TOPIC:

Rebuilt the KZ1000A1 26mm carbs with new kits... cleaned all four to 9th degree. All passages are clear and free flowing.
Set the float levels with the clear plastic tube method... below the gasket line as noted here and in my FSM.
After an hour and half of that off again on again BS.... what a SERIOUS pain in the ASS.
Ran the engine for about 5-6 mins, took the bike off the center stand, on to the side stand. I come out to the garage twenty mins later... stink of raw fuel and big ass pool of gas under the bike from the carbs dripping.
OK... I'm pissed.
WTF!??
Upright and level.... no fuel leak, tilted over on the side stand big drips from all four.
Oh and I can clearly see the fuel level with the clear tube when the bike is on the center stand... about and +1/8" + 3mm below the float bowl lip.
Frustrated.... ugh!
So, no matter what, lower the fuel level? K@L carb parts suck? Floats are hanging regardless of the cleaning?
I'm Jinxed!??
These carbs never did this until now after owning this bike since new. I feel like putting all the dirty old parts back in! LOL

The gaskets swell in contact with petrol, you might just come back to this tomorrow and the problem has fixed itself. I've had this before, you might just get lucky on this.

Is the fuel leaking from the carb bowl/carb body gasket, from the overflow tubes (if your carbs have them), or from some other place? Also, did you have the petcock turned to "OFF"? Ed

Float tangs set too much on an angle or float needles and seats.
Steve

Not leaking form the over flow tubes... could very well be the new float bowl gaskets. I never thought about new ones needing to swell and seal. That seems medieval to me. LOL
Yes, all four seem to drip with the petcock closed. Possibly until the fuel level in each bowl gets low enough to stop (quite a while)...open the petcock and I assume it would eventually drain the fuel tank! Ha ha
Although a bit hard to get started after a few years of inop.... the bike was running fairly sweet other then this.

Some carb kits have crappy components. You may want to bite the bullet and buy genuine Kawasaki carb bowl gaskets and see if they leak. Ed

I used K&L kits and the bowl gaskets didn't fit. They were too darn small. Had to get genuine ones... Just my .02 cents.

what a drag... in frustration, I put the 37 year old Mikuni gaskets back on, tightened the screws and of course.... no leaks. What kind of junk are these aftermarket sellers dumping on us?
However, now I have another problem. And I think it could be stock coil with Dyna III related.
I'll move over to electrical for that one.

missionkz wrote: Not leaking form the over flow tubes... could very well be the new float bowl gaskets. I never thought about new ones needing to swell and seal.

The fuel should come out the overflow tubes not the gaskets. That's what the overflow tubes are supposed to do. Are you sure those tubes and attached hoses are clear?

A s for why it puddles gas: it can only be one of two things: either the fuel level is too high or the needles.jets are not sealing.

IMPORTANT: are these new needles and seats or old? The needle tip and seat surface needs occasional polishing to stay smooth so it can seal. If not, they will leak gas.

Yes new needle and seat. I did not think to polish the new ones with the Q-tip and paste method.
I did replace all the over flow and vent tubes with new clear vinyl ones.

I am very confident I did a competent job in cleaning the emulsion tubes, bodies, all idle and pilot ports, passages, airways and fuel enrichment "choke" passages.I completely gutted all the carbs and soaked them for a couple days in two gallons of Chem-Dip.
Nothing but the actual needle jet was left in the bodies.

Then i used carb cleaner and .009" dia to .013" dia piano wire to gently push and spin through all passages, followed by my air compressor and air gun (with hard rubber tip) at around 70-80psi, blown and used in every direction I could think of. I used the FSM art work... showing circuit flows.
I bought four new carb kits, which came with new needle and seat, O rings, idle mixture needle screws and gaskets.
I replaced the 4 main jets and all 4 pilot jets, supplied from a vender selling Sudco parts.
Although the kits came with 4 new needles, I did not replace the jet needles nor the needle jets themselves.
With a jeweler's 4X loop I really could not find any grooves flat spots or odd scuffs in the needles.
However, the supplied needles in the kits looked much more pointy and narrow then all the original ones.
Assuming they would greatly enrich the mixture, that really spooked me so I did not want to use them.
Measuring a few spots on the stock, original needles with my micrometer.... showed nearly the same diameters, so I reassembled the slides with the stock needles in the middle clip setting.
Again, float level looks quite reasonable and It does not drip fuel with the bike on the center stand.
It actually is much much better by reusing the 37 year old bowl gaskets then the one supplied in the rebuild kits.
That was a bit disappointing.

My 33's were discontinued. I can still get the needle and seats but I decided to try to clean them up. I put the needles in a piece of tubing, in a drill and polished them with #600 wet/dry. Tried to polish the seats with the Q tip and compound but no good. I took a sharp pencil, whittled it down so it would fit, dipped it in fine valve grinding compound, spun it with a drill back and forth, it worked. Must have been a burr I couldn't see. I'll still buy some new ones later.
Steve