Question about timing on A1

Retina detachment really sucks. Sorry to hear you had to deal with that. Glad they could fix it mostly.

If it's just #1 that's not firing and you've changed that plug, check the plug lead for continuity/resistance.

As they are double coils have you tried switching the leads between the cyl's that would rule out the lead I would think anyway and may also tell you if its the coil?
just a thought

HELP !!!
Ok she was still running bad when I took her to work Monday morning, missing badly, so first thing I do is pull the carbs, found one needle and seat unit was a loose fit in the socket, I mean it falls out without the retaining clip, I search around and find another spare set of carbs, pull the bowls and there are original needle and seats, pull them out and replace all three in the bikes carbs, nice firm fit, so i'm thinking fuel leaking past and flooding the bowl, hence the miss and bad running, start her up and all sweet, idles well, give it a few revs and hold it around 3000 to 4000 revs and she start backfiring bad, at least it cleans some of the "soot" out of the muffler. So I get out the colortune plug, start checking idle, all seem good, blue flame shows in the window. Down tools and go back to the house for a cuppa and a smoke and a think, desperate now trying to figure it out, decide to check the timing again, get out my old induction pick up timing light, put it on number 6 lead, bloody light is not flashing all the time, maybe it's the old timing light, after all she has been dropped and treated rough a few times back when I had an old VW beetle, so I have a newer spare one, put that on, same problem ... ahh haa ???, kept her idling and ran the induction pick up over a few of the other leads, good flash of the light in the others from the old light. so I pull the lead off the coil, i'm running accel coils, the yellow ones, fire her up and one hell of a spark from the coil to the nearest bit of metal (clamp ring holding coil to the mounting base), I mean it jumped about an inch or so, then I thought i'd rule out the pick ups, as you know I do have a spare set so I threw it in, still the same problem, so i'm lost, electrics are not my thing, I am a bush mechanic, give me a bit of fence wire / bailers twine and i'll get a dozer running or hold a rear axel in, but electrics just ain't my thing. When some of you guys start posting stuff about ohms and resistance my eyes glaze over and my brain hurts. I put a spare plug on the end of the number 6 lead and fired the bike up, not a good spark and intermittent. So how do I use a multi meter if I want to check the coil, how do I check the coil apart from grabbing the lead to kick start my heart, what settings do I use on this multi meter, what do they look like and what should I get ???, photos if possible and really dumbed down terms for me . Would it be the hi-tension lead, can I just buy a 6 cylinder car set and screw on the plug boot ??, do they have to be resistance type or not, heck she starts, idles sort of, I've done my best checking and crossing things off that I could do, what sort of suggestions does anyone have, or do I just shoot it and put it out of it's and my misery ???, help really would be appreciated, thanks in advance, Pete.
P.S. what size are the "O" rings on the needle and seat so I can get some or was it discussed in another post that I've missed ???

Thought i'd throw in a photo of a multi-meter that I have, bought it just to have one, wouldn't have a clue how to use it except to see if there is a break in a wire somewhere, is it any good for testing coils ??



Also here's a couple of photos of those needle and seats I found in the other carbs, good clips on them as you can see

Pete its definitely seems electrical because your timing light is playing up on number 6 cylinder if your timing light is OK on number 1 cylinder it can only be a couple of things to cause this 1 a bad pug lead you can test this easy by turning the millimeter to oms remove the lead from the coil and the plug cap from the lead then put the leads from the multi meter on either end of the lead and take note of the reading if it there no reading you have a open lead .It can also be a bad coil you can test the resistance of that the same way but you are sometimes better to find someone with a coil tester most automotive workshops have then and they can run the coil until its hot to see if its faulty If you get a reading say 4000 ohms from your lead check it with another lead of similar length and you should get a similar also you can test your plug lead cap the same way . The other thing you can do is swap coils to another cylinder and use your timing light again if the fault goes to that cylinder replace your coil your timing light has found the fault for you ., I hope this is a help to you