My ute broke down the other day and as it had spark and fuel I suspected the carby. I took it apart to clean it and replace gaskets and now that it's back in the car something's still amiss. It starts but runs very rough, won't rev much and is very loud all of a sudden with a fair bit of smoke. Any clues anyone?

hi mate! have you check

I've got spark at all plugs and I've replaced all the leads as well.

Rough running & smoke? sounds like a compression problem in one or more cylinders.
Give it a proper compression test, as per the book, & you will have a good basis to make an evaluation.

i hade the chance to sacn two pages of my dat 1200 book, but i don

Agreed. The place to start is with a compression test. That will tell you if there is a basic mechanical problem with your engine that no amount of carb adjusting will fix.

One of the most common problems is when the carb is dissassembled. Even those who've done it many times (like me) don't always get it back together correctly. So do the compression test to be sure the problem isn't inside the engine.

Here are basic instructions for Compression test.

I finally got around to doing a compression test. Good news (I think). All cylinders around 165-175 psi. What do I check next?

Good start. What colour was the smoke.

Hazy blue = oil. [bad rings, valve guides, over full sump]
Black. .... = excess fuel, not properly burned. [flooding carb, needle & seat not sealing shut]
White. .. = excess fuel, not being burned at all. [ignition problem, the engine is probably not running at all & you may see this on a downhill run]

I didn't really get to see the smoke as I had to play the accelerator to keep it going - but I did smell it. 3 of the 4 plugs were black, though, if that's any help.

Check the height of the fuel level through the sight glass in the carb. It should be level with the dot in the middle of the glass.
If it is significantly higher, then you have a problem with the needle-&-seat & will need to remove it for cleaning or replacement.

Black plugs, particularly with a fluffy black appearance, means excessive fuel.