1977 KZ1000 It's alive,IT'S ALIVE, IT'S ALIVE!!!

Hi all. I've been a KZ owner for a great many years but have only recently re-commissioned my ole' KZ back into service. About 15 years ago I had a problem with it dumping fuel and fouling the plugs. I tried to do the right thing and take it to a cycle shop to have them fix it. That cost me a few hundred to have them tell me I'd need to spend much more to get it right. It got parked in the garage and sat, and sat some more.

Fast forward 15 years, 1 girlfriend, 1 wife and two kids later, my neighbor and I started doing alot of wrench twisting with basket bikes he was buying. Maybe it was the Liquid Wrench getting to me or the Liquid Grain, but I decided to breath life back in to my old Kalwaski..

Removed the carbs and had a look there. Took off the bowls and found 1 stuck float. The other carbs where pretty clean, they didn't sit in gas for 15 years, they where dry. So the stuck float was the problem originally. Try to noodle with as little as possible, un-stuck the float and cleaned all the ports to make sure there were no blockages anywhere, cleaned needles and seats. Then buttoned them back up.

The starter didn't have enough juice for the task so I had to kick it. After making sure it had good oil and gas in it, it kicked started after maybe 10 kicks.

It's got a 4-1 on there and there is just something about that sound that makes me smile and grunt even 15 years, 1 GF, 1 wife, 2 kids and 11 kicks later.

It was popping a little but not too bad. Certainly fixed the fuel dumpage problem. The intakes will need replacing, there are some small cracks but I don't think the go all the way through the rubber yet.

I'm sure I'll need to adjust the carbs but all I have is 1 vacuum gauge and a tach. Most of my tools are on the other side of the country right now as I'm in the process of moving.

If you've got a good link on adjusting the carbs with primative tools available to me I'd appreciate it. I'll look in the carbs forum as I'm sure there will be good info there.

There's 11k on the bike but I was told the engine was rebuilt and tricked out by Yoshimura somewhere along the line. They removed the original airbox and put in K&Ns, the 4-1 header. That's about all you can see from looking at it.



Thanks for looking. Any sage advice in bringing this old horse back in service is welcome. I've had the bike some 20 years but I've probably forgotten more than I knew about it.

You'll notice Spiderman on the tank with the Twin Towers behind him, yeah, it's old...

Bill in AZ

Great to see you got bit by the kz bug again! It's a god looking bike for sitting 15 years! welcome back!

Jeez Bill, you're doing better than me...congrats and welcome home.

Welcome to KZR Bill, Good to hear you got your bike running again. The first thing I noticed was Spiderman on your tank! It looks good!
You will find everything you need to know about your bike here.

Welcome welcome !!
Jealous of the great bike weather there, we Seattle people could offer a tip or two about rain riding, not that you would ever need to know from the looks of that sunshine behind your bike.

Again, welcome.

Welcome aboard, Bill.

bmyers wrote:

It's got a 4-1 on there and there is just something about that sound that makes me smile and grunt even 15 years, 1 GF, 1 wife, 2 kids and 11 kicks later.

Now that just made me laugh. :laugh:

I think it was Peter Egan who wrote something along the lines of, "The abiding patience of a motorcycle continues to amaze me."

I'm sure you'll have it sorted in no time and you'll remember all over again why it never left your garage after 15 years, 1 GF, 1 wife, 2 kids and 12 kicks!