1981 KZ1000 J-to-K build

We had some heavy wind yesterday which made me really nervous. I'm not sure if you can see in the pic above, but the kickstand has a rather pronounced bend to it which I don't believe is correct since the foot doesn't even sit flat on the ground. It makes the bike stand more upright than it should, and since the heavy winds usually come in from the left side I was worried it might get blown over. Well it didn't, but I found a replacement kickstand on ebay and got that ordered. You may have noticed the railroad tie plate on the ground under the rear wheel... that helps it lean a little further but it's still not nearly enough. Ah well, will be resolved soon...

I gave the bowl drain screws another tweak a couple days ago and I think that stopped the worst of the gas leak. At least it's not puddling on the ground any more. I was out most of the day but it was in the 60's when I got home so I hopped on and rode around for about an hour. The choke is actually working now, keeping it at a higher RPM while it warms up. It still feels a little rough after it is hot though, but I have no idea if that is how these engines are? I know the old Yamaha engine *really* ran rough. Damn thing would vibrate your ass to sleep in about 15 minutes, so this is certainly an improvement over that.

I was just looking at some previous pictures compared to those above, I hadn't realized the pipes had discolored so much already. I dunno, maybe it was running too hot when I was trying to get the carbs to work. It doesn't feel too terribly hot when I get back from riding though, so it's probably ok. After I figure out how to do the bend in the muffler than I can get some paint on the pipes and run the engine to properly bake the paint on. Hmm I also need to trace the wires back from the horns one of these days, they're not working at all from the button although I know they do work.

Another storm coming in tomorrow. Supposed to see rain most of the day and then up to three inches of snow overnight. No more riding for a bit I guess.

We hit 72 degrees today, so I just had to hop on the bike when I got home! Still haven't had a chance to work on the carbs though. A few interesting observations though...

It's been almost 2 weeks now that gas has been dripping from the carbs into the engine case. And yet there's no sign of any damage to the paint. Sweet! On the other hand the paint used to paint the front brake reservoir, which was supposed to be resistant to brake fluid, is totally disintegrating on the lower side. I can only assume there was a slight leak in the top seal, but that paint is trashed. Ah well.

Despite there being obvious issues with the carbs still, the engine is actually running really well. I haven't felt any hesitation throughout the range. I did notice that once the engine is really warmed up, it kind of stumbles at idle and occasionally sounds like it misses on a cylinder. No issue once I get going again, it's just sitting at lights. Since the bowls seems to be overfilling while the bike is parked, it makes me wonder if the engine is just getting flooded out. Ah well, I might have some time to tackle those carbs this weekend.

The bike actually seems to run really quiet. Unlike the half-helmet I bought, which even has V-straps to sort of cover the ears... The straps seem to just amplify the sound of the wind. Ugh, about made me deaf! I found if I turn my head at least 45 degrees while going down the highway then the sound of the wind almost went away and I could hear the bike pretty well. From what I could tell the exhaust sounded pretty smooth around 4000rpm.

Another storm rolling in this weekend bringing in cold temps and expecting rain on Monday and Tuesday. It keeps teasing me with these Summer-like days, then turning around and dumping snow again. At least I'm getting a bit of riding here and there. Bike is up to 77 miles now.

Got the replacement kickstand yesterday and have it on the bike now. Yeah that feels a lot more stable...

Thought I would hop on the bike to grab a pound of hamburger from the store yesterday, but it didn't work out quite as planned. Got almost to the store and the engine died. And didn't want to start. Let it sit for a couple minutes and then was able to start it, but it's not longer idling properly. Played around a bit more today, still seeing the same thing. Feels like it is running smooth, but it won't idle below about 1500, it just chokes out and dies. I did put a tube on one of the carbs, the float level still seems just about right. If anything it might be slightly low, but I saw no reason why it would be flooding out? On the other hand while changing the kickstand my wife held the bike and tipped it a little to the right, and gas started running out of the air cleaner (I think). So that's not a good sign! But I'm not sure what to check. Any suggestions?

I've also discovered I have a power distribution problem. Seems most of the cluster gauges are working however the gas gauge and horn have no power. The schematic seems to indicate they are both fed from the same source, I just need to take the time to trace the wiring. I still have a couple wires hanging free inside the headlight with nothing to plug them in to, but I wonder if one of them is supposed to be my power feed?

