Testarossa's 78 KZ1000 Fighter Build

That dude has some issues. The funny thing is that he just moved to Texas and I had previously given him some pointers on places to ride. He invited me to come show him around. I'm glad that I didn't. What would he do if I took him to my favorite Mexican food joint and he didn't like the enchiladas? I shudder to think. :laugh:

keep pumping strawberry margaritas into him,5-6 of them he'll forget all about chicken enchiladas! :woohoo:

After 5 or 6 strawberry margs I can show him Highway 16 between Bandera and Medina. Look out below! What happened to Chucky, Ooohhh nooooo...

Maybe u can cnc some jet blocks and sell them as a side job.they seem to be in demand.
just a thought.

I was discussing that with a co-worker this morning. It's exactly the sort of part that we make all the time in our shop.

this is gonna be a cool thread!
:evil:
i can't wait to watch you rehab these turds into the polished jewels that i know you will have.

leon

As long as I can get the mechanical issues sorted, I will spend some time polishing on these carbs. They are worth the effort, unlike those dang VM26's that are on there right now.

BTW I forgot to mention that I did the valve clearance checkup, adjusted the timing chain tensioner, and went over all the nuts and bolts on the bike. I also pulled the carbs and re-did all the passages, and I still can't find anything plugged there. Stuck it all back together and I also installed the straight through baffle that I built so long ago.

Still has the hiccup just off idle, but not as bad. The small vibration changed, but still there. However, on the bright side, that new baffle made a world of difference. I had to step up a pilot jet size to 17.5 and the bike has a ton more midrange power now. Not to mention that it was engine braking so hard before that it felt like I had a Jake Brake on the bike. Now that's gone. I guess that the previous baffle was too restrictive.

Phase one of the carburetor repairs is done. I got those dumb ez-outs and the remains of the two pilot jets drilled out from the carbs. Here's how I went about it. First I clamped the carb body in a mill vise and indicated the ID of the counterbore above the pilot jet. This ensures that the drilling is on the centerline of the jet. That's important because you don't want to drill out the threads in the carb body.



Next, I needed to use a carbide endmill to drill out the hardened tool steel ez-out. I had a worn 1/8" ballnose so I used that and drilled down until I couldn't see any more of the ez-out. You can just see the endmill above my indicator in this picture:



Now the next trick is to find a left hand twist drill bit. Sometimes you get lucky and the bit grabs the broken screw or jet and just unscrews it. I didn't get so lucky this time.



I had to keep drilling to just under the size of the minor diameter of the threads. I measured the minor diameter with a gauge pin at 0.163". I drilled up to 0.161" and then I carefully picked out the last slivers of brass. After I thought all of the brass was gone, I made up a small brass bolt to screw into the carb. This bolt has a slit cut in the end to clean out any remaining junk. The correct thread is M5x0.8 by the way. The end of the jet fell out when I drilled through it:

that looks fancier than my milwaukee 18v cordless drill press! :woohoo:

I also got one of the jet blocks repaired today. First I was concerned that I may smash the jet block since it is very thin aluminum. So I made up an aluminum slug that fit tightly inside the jet block to support it. You can see the slug in the jet block in the following picture. Notice that I indicated the boss where the jet needle screws into.



Now I used a 5/16" endmill to mill out the messed up threads. This particular mill has a little play in the spindle bearings, so the hole actually came out to 0.317" but was round to within 0.0002" so I called it good.



Next I made up a brass insert on the lathe. This insert must be precisely sized to produce a light press fit into the bore in the jet block. I cut the insert to 0.3174" and drilled and tapped it for the M6x0.75 threads that are supposed to be there. Here's the insert before I installed it:



Finally, I just pressed the insert into the jet block. I just used a small precision vise since this is a light press fit, no need for the 50 ton press. This is the part where I felt the need for that aluminum slug. I was concerned that I may distort the jet block when pressing the insert in place.



Now I just have to do the other three..

show off! :laugh: