As alot of you know i have an 81' KZ1000 that i have been screwing around with for the past couple of months. I was told about the starter clutch coming loose and that new bolts and thread lock would fix this issue. I got the AC generator cover gasket yesterday after another week because of a mistake the guy at my dealership made.. I spent most of yesterday scraping off the old gasket around the edges of the cover and the surfaces on the engine with some 150 grit sand paper. Comes right off:) Next i installed the air box with my new brackets and bolts. I screwed on my shiney polished-up top caps to the carbs and checked each diaphragm to make sure they all had a good seal. The intake boots i used were getting a bit crunchy and unreasonable. I couldn't get the rubber around the intake side of the carbs. I fought for an hour and packed it in for the night when like 10 mosquitoes landed on my for a meal. It was getting dark outside too. Today, i went outside with my dad and he helped me get the carbs in. after installation i connected my throttle cable to the throttle assembly on the carbs. the cable had a kink right on the end so i had to fight that for a while too while my dad held the throttle open on the carbs. I then went for a quick spin in the police car to a gas station to fill up my two gas cans. Me and my dad spent that week, waiting for the gasket, on cleaning up my rusty gas tank. We did an electrolitic process where you use a 12 volt battery charger, baking soda, and distilled water to remove the rust. The tank had sat for a while and i didn't coat the inside after wards so some surface rust had formed. I rinsed the tank out two times and then filled it with fresh gas. After installing the fuel lines (main and vacuum), i turned the valve on prime. I checked all of the bowl drain screws to make sure that fuel was being supplied to the carbs. Gas streamed from all of them:) i was very VERY happy that the bike was together. I was even happier when i heard how it ran... i held in the clutch and hit the button. It cranked like 3 times and fired right off. It idled at 4000 RPM. I pushed in the choke and it went straight down to 1000. I revved it once and bogged a bit but when i let go of the throttle at about 3000 RPM it dropped straight back down. No vacuum leaks. I then remembered that there was no oil in the motor. I quickly shut the bike off, punched myself in the face:D, and laughed stupidly. Luckily i only ran it for like 5 seconds before i realized this. My dad reassured me by telling me that these motors are bullet proof and it probably didn't hurt it at all. I had to drain the motor of oil to fix the starter clutch. When i changed the oil after first buying it, it was black, not see-through at all.. there was even dead ancient lady bugs that must have crawled in the crank case breather tube opening a long, long time ago. When i fixed the starter clutch, i had to pour the new oil out that i had poured in from the first change it it had turned black fairly quickly as well. So, i think this time the crank case was washed out fairly nicely. I poured in fresh oil until it reached the top mark on the case cover next to the little window, gave her a crank or two and it popped right off again. I let the bike warm up but i couldn't go anywhere because the front tire was cracked very badly and was flat. i revved it a few times, shut it off, and gave my dad a hug and smiled. I was very happy about this. My dad went into the house. I started it again and let it run but then it died... i cranked it a few more times and it would sputter and when it did run for a short time, it wouldn't rev and it ran very choppy. I poured more gas in the tank and started it again.. Ran terribly. After giving up and going into the house for a while, i figured i would go back out and check the plugs. I pulled Cylinder 1's plug out and found that it was covered in black soot with grey on the end. I sprayed it with carb cleaner, brushed it off, cooked it with my torch for a few seconds, sprayed it with more carb cleaner and screwed it back in finger tight. I did this with all the rest. It seemed that the last 3 i pulled were worse than the first. After tightening them and re-installing the spark plug caps, i pulled in the clutch and hit the button. It fired after one crank. Now it runs like i just bought it yesterday in 1981:D Absolutely no smoke and i think all of the exhaust leaks are sealed up now. tomorrow i plan on wiring up my lights and cleaning up my harness while its still on the bike. Im also going to buy a new air filter and front tire. It should drive really good after i do some minor adjustments on the clutch. Im also replacing my handle bars with some Renthal bars off of an old dirtbike. i like the look:) Im sorry i never post any pics, ill have a video tomorrow for sure.
Thanks for reading,
KT
