Pig wrote: hello, I own a kz400 1977 but I'm having some issues with the carbs. I put pods on my carbs because my air filter was really dirty and took up a lot of space. I kept the stock exhaust and thought I might need to rejet my carbs but it didn't seem like I did. So I kept riding it then my bike started acting like it was running really rich so I leaned out the mixture. (This doesn't make sense to me because I thought with pods your carbs would need to get rejetted to run richer. ) But now my bike is bogging down and won't run unless I'm tweaking the throttle or have the choke on. I'm confused because my spark plugs are black like it's too rich.
First check your valve lash and ignition. Make sure it is set to factory specs.
If by leaning out the mixture you adjusted the idle mixture screws, set them back to
factory spec/best idle. That will eliminate the need to run with the choke on.
What filters are you using? The carbs do not like the air bleed hole on the inlet side
to be blocked like some filters do. You need filters like K&N or Uni that do not have
a step inside. Then we can work on tuning your carbs.
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P.S. Also spray around your carb boots to see if they are leaking or not.
Do this with the engine running. You will notice a change in sound/rpm if
it has a leak. Carb or brake cleaner works best. Rpm will increase.
Be careful, do not spray around any ignition components.
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