1978 KZ1000-A2 "Barn find"

Stuck float needles are common. I had it happen to me on a fresh rebuilt gang. For days all good, the next morning I turned on the fuel petcock, I always wait a moment before starting and out of the blue I smell fuel and see a growing puddle under the bike. Shut everything down, pulled the bowl and everything seamed normal. Reassembled and it has yet to happen again.

So a few updates tonight. I spent some time the other day adjusting float levels on the carbs. Hope I got it right.
New oil filter arrived so I got that in and filled her back up.
Exhaust is also in, so of course I got that on too. Pretty impressed with the build quality of the Delkevic.
Finally figured out a few issues today. One of them is thatI’ve been chasing a rich condition on cylinder 3, causing it to take quite a while to warm up on that pipe. It was now even a visible issue, as that pipe wasn’t getting the golden colour of the other pipes.
The other issue, of course, was the fuel in the crankcase. Well, today I discovered that there was fuel in the vacuum line to the petcock. Probably would have been chasing my tail on this one for a while as I usually have a black vacuum line installed, but as I needed longer lines to keep the tank off, I happened to use some clear I had laying around.

So I took that hose off the petcock and plugged it, then ran the bike with what was already in the bowls and lines. Pipe 3 almost immediately started turning gold.

So I figure that was the cause of both a cold pipe, as well as the fuel filling the crankcase.
The good news is, I ordered a new diaphragm back on July 18 and it was shipped first class. The bad news is, tracking has it somewhere between USPS and Canada Post since July 24. Here’s to hoping it gets here soon.

Excellent find! Sounds like you got both issues solved. Always a good feeling.

Cool you’ve turned into quite the Kz guy. Good job

I was impressed with the build quality on the Delkevic exhaust when I got it, and I haven't even installed it yet! A pleasant surprise since I was leery about an all stainless steel exhaust selling for under $400. Glad to hear you like the fitment, too. After a career in metal fabrication I know very well the issues working with stainless steel.

Mikaw wrote: Cool you’ve turned into quite the Kz guy. Good job

That's a nice thing to say, but to be honest, I'd be completely useless without this forum.

Bike wouldn't start this afternoon. Strange. Had it running at 10 o'clock last night.

Start doing my checks.
Battery has power.
Bike has fuel.
Oil is at the appropriate levels.
Spark? Pull the plugs. They look pretty sooty, but I guess that's to be expected. Do I have spark? 2 & 3, yes. 1 & 4? Nope. WTH? Coil go bad overnight? Clean them off with carb cleaner. Okay we've got spark on 4 but not on 1. Swap spark plugs between the 2. Now we've got spark on 1, but not on 4. Guess it's a bad plug. Odd. Was fine last night, and these plugs have like 6kms on them, but I went and got new ones anyway. Gapped them, installed them. Fired up pretty quick again.

Quite a bit of smoke coming from the collector. I do expect a new exhaust to smoke quite a bit, but it does seem a little excessive.

There was a drip or 2 at the collector. I'm assuming that there's just some unburnt fuel sitting in there from running so rich last night? Going to have to wait for things to cool down before I can inspect closer.

Stainless steel galls so quickly that I bet there is residual lubricant in the tube bends from mandrel bending. When heated, and add exhaust flow, it will get pushed to the lowest point before burning off. Might not be all of your smoke/leak issue, but lets hope it is.

Please post a right side profile picture, I’d like to see how the Delkevic looks. I really like the gold tone the pipes take on.

Not a problem. I'll try to remember to take a picture next time I'm at the shop.
I also love the gold tone. Should go really well with the gold decals when I finally get those ordered and installed. Needed a new chain, so of coarse I ordered a gold one. I was actually thinking the chain tensioners would look really good if they were plated in yellow zinc too...

Sounds like a good idea, you could pull all your fasteners and send the out to be zinc coated. Then the can dip them in a chromate bath and you get the “yellow” color. I think that would be a great personal touch. I’d due the axles also. Great idea for a winter project. I’d suggest getting the hardware vapor honed first. The zinc re-coat will be just like new bolts. I bet you’d have less than $300 to do them all.

This is an example of zinc chromate finish.

Not insinuating or trying to insult your skills, but these are the “old” exhaust gasket and you installed new ones right. See yellow square