1981 KZ1000 J-to-K build

So I'm going through my pictures, and my parts diagrams, and nothing is showing how the fuel lines from that tank are supposed to be hooked up. The valve has two lines coming off of it, but I only have one line going to the carbs. So which nipple connects to the carbs and where does the second line go? Enquiring minds want to know!

One is a vacuum line and the other is fuel.
Steve

Vacuum... to one of the carb ports I imagine? Well that explains why there was only a single vacuum cap on the carbs when I got it. Does it matter which carb it goes to? I'm thinking probably the outside one, closest to the petcock, and then the line to the emissions device goes to carbs #2 and #4, with a cap on #3?

Ah no wonder I was confused... both of the nipples on the petcock are the same size, how can one be a vacuum line? Oh I see, someone cut the clear tubing off and left some on the petcock. Remove that and now that nipple is clearly the right size for a vacuum line.

All right, I think I have it all figured out now. This sure would have been a lot easier if I had started with a running bike!

:woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo: IT'S ALIVE!!! :woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo:

So last night I got everything together and tried to start the engine. Something is definitely wrong because the starter motor never disengages when the engine starts turning over by itself...

Back on it again this morning. As mentioned in another thread, PO managed to put together the starter clutch and alternator pieces incorrectly. The gear never let go so the starter was always engaged. Turns out they put the copper washer *behind* the gear instead of in front of it. Some damaged pieces were replaced from the parts engine, and I was able to put it all back together and get that gear to spin freely in on direction. We're back in business!

So I hooked the gas tank back up again, connected the jump-start battery pack, and kicked her over. Hmm nothing? Tried again, turned the throttle slightly, and VROOOM. Of course lots of smoke for the first couple minutes, but then that pretty well cleared up. Doesn't seem too loud, definitely has a nice deep sound to it.

One problem... When the engine stops running, the #2 carb is letting a steady flow of gas into it which then starts draining back into the air box. Obviously the float isn't sealing up, which almost certainly means I'm going to have to pull the carbs back off the bike so I can open that one up and see what's going on. Letting it cool back down now while I decide what to do.

An interesting observation... I shut off the gas while it was running so it would drain out the carbs. And it kept running, and running, and running... Finally ran out of gas but it took a lot longer than I expected. Oh and even though the battery has enough juice to light the lights, it is NOT enough to keep the engine running. All right, time to head back out and see what I can do.

Ugh what a long day out in the hot sun. Had to split my time between the bike and yard work, but good things have happened.

First off, I got the final coat of paint on the tank -- this time WITHOUT fuzzy seed pods. Looks like the previous coats have a god thickness to them, when I was wet sanding I had to remove some scratches I'd put in the paint around that seed pod. Turns out they were just in the last coat of paint, got it cleaned up without getting through the previous coats. I've been debating on the scales again... instead of doing them in black, I'm considering trying a chocolate brown as I think it would look good on this color. On the other hand, maybe I'm adding too many colors and should just stick with black. Hmmmm.

As for the engine... what a day! I'm having a lot of trouble starting the engine and keeping it running. Most likely it's the low float level in the bowls so I won't worry about it until after I've fixed that problem. I was hoping to work on those today, but it didn't happen. I did get the engine up to heat, enough that the engine paint started baking. I guess that hour in the oven at 200F wasn't enough, but that's good because I've seem a few chips already and wasn't too impressed. Hopefully this means it'll get a lot tougher now. While running the engine has been blowing a lot of white smoke out the right pipe, but after it got up to temp that seemed to clear up. Hopefully it's just a matter of getting the rings re-seated in their new cylinders.

I had to pull several wires and cables from the handlebars. Finally found the hanger clips for the top of the forks and realized I had routed every wire incorrectly. Everything is tucked up in place now though.