I forgot to mention I got in the new seat pan this week. I can't believe the Post Office shipped it -- dude literally taped a shipping label to the pan, didn't box it or anything. And man is this thing a beauty! It's in better shape than the pan on the bike now. At some point I need to decide exactly where to chop it to clear the tail and then I can set everything in place and figure out how to extend the seat over the top of the tail. And speaking of seats, I made a new hinge pin to replace the one I lost for the seat. Got some small hairpin pins to properly hold the hinge pins in place now so hopefully that won't happen again. Oh yeah and I noticed I never put a cotter pin in the rear axle crown nut. Got that 'minor' detail taken care of as well. Checked a bunch of frame bolts, everything still seems tight, and there's no sign of paint cracking around my frame welds. Overall the bike is in good shape, except for the damn carb problems...

Holy crap it's suddenly a great day! At least I think it is...

So I've been away for a few weeks. Had a party for my 50th, in which a friend brought me the plague. So I've been down with the flu and not doing much of anything. However I noticed last week that the gas tank was completely empty, apparently all that gas I was seeing on the street was just the tip of the iceberg. It could mean the new float valves in the carbs aren't sealing up quite right, but I've had previous trouble with the tank petcock so I thought it was time to spring for the rebuild kit. After re-checking my diagrams it seems this petcock is the original from the J model, but happens to fit on the K tank. Unfortunately that means this particular style was only used for a couple years, so instead of $15 for a rebuild kit it cost me $35. Ah well. It arrived in the mail today, so I pulled the tank off then cranked the engine to try and pull the rest of the fuel from the hose. Hey wait, I know that popping sound -- that's electricity, and only one thing here can make that noise. Crap, two of the plug wires melted against the head! Who makes a plug wire so cheap that it's not rated for the engine heat??? Well, NGK apparently. So I moved those two wires to go over the top of another hose and keep them off the head, and will check my box of parts later to see what other wires I have.

Back to the petcock, an easy strip and replace, however I do have one small but thick black rubber O-ring left over. Can't see anything in the parts diagram, and the only thing close to that size is the O-ring already in place on the plunger of the diaphragm. I dunno, maybe it's for a different model. Tightened the bolts back down (oh look, there's supposed to be plastic washers on the two tank bolts as well?) and got the bike back together.

Well hell, I still have time before dinner... dropped some gas in it and fired it up. Oh look, it's idling now! Oh hell, I didn't even pull the choke out, and it's idling smoothly at only 800rpm! This is looking *very* promising! So I'm guessing the previous issue with it barely idling and not wanting to start was due to the plug wires shorting to the block. Hmm the last time I rode it was when I took it out on the highway, so yeah it would have had time to get really hot. All right, so good to know for the future, don't let the wires lay across the head.

Tomorrow morning I'll check the bike and see if there's any sign of fuel leaking. Really hope not. Weather permitting, I'll run it up and refill the tank, maybe take a short trip around town and see if it feels like it is running ok. Unfortunately there's a big storm heading our way for the weekend and expecting pretty cool weather the rest of the week so I don't know when I'll actually get to go for a long ride... but I'm damn excited to have found the reason why it was running so poorly, and hopefully have the fuel leakage solved now. And maybe once we get some nice weather again I can finally get the carbs dialed in and synced.

Good for you.
Steve

The gas leak problem appears to be better. No noticeable loss from the tank over the past 24 hours and no obvious spillage on the ground or the engine like I had before. However yesterday when I went to the gas station it took a lot of effort to keep it running. Seemed to want to sputter and die every time I cracked the throttle. We've got rain moving in on Friday but maybe I'll be able to look at it again on Sunday.

It was warmer on Sunday so I went out for a spin and found that the engine was running *much* better. Guess it just didn't like the cold from the previous attempt. Lots of other things going on right now, but it was pretty warm again when I got home from work tonight so I thought I would try to get started on adjusting the air bleed screws. Went out for a quick trip to get it up to operating temp, sitting at a light to make a turn, and when I hit the throttle I immediately knew I was in trouble... the throttle cable snapped. Damnit. Called my wife to bring a screwdriver. The good news is nothing important is broken. The bad news is that yes, it was indeed the throttle cable breaking. Well shit. So to get it back home I had to wrap my hand around the carbs and run the butterflies by hand. Not too bad a problem, except the angle caused a massive cramp in my hip so I had to keep releasing the carbs and straightening up. Yeah that was fun but I got it home.

