$400 bucks to rebuild mikuni's?

Ok here is the lengthy backstory. I bought my 93 kz1000 used in california, about a month after I bought it I moved to idaho, which soon afterwords it became very difficult to get started, eventually it got so bad that I had to push start it whenever the bike was cold. I rebuilt the starter, put in a new battery, and even rewired the ignition using a diagram I found on this site, even with doing all of this it will not start unless I push it, and even then I have to run behind it until it slowly builds up rpm's for like 30 feet, after its started it runs just fine.

I attributed this to an altitude change, but I have recently moved back to the same city in which the motorcycle was purchased from and it still will not start.


I am assuming the problem lies in the carbs since the bike has good spark, an ample amount of fuel getting to the carbs, no visible vacuum leaks and new carb holders. the local dealership told me it would be around 200 for parts and 200 in labor to rebuild the carbs.

but I have found many carb kits online that are ound 15-17 per carb which is signifigantly less that the total of 200 in parts the dealership was quoting me.



so my real question is, does anyone know if this problem could something other than the carbs? and is my dealership charging me too much?

and finally should I try rebuilding the carbs myself?
I've rebuilt both edelbrock, and holley carbs for cars but never a motorcycle carb of any kind.

hell you could buy a set of 29s and a some k&ns for that kind of money!:blink: what kind of carbs do you have?

uhh they are the original for the 93 kz1000-p12 i think theyre 32mm

If it runs fine (idle, midrange, top) after you get it started I doubt very much that it's your anything related to jets or gaskets, but your choke might be messed up. Don't know anything about 93 carbs though. I hope Wiredgeorge chimes in, he's our carb guru and I would rather pay shipping and have him do the work than the local dealer.
You might also want to check your compression, valve clearances, plugs (heatrange?) and your timing...

No, the dealership is not overcharging you.
Dealers have a pretty good markup on parts, since they keep many in stock they have to get a good return on their investment to stay in business. $200 for labor sounds like they are charging $50 an hour for labor, and that's pretty reasonable (I have had to pay up to $90 an hour for truck repairs).

Owning a small business (like most motorcycle dealers)involves long hours, lot's of work (and worry), and not a lot of income.

If your bs34's are like the carbs that came on my police bike,they may be wore out,mine were

the 81-82 1000csr/ltd carbs are the same as the police carbs,and I am using a set of kz1100 carbs on my cop bike now.

it sounds like it could be a choke problem to me too,or a vacume leak in the boots where they meet the head.

if you have done car carbs you can do bike carbs IMHO,
you will prally have to use an impact driver on some of the carbtop/bowl screws.

the little brass tube that sticks down in a little hole in the bowl is the choke feed,it has a small hole in the bottom ,that hole has to be open for the choke to work(I use a striped bread tie to rod it out),the gas has got to get from the bottom of the bowl to it and those passages are bad to plug up.(bread tie again)

$400.00 you have GOT to be kidding!!

also might be the fuel petcock sticking shut,try going to prime(center position)

Post edited by: craigpuckett, at: 2006/02/06 09:53

If you know you are getting gas to the carbs, which you can check by opening the drain under the bowl of each carb with the petcock in pri, then I would say you need to rebuild the carbs. My only experience with carbs was car carbs as well, but actually I feel like these BS34's are pretty simple compared to a 4bbl carb.

Once you are inside, you can tell if it is rusty or varnished and cleaning all that stuff out will make a big difference. I replaced all the o-rings and the float needles. There is also a small plastic (I think) cap inside the float bowl that is held in by an o-ring that needs to come out to get to the pilot jet I believe. Make sure the screens on the float valves are clean too. Once you have it cleaned and all back together, you'll need to get it sync'd. It takes a special tool so you'll need either the tool and the guages, or you'll have to take it to someone who can. Lucky me, WiredGeorge isn't but a couple hours drive!
After the carbs are sync'd, go through the adjustments on the idle mix screws to get it idling where you want it.

Mine was hard to start, and ran all over the rpms until I rebuilt, cleaned and sync'd/adjusted them. Now it purrs like a kitty and it starts great.

One more thing, when I got my bike, the carbs weren't actually pushed into the intake boots all the way. One more reason it ran like crap. When you push them in, they'll go in nearly a quarter inch and "snap" into place...

can some one show a pic of these carbs please. i think that these are the carbs that i am going to buy for my 1075 build up. the choke is on the side (black pull?)

i would like to se them,

thanks.