Old “newbie” in Central NY

Hi, guys & gals:

I’m currently resurrecting a few bikes, which have been sitting idle for up to 15 years, and trying to get myself back in the saddle after too many years with medical issues.

I used to ride in the San Diego & Escondido area, then moved to upstate NY (closer to Canada than the city) around 13 years ago.
Being out of commission for so long, I’m anxious to enjoy some Adirondacks and Catskills riding now.

Aside from the little Suzi GW250 for my teenaged twin boys, my only running bike is my 78 KZ750 Twin, although it isn’t always idling well.

I’ve been working hard on resurrecting my ZRX1100 for the last couple of weeks, and it is now running better than it ever did (for me - 2nd owner), but I’m waiting for a new battery so it can be untethered from a car battery and get some new rubber dirty. Along the way, found that I had a broken #3 carb body, which likely happened shortly after I picked it up in Chicago to ride home - in the rain in Lake of the Ozarks, MO, a lady pulled in front of me, I bottomed out the fork, and sustained a separated shoulder. Rode home to San Diego with ibuprofen that didn’t really help, a broken right peg, and various scrapes and contusions.
Hardest part of this refurb was treating the tank... lots of steps and manual shaking with a chain inside.

My 83 GS1100ES is also in-progress, waiting to finish the VM33 carbs and get them back in, de-sludge the oil pan, and get new shocks and springs on to get it back to a sane height - it was a lowered and extended drag bike before I bought it. Still ran great on the street, before a stator problem sidelined it.

I bought the KZ Twin here in NY a couple of years ago, and I’m about to pull the BS38 bowls off to see how it is jetted - I understand they benefit from bigger pilots. It has an aftermarket 2-to-1 pipe, and a K&N filter in the stock airbox. I have a few jets to try, I suspect it’ll end up around 130 mains, 50 pilots? (My first BS carbs.)

Anyway... good to be here. Looks like a huge wealth of hard-earned bike lore and expertise here.

Cheers,

Welcome Frank.

We love bike pics of new KZR member, do you can offer some pics for us???
And yes, a warm welcome here on the KZR asylum.

Welcome Frank. I've always wanted one of the Kawi 750 twins.

Sorry - I'll get some pictures shortly.

Yes, I really like the Twin, but not sure whether I'm crazy about the BS38 carbs quite yet - actually my issues might really be with the previous owner's tank treatment. The "Kreem" inside coating seems to be peeling off, and I'm told that it liquefies and clogs pilot jets (or anything else it can). I guess it may be fine with pure gasoline, not the 10% ethanol stuff we have around here. I just finished treating the tank for my ZRX, and it is a lot of work... I most likely need to do the same to my GS1100 soon.
I've cleaned the carbs out a couple of times, and they work fine for awhile, then gunk up again - symptom is that they won't idle well, have to maintain higher revs.

I'm somewhat tempted to try a different pair of carbs on the twin. I have some working spare CVK36s that may work fine. The VMs that a lot of folks seem to use would be great, but I already have extra carbs (I have CVK40s for my ZRX). Problem is still the Kreem'd tank, though.

Fuel filters and PICS, NEED PICS. :woohoo:
Steve

Welcome to KZR Frank. There are some great oldies hanging out in this forum, and some even own a motorcycle. lol

The 750 twins are kind of rare, but when dealing with 40 year old + bikes, they are all kinda rare. as in just still running and on the road. It takes a true enthusiast to >keep< them running. The Yamaha XS650 had the same carbs. The carbs are usually model specific, so sticking with the right ones usually works out much better. Also true for the air box / air filter.

Like Steve and Sorroco said.. PICS!

last Friday:



When you get tired of cleaning carbs, and prefer to just ride the bike, buy a gallon of MEK, make up some block off plates and remove all of that crap in your gas tank. The old kaws run much better when the fuel is not contaminated. lol

As far as shaking a gas tank, that gets old fast. I don't really like how the nuts and bolts sound like they are beating the sh!t out of this tank from the inside out, but I have done the dryer tumble on several tanks.


A expanding rubber "freeze plug" fri my tank opening perfectly. It sealed up perfectly. I did this with some screws and 3/4 gallon of MEK in the tank. I ran it a while, then reversed it, then ran it some more. Bare metal will not dissolve then plug up anything. just sayin.