So I called the dealership. They can get me a new cable, but not until Tuesday. Grr! We're supposed to have beautiful weather in the upper 70's all weekend, I was REALLY hoping to to some riding and tuning. Ah well maybe I can get some painting done. There has been no leakage at all from the petcock this past week, so I'd really like to get the good tank finished up and clear-coated so I can put it on the bike.

Oh yeah, so there's also the issue of a bad electrical connection. The gas gauge doesn't work and has no backlight, there was supposed to be a feature that auto-canceled the turn signals, and the horns also do not work. I'm betting all of that is fed by the same power wire, it's just a matter of tracing the wiring diagram and finding the same wire on the bike. And I should probably also start putting together a kit of tools to keep on the bike for future roadside emergencies.

Last night I remembered I still haven't replaced the emergency flasher module. Hit up ebay, got a used one coming for seven bucks. I should probably grab one to keep around as a replacement as well. I intended to trace some of the wiring today but never got around to it. Eventually I'll figure out where the break is at.

Painted the scales on the gas tank today. It didn't turn out quite like I planned though. Because my scale template was a little too narrow I ended making the outside stripes a lot wider than I had planned to cover up the overspray around the edges of the template.




Ah well it's still not bad for a rattle-can job. Unfortunately I did run in to one problem when I peeled the tape off...


It took some of the orange paint with it! Grr. So I'll have to let it sit until next weekend then tape over the black and lay down some new coats of orange. Not sure what happened here, I was careful to wet-sand and clean the tank between layers, and the primer is the same brand as the color so they should be compatible. Makes me worry about the rest of the coat, but I'll keep moving forward for now and repaint the whole thing later on down the road if I need to. Unfortunately this orange is the paint that has to wait 7 days between coats, so after I get the color fixed I'll have to wait yet another week before I can start covering the whole thing in clearcoat. Well maybe it will give me a chance to run through the gas in the black tank so it's nearly empty by the time I'm ready to swap tanks.

The new throttle cable came in last night. Fast shipping, kudos to the ebay seller! Pulled the tank off this time because it was a royal pain getting the old cable disconnected from the carbs with the tank in the way, can't imagine the headache of trying to attach the new cable that way. Back up and running again, but we have cool weather and rain for the next three days. Maybe the weekend will be kind to me.

I noticed that the gas gauge is working now. I had planned to try and track the wiring this weekend but just didn't have the energy after painting the tank. I'm guessing that one of the plugs under the tank must be loose and got hit when I unplugged the throttle cutoff switch, but I didn't find anything when working on it last night. It will be interesting now to see if the other items fed by that power circuit start working now.

I'm also trying an experiment for running lights. I have these nice smoked turn signals I from ebay (I was never a fan of the plain round style), but they don't have an option for running lights. I found some 12V strips lights in amber though that I can stick to the housing and the LEDs reflect off the inner surface. Since they're just running lights they don't have to be too bright, and these seem to be just about half the brightness of the turn bulbs, so that should be good. I'm just not sure how long the sticky will last on the LED strips so I might just find some individual super-bright amber LEDs and wire them up instead through a drilled hole.

Grrr... Got the flasher in today and it's the wrong one. I ended up with another 552 but even though they're supposed to be compatible with my bike, they never work. Only the 223 flashers work for me. I have one on the turn signals but the other one I have is apparently dead. And now I have three of the 552's. Well I found a seller with 223's that appears to have NOS so I ordered one of those, hopefully I'll have better luck this time, And yes, I've confirmed that the one working flasher does in fact work on both the turn signals and the hazards, but the 552's won't work in either location.

Well it's been a busy week. First off it turns out the 552 flasher IS correct for the hazards, it's just that I had to have the bike running to get enough juice to make them start flashing. Don't know what that says about using them when they are intended -- probably when the bike is broken down on the side of the road and not able to run -- but at least I know they *can* work and all the wiring is correct. I got in another 223 flasher and when I tried to use that part in both positions then none of the flashers worked.

I've been working on the carbs and getting help here from another thread. Since I'm not really getting much feedback from the engine RPM while adjusting the pilots I tried to at least get them in the ballpark. Now I'm using the color of the plugs to try and dial in each cylinder. It's certainly running better, but still doesn't feel quite right. However I just rolled over 200 miles on the bike so it's time to re-tighten all the bolts and do an oil change. Maybe something has come loose that I haven't noticed.

