conditions. If you don't know what
I am talking about, looks like you bought yourself a good project and learning
case study.

One interesting and affective item you might want to invest in is a Gunsen Color
Tuner. With this set, you can actually see the flames in the cylinders. If you
play with the carb settings and can never get the fuel mixture right (flame to
be a lovely Bunsen blue), that should tell you something like look for reasons
why it is impossible for you to get it right.

And regarding being on dick head Dan's group, just never talk about bad deals
with his paying sponsors and realize just because you only see good things said
and never see the bad about the sponsors, it may be because he makes sure his
paying people are treated with respect whether they deserve it or not. Buyer
beware, especially under censorship.

Doug