Proud owner of a Z500 B1 from Finland

Hi !

I just got this badboy running. I bought the bike non-working. it didn't start on battery but after pushing it over and over again it did start after allbut was running on 2cylinders. We took it all apart with a friend of mine and redid the electricity (previous owner had almost short circuited the whole bike....) we realised one of the ignition coils was busted. Changed that and that was it !

Though The other day the bike died on me and was running on 3 cylinders for about 1h, changed the spark plug and it's back to life again. These are really robust machines

I'm new here and i hope to find some help as i'd like to upgrade the bike with the air system and possibly redo all engine sealings. The engine is leaking a bit of oil !

Oh and that seat is from previous owner. It'd hideous... it's going to black ASAP, just need to learn how !


M

Welcome aboard! That is an almost nice looking ride. Yes, the seat is pretty hideous :blink:
Once you replace the leaky seals and the seat, you should have a really nice bike. You mentioned the air system. Are you planning to replace the stock air box with individual filters? If so, I hope you will reconsider that plan. There is no advantage in making that change, and you will spend a great deal of time and money getting the carburetors to function properly again. IMO, you would be better off saving the money and spending that time riding.
Ymmv

Well, in my experience, there are two possible slight advantages to using pods, which are nto too hard to tune on the TK22 carbs because they are so simple.

It does feel faster at higher RPMs, I can't prove it, having no actual stopwatch results, but I'm pretty sure it is not imagined. The down side is a little bit less grunt coming from a stop light, especially with two people on it.

And of course, the carbs are easier to maintain without the airbox.

But I too, would still recommend keeping the airbox. Even with the faster top end, the overall acceleration may not be any better since you lose that bit on the low end. But the main issue is weather, especially in rainy climates.

As far as carb removal/installation, there are some tricks to getting them in and out.

I remove the tank, and put the bike on a center stand so I can sit on the seat and put my feet on the ignition and alternator covers. This gives you really good leverage to pull the carbs into the airbox boots so you can tip the carb outlets out of the carb holders.

Remove the carb clamps or at least have them far more loose than you would expect to be necessary. The carb holders have to expand a lot to release the carbs because there is a false oring molded into the inside of the carb holder that locks onto the carbs. To release them, the holder has to expand a lot.

Also, the usual tips like using a hair dryer to warm up the rubber helps. And as the manual instructs, you have to remove all of the mounting harware from the airbox so the airbox can move backward. It might even help to loosen up the battery box if that is in contact with the airbox.

Thank you guys !

I totally agree, the airbox was a pain in the ass to remove. I had to do it because i wanted to inspect the carbs and clean them (bike wasn't running then). It took some heatgun to get the rubbers soft

I think i'll stay on the airbox. the bike runs so that's what matters.
For the engine seals, i'll wait for winter to come cause its gonna take some while and here in finland the driving season is pretty short.

Do you guys know anything special about this bike that could be improved?

Thanks again for the welcoming !
M

Be sure to inspect the choke flaps. They can be removed while the carbs are installed.
Here's what to look for:
s3.amazonaws.com/gpzweb/TK22mainPage/TK2...chokePlateFlaps.html

And while the tank is off the bike you can improve the tunability of the choke with this mod:
s3.amazonaws.com/gpzweb/TK22mainPage/TK2...astIdleScrewMod.html

Alright so it happened again that cylinder 4 isnt firing... i have to inspect further but seems oil is getting into cylinder. though it doesnt smoke when all 4 cylinders run it did smoke blue last time i changed the spark plug...

this is frustrating...

M