1981 KZ550 D1 GPZ550 won't start

Partzilla sez the factory close cable is still available. You will not find better than factory.

www.partzilla.com/catalog/kawasaki/motor.../gpz-kz550-d1/cables

While the carbs are off, take a very close look at the carb holders. If there are surface cracks or if the rubber is really hard, they need to be replaced.

Also, since this is your first deep dive into the carbs, it might be best to disassemble, clean and reassemble them one at a time. That way if you forget how something goes, you will have a pattern at hand. I like to take a lot of pictures, too.

Hello TexasKZ: Got it, thanks... but what do you mean by the carb 'holders'?

Reference number 16065.  (Part number 16065-1014)

www.partzilla.com/catalog/kawasaki/motor...550-d1/cylinder-head

RonG wrote:

 As the carbs were rebuilt 3 years ago and mileage is very low, I'm hoping I can get by just cleaning the carbs and not installing new carb kits.
Ron

You should not need "carb kits", those are a poor investment anyway. You don't want to use the kit brass and the gaskets in kits can be sourced cheaply enough by themselves. 
Do a thorough, methodical cleaning and write down the jet sizes for future reference. You'll also want to know which jets are factory. 

Thanks for all these comments! Is there any use here for an 'ultrasonic' cleaner that parts are immersed in? Or is this a bad idea...
Ron

A good ultrasonic cleaner with the proper cleaning solution can greatly reduce the time needed to clean the carbs. You will still need to double check the tiny passageways and jets to be absolutely certain they are clear.

Got it, thank you!

Thanks everyone for suggestions. I disassembled the carbs and cleaned them in a simple sort of a way, using isopropyl alcohol and finally 'gumout' from Canadian tire. But I was wishing I just had turpentine or similar. I didn't change any adjustments, just cleaned. At least one jet was fairly dirty. The bike now starts and runs much better, and I got it to idle successfully (when warm, had to add one turn to the idle adjustment). It feels like its running smoothly up through RPM but only with full choke on. Any attempt to touch the choke results in an immediate stall. What should I be looking at next?

Does anyone know if the carb set had some black paint from the factory, or were they all aluminum color? Mine had remnants of thick black paint on about 10% of some surfaces, which I scraped off as it was in bad shape. 

BTW those cute little pod aircleaners again, I got new ones recently off amazon (I think the brand name is 'kona'?? or similar) and the diameter of the chrome portion near the engine is just too large, you can't get them on side by side without pushing the one beside it off. I flattened out the chrome body one one side of each so each set more or less fits straight onto the carbs, then tried to seal off any air leaks, but I wouldn't go with this brand again. The only other solution would be to build an inch longer pipe into the carb so the outer air cleaners sit further back.

Ron

Best to find the right size pods. Nice to hear the teardown/cleanup worked to get it running.
Did you replace all the orings?
Yes those were painted at one time but it sounds like they have been dipped in the past and it stripped all the paint off.
Mine are back to all aluminum at this point.

Runs ok, but only with the enrichment (choke) on, indicates clogged pilot circuits.

Check to be certain that those filters do not block any of the small intake ports in the mouth of each carburetor. Such blockage can cause serious running problems. Cheap filters can cause more problems than they solve.

I didn't replace any o rings. Thanks for suggestions, I'll try to figure out the pilot circuits next and check that no inlet ports are covered. The bike did however run fine in the spring with these same pod filters. Something has changed that it now needs the choke full time.

Ron

I actually had cleaned out all the pilot circuits, so I don't expect its that. I'll check no inlet ports are covered in the morning. The movie below says if it's not the pilot jets there may be an air leak at the carbs to intake flange... is there a method to test for that?