Advice on this Kz550

Ahh ok I will mess around with it later on and let you guys know how it works out.

I was checking out your video earlier Ron and noticed the amount of space you had. Installing the carb bank seems exhausting !

Had a idiot moment once I followed your instructions. I got the 2 outer boots in all the way followed by two inner ones. Now it makes sense clearance wise. The two inner ones I used were from a different 550 model that used tk26 carbs from a link someone provided.

Hopefully the slight bit of looseness around the carb is removed by the spring clamps. Tell me what you guys think!

I didn't mean the boots should be inside the airbox. I meant they just need to be installed properly as they will be when all is done. Your earlier photo seemed to show them not installed all the way. They needed to be installed with one more lip inside the airbox. I'll try to get a photo tomorrow.

Some people have suggested installing the boots after the carbs are in place. I found that nearly impossible compared to how I normally do it. My comment meant to have the boots already installed when installing the carbs.

Ok bit of misunderstanding,the lip itself is what forms the seal! I get what your saying now. It should look similar to this

Guess I'm going to have to widen the hole 2 and 3 for the lip to fit around it.

Yes that's it. The notch in the lip and the tab.

Were the outer two holes bigger for some reason? That seems odd.

The outer two holes were indeed larger. The two inner ones have no notch

Attempted to install the carbs onto the bike with the airbox. Unfortunately it was a no go. The maneuvering of the carbs into the manifolds holes was impossible. The boots were being pulled from the holes when i tried to lower the sync screws dowm.Seems my two inner boots need to be softened up a bit.

I also managed to do another compression test which I planned to do after the carbs install.

Cly 1 150~
Cyl 2 155
Cly3 153
Cly4 156

Two factors that changed, I forgot to install the cam tensioner at the time and this time I had a jump pack hooked up to the battery.


Still waiting on oil filter.

Rather than fight the problem you need to replace the air ducts. New ones are easy to install because they are quite pliable; old ones become very stiff and should be tossed. Ed

Since the orginal ones meant for the bike are obsolete I can't get the two inner ones. Outer ones are brand new, I have a couple fernco couplings I'll try and substitute just would have to cut to a decent fit

It really shouldn't be that hard to get the carbs on. I'm not sure what you mean by the sync screws interfering with the boots.

You are probably aware, you must have all of the carb clamps wide open, beyond what you would reasonably expect to need. And you have the battery box loose along with all of the airbox hardware?

Are you pulling the carbs into the airbox boots, then nosing the carbs into the manifolds? I've never done the Kz550A4 carbs before, so I'm sorry if it's not working out with that method.

Is there any chance the airbox is actually different? (I realize you may not have ever seen the A4 airbox, or you'd be using it. )

I could measure some Tk22 carbs to see if the TK26 carbs are somehow longer, intake to outlet.

I bought air boots from a place in Germany. They were perfect for my A model and even with customs and import same price as here. I will try to find the info. I bet they have em for the GPZ,

R