I still need to get some plastic spacers made up to go behind two of the side cover pins. Yeah I'll get to that one of these days...

congrats on the startup!

leon

After all the excitement this weekend I was wasted yesterday. Got the carbs pulled today and poked at another issue -- the turn signals. I have some I found that I think fit the style of the bike, problem is they seem to only have 3mm barrel plugs on them and all the KZ wiring is for 4mm barrels. Found a deal on ebay for a pack of 50 male/female plugs with the insulation, made for motorcycles, so I can just solder on the new connectors and be good to go. The other problem was there were no rubber damper mounts for the front signals when I got the bike. Took a trip to Ace hardware and found a pair of grommets that perfectly fit in the diamond cut-out. With a fender washer on either side, they should absorb at least some of the vibration. Once the new barrel plugs arrive I will now have everything in place for the bike to be street-legal again.

Now I just need to figure out what to use for a rack to hold the carbs so I can work on those floats...

HOT DAMN!!! I finally found the original key Been looking for that puppy for quite awhile now, especially as I've been getting closer to starting it. Was pretty sure it was on the workbench somewhere, just had no idea where. Was clearing a spot to work on the carbs tonight and uncovered it.

So this one works with the ignition. Apparently someone removed all the wafers from the tank lock, it opens with a screwdriver. Been playing with the right-side helmet lock, which is the easiest one to take apart, and have three of the four wafers rearranged to work with the key. Probably good enough, but I still have two seat locks to get open and try to make one of them work as well. Worst case, I could always file down some of the wafers to fit the key, but it may be worthwhile to check in the main forum and see if anyone else is also trying to re-key a lock and would be willing to swap wafers. The important thing is that I can work the ignition with a key now.

congrats on finding the key!

leon

Definitely light at the end of the tunnel.
Go Go Go !!!!!!
Dave

More good news! I'd seen some comments that people were having trouble getting keys copied anywhere but at the dealer. Today I ran over to Ace Hardware and they had exactly the right key. The original had been twisted and bent, I did what I could to straighten it but it has signs of a stress crack, It's now sitting on the shelf with other keys and the new copy has been put on my key ring. I also took time to mount the ignition switch on the bike -- boy I have no idea this was going to involve taking everything around the headlight back apart again. Only issue I have now is the odometer box doesn't seem to want to sit down in its mounting holes. It's like the ignition is leaning too far backwards, but it appears to be exactly straight with the tripletree, so I'm not really sure what the issue is.

Next up was the carbs. Oh wasn't THAT just a load of fun. Made up a temporary ladder-frame on the workbench to hang the carbs from, then re-checked the fuel level. Hmm never mind what I said previously about the level being 1/2" too low, it seems that was due to an air bubble in the tubing. In fact, the fuel level was too *high*... like well over the top of the bowls and running out the air intake channels. Drained everything took off the bowls, checked the floats... ok they're at 20.1mm and the book says to start at 18.6mm. Put it all back together and try again and CRAP... wrong direction, it's even worse now! After a few more tries I ended up at 22.6mm, measured on top of the gasket. And I had to keep tweaking the floats to keep both sides even after I re-bent the tabs. I finally ended up with the fuel level sitting at right around 3mm below the edge of the bowl, so I cleaned up the carbs, dropped the rest of the screws into the bowls, and put them back on the bike.

Considering how high the fuel level was, I've been thinking that perhaps THIS is the reason why the petcock vacuum line was pulling gas into the air box. I'll have to test that theory once I get the bike started again... but of course I ran into yet another problem.

Got the tank set up again and hooked up my battery pack, hit the starter switch (after using my shiny new key!) and I get this grinding sound like the starter is hopping gears. Ugh not again. Worried that the crank bolt may have backed off after last weekend, I decided to take off the cover again and check it out. Hmm nothing wrong here, and there's no sign or any gear damage. Pop the cover back on with a few bolts and try again... still grinding, with the occasional half a turn by the starter before hearing the grinding again. Look under the cover, yeah everything still looks normal. So I put the bolts back in the cover and clean up the oil.

I *think* the battery pack wasn't fully charged after sitting all week. The only think I can think of is that the starter motor isn;t getting enough juice, and what I'm hearing as grinding may just be the starter kicking against the coils but not quite turning over the engine. Maybe? Well it's back on the charger tonight, we'll see what happens tomorrow. I just know it was turning over perfectly last weekend, even when I would crank it for several seconds, so a weak battery is the only thing I can think of that might have happened while the bike was sitting idle during the week. Crossing my fingers that it turns over fine tomorrow with a fresh charge...