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Personally, I would not let one year old fuel touch any part of newly rebuilt carburetors. I would insure 5at they get a steady diet of fresh, high quality fuel.

It was fresh fuel that I ran through it when I finally got it started, so that wasn't really my concern. I just didn't know if there was a step to be taken when waking the bike up from a 12-18 month hibernation.

dthemac wrote: It was fresh fuel that I ran through it when I finally got it started, so that wasn't really my concern. I just didn't know if there was a step to be taken when waking the bike up from a 12-18 month hibernation.

There’s a couple more topics for the FAQ Wiki... spring start up and fall sleep prep

Alright I'm back after spending a good while working on the bike. I installed a new clutch cable, will be installing new throttle cables once the pull cable shows up, installed a new headlight, taillight, and turn signals, and I am currently working on getting the gauges set up electrically, just waiting on new bulbs.

Some questions that I've run into.

1) How in the world do I route the throttle cables? I feel like it's deceptively simple, but I have 0 background knowledge to go off of here aside from making sure they're not kinked.

2) Probably my most major issue. As soon as I got the bike into a rideable state (brakes checked and rechecked, new clutch cable, etc) I of course had to hop on and take it up and down the driveway. I'm not sure what I'm idling at yet (no gauges yet) but I'm noticing that if I put the bike into first, and SLOWLY let out the clutch, it immediately stalls. I have to give it what I feel like is a lot of throttle to get her moving, and it's certainly not a crawl. Do I need to adjust the idle? In my googling I read about the ignition advancers getting stuck after sitting, I'm not really sure what that means but the bike did sit for around 18 months.

Sorry for being such a noob. A month ago I knew literally nothing about motorcycles so I think I'm doing okay for myself. I appreciate everyone's help so far.

A sticking advancer usually shows up at higher rpm. Most likely the low speed circuit of the carbs are clogged up with dried out fuel. Were you trying to ride it without the air filter box hooked up or without an air filter? Constant velocity (cv) carburetors are very sensitive to changes of air flow coming in to them. Trying to ride without a filter or without the box connected to the carbs, will cause the engine to run poorly.

You know that never occurred to me. There's currently a single filter (pod filter) mounted on the right side of the bike. How many should there be?

With pod filters, there should be one on each carburetor. The carburetors must be rejetted and adjusted to work with them. If you have a complete factory air filter box, that will likely be the easiest way to go. If you do not have it, then some high quality individual filters and some intense lessons on jetting are in order.
If you can post a picture of what you have, we may be better able to help you get it running properly.

P.S. Uni makes a foam filter that fits on a pair of carburetors rather than on just one, but it would not be sticking out on one side.

So I went ahead and dug through the box of parts that I got with the bike and found the other 3 pod filters and installed them. Started the bike and let it warm up before jumping in it, but ultimately the same issues. Seemed to be running smoother at idle, though. I'll check with the previous owner and see if it was rejetted when the carbs were done.

Something I didn't mention before is that with the clutch in, when I put it into gear, it lurches a bit.

Edit: Checked with the PO, the carbs were rejetted to account for the pod filters.

I am by no means an expert, but just reading posts elsewhere on this forum, it seems like pod filters and re-jetting can work up to a certain speed, but when you get going fast enough, there’s a cross wind effect that comes into the filters sideways, causing the constant vacuum carbs to take in too much air. So blocking that cross wind inside the filters (a member here stuffed beer cans that were drilled out to have air holes inside the pod filters) is necessary. So I wonder if maybe velocity stacks might be a better choice for running on the stock carbs, as they look like they have less side wind access. Just a thought, and I’m sure someone here will tell me why I’m way off, lol.

This was posted by kaylinator. I found it a great read. A little long but very informative on carb functions broken down to basics and easily understandable.

www.cycleworld.com/story/bikes/kevin-cam...to-tune-carburetors/

dthemac wrote: So I went ahead and dug through the box of parts that I got with the bike and found the other 3 pod filters and installed them. Started the bike and let it warm up before jumping in it, but ultimately the same issues. Seemed to be running smoother at idle, though. I'll check with the previous owner and see if it was rejetted when the carbs were done.

Something I didn't mention before is that with the clutch in, when I put it into gear, it lurches a bit.

Edit: Checked with the PO, the carbs were rejetted to account for the pod filters.

If they are cheap filters, they may be blocking some of the air jets in the mouth of the carbs. I know you want to believe the previous owner, but I would verify what is going on inside the carbs. A lot of people claim to know how to clean, adjust and rejet carbs. but many lie and may are mistaken. It could be that hey are just badly out of adjustment, but there is no way to know for sure without checking. Confirming the jetting will require removing the carburetors and then removing the fuel bowls. You can then confirm what size jets are in them. The factory jetting is listed in the factory service manual. There are several members here with extensive knowledge and experience with carbs, and a couple of 550 experts. They can confirm what you need.
You will also need a tool to check the synchronization. When the engine is running, each carb should be drawing nearly the same vacuum. The closer, the better. The Morgan Carbtune is a popular model. Some folks prefer four vacuum gauges, but beware of cheap ones that cannot be regulated. The Motion Pro tool has generated a lot of angry ratings.
First confirm that the filters are high quality like APE, K&N, or Uni. Confirm the jets are what you need. Confirm that the low speed passages are perfectly clear. Then confirm the proper fuel level (NOT float height), do the initial synchronization (often called bench synching), then the fine tuning can begin.

Welp, I just took a look at Partzilla, and it looks like your bike should not have cv, carbs, they should be mechanical slide carbs. They are not as sensitive as cv carbs, but they still need to be set up and adjusted properly. Do yours look like these?

www.partzilla.com/catalog/kawasaki/motor...tor-assy-82-83-c3-c4

CV carbs look like this---
www.partzilla.com/catalog/kawasaki/motor...0-k2/carburetor-assy