" So now I have a clean carb and I know the fuel is at least making it to the carb." don't take this personal, but sort of doubt both comments as facts. From your description: 1) carb cleaning did not entail probing and blowing out with compressed air of ALL carb passageways with small dia stiff brass wire - meaning that a good chance that idle/power fuel circuit(s) are still blocked up. 2) fuel to carb - you did not say how you knew this to be so - did you remove fuel supply line at carb and have assistant crank engine to verify a good stream of fuel being delivered into catch container? Battery - at this point, either put on proper charger or remove/take to shop and have recharged. Surprised engine is still turning over. M/W - remove carb again - disassemble. soak all components overnite in carb cleaner. Using stiff brass small dia wire and Magnifying Glass, probe ALL orifices/passageways in carb components. blow out with compressed air. get everything clean/dry. rebuild using fresh rebuild kit. Do not re-use old gaskets. remount carb. Spray several shots of rattlecan carb cleaner directly into carb throat while assistant is cranking engine. Engine should start or try to start. If only still try to start, still fuel delivery problem, prolly from bad fuel line,filter, pump, etc. If no effort to start, ignition problem. chk for hot spark, ignition switch OK, etc. reply with findings and good luck :)

a/c: Wow good save as has been indicated. Check your oil colour has it changed significantly , (darkened) if not do not fret . When engines overheat normally you will see excessive oil contamination from Thermal Breakdown , any sludge is broken down and will change the colour and texture (viscosity) from normal . I would offer a educated guess that with your knowledge level you change your oil religiously and will know by visual inspection if the overheating was serious. Dump your oil as a precaution and check out further for electrical damage as has been recommended ! :)

"Is the brake caliper hooked to the flywheel on this thing?" Yes it is. By means of the drive belt. The OP stated the the engine seems to run at slower RPM than before the heat treatment and that now executing turns has an effect on RPM/power, depending on which way you turn. I can only correlate that to something that would affect how much effort is required to move the machine across terrain. It IS NOT that the engine really makes more power during turns,m it is because the loading of the engine changes during turns (due to a sticking brake caliper). After I posted last night I also realized that it is entirely possible that this V-Twin Vanguard engine might only have 1 cylinder making good power. With only 1 cylinder putting out good power, the other cylinder constitutes an added load, thereby lowering RPM.......and making the engine run at full open throttle but never really reaching governed RPM. Hence the engine is able to speed up some when conditions occur that lessen the total loading.......or to "bog down" easier when loading increases. And a sticking brake caliper is capable of doing that. Vanguard twins can lose a cylinder entirely and the exhaust note will not sound much different, so it is not as apparent that you only have 1 good cylinder remaining. Heck, it's easier to detect an intermittent misfire than a completely absent cylinder on a Vanguard Twin just using the ears. This post was edited by mownie on Fri, Sep 13, 13 at 11:33

Dug it out this morning, had to move stuff so that I could carry it out without breaking my neck. Found a kill switch on the side, duh! Had spark! Sprayed carb cleaner in the inlet of the carb and replaced the gas line. Replaced the oil, clamped it down on my sawhorses. Filled with gas. Three pulls and it started smoking, revving up and down. Then it settled down and purred like a kitten! I started it 2 more times, cranked on the first pull! I left it along while I done some other chores so it could cool down. Still started on the first pull, 3 times! I've left it running while I grab some grub, I can still hear it running! How much should I price it for? :)