Two of the valve plugs are leaking oil. Is it even possible to plug those without taking off the valve cover? That'll have to come later though, one side is very minimal and the other side is leaking just enough oil to burn on the head, but I've been watching the oil level in the engine and it hasn't been noticeably affected. However both of the forks are pushing oil out between the sliders. Seems odd that oil can come out but I still have air pressure in them? At least I think I do, the fork action feels a bit stiff going down the road. I should probably crack them open and top off the fluid again just to be safe.

I've been looking at saddlebags at the dealer and online. Trying to find something that isn't too bulky but would look good. Basically I need to be able to carry lunch to work and probably a jacket. I've been looking for something around 4-5 inches wide with a sloped front to fit around the rear shocks. Seen a couple possibilities, but nothing that really wowed me. I'll just have to settle for whatever might work. I also hit up Harbor Freight yesterday for tools to make a pouch for the bike. Found some stubby wrenches and screwdriver, plus a set of hex wrenches. The one thing I'm missing is a waterproof bag to actually carry them in! Funny, I never would have guessed that bags would be such a hang-up, and yet bags seem to be everything I can't find now. Ah well.

Finally getting more comfortable with the feel of the bike. I'm still a bit wobbly on the take-off, but I had that problem on the old bike as well. Otherwise I'm getting a feel for the weight and what to expect for acceleration. I put new brake pads on all around and man are they touchy! Every time someone in front of me makes a sudden move I mash the brake too hard. Just gotta find that sweet spot. And I still have to get used to riding again... Went out for about an hour and a half yesterday and by the time I got home my ass was numb and my arms were vibrating and I could feel every hair standing up. At least this engine doesn't have that god-awful vibration like the Yamaha did.

One other thing that's been on my mind... When I first started re-assembling all the parts it appeared that I have LTD forks on a J frame. Different angles and different positioning of the axle. I was a bit concerned that it would throw off the positioning of the wheel which can cause problems either at low or high speeds depending on which way the angle changed... however I've had it out on the highway and done a lot of riding at low speed around town, and the steering has been rock-solid. Seems like that's another item I can check off my list of things to worry about.

Now I need to figure out what I'm going to do about finishing the pipes...

Still fighting with the paint on the gas tank. I got the orange sanded smooth and repainted, and then the tape stripped off some of the black stripe that I just laid down. Ugh. It was a small bit so I decided to hit it with a brush last night. Doesn't look great but it might blend in once I can wet sand it. Obviously there's a problem with the adhesion between the primer and orange paint so I'm treating it like a first attempt at painting the tank with the expectation that it may likely all peel off later down the road. At this point I want to get it to 'good enough' and get a clearcoat on it so I can pop the new tank on the bike and see how it all looks. If I have to repaint down the road, so be it.

Working on bags now. I have a small bag ordered for the front fork and another bag that straps across the seat. I also found a water-resistant bag at walmart to stash tools in so now I won't be completely stranded if something else breaks while I'm out riding. The fork bag is a good size for a rain jacket so I should be set for a regular ride soon.

I'm also working on LED ideas to add running lights to the turn signals. Got some superbright amber LEDs in the mail this weekend that might do the trick but it's hard to tell for sure just lighting them up on the workbench. I'll probably just go ahead and mount the LEDs so I can take a look at night and see if they are actually visible.

We've been getting a lot of rain in the past week so I haven't even fired up the bike. Should be warmer and drier the next couple days but then another storm moving in Friday for the weekend. Maybe I can do some more work tuning the carbs while I'm waiting for the nice weather to come back. Based on what I've been observing I think each pair of carbs is fairly well balanced, but I think the two pairs are off from each other. If I can get a clear day to warm up the engine then I can start checking that.

Oh I was looking at low sissy-bars but not really finding anything quite like what I wanted, so I think I'm going to scratch-build one. I'm looking for a low rear seat to keep a passenger from sliding off, but it would be nice to allow for an adjustable height if we take a longer trip. I'm thinking of starting with 1/4 x 1" flat bar stock to build the frame where it attaches to the bike, then transitioning to 1/2" square stock for the seat loop. If I can leave enough room for the seat to go up about 6" then it should be more comfortable without having too much material hanging down by the wheel. And that also gives me a place to permanently mount another bag. Just have to see if I can get around to that this Summer, after I finish everything else...