1982 KZ750-E Carb Sync

Hey folks long time lurker but this is my first post to the site; appreciate the welcome. I’m in the middle of a basket case KZ750 with a set of Keihin CV32 (34?) carbs, I’ve got the bike idling steady finally and warmed up. I threw on my carb sync gauges and find that I’m getting positive pressure readings. I wanted to ask if that’s an indication of a mechanical issue, I’m not too familiar with tuning carbs and admittedly this is my first time using the gauges. I noticed that as I turn the adjustment screw and bring the needle closer to vacuum, the bike will struggle and sounds like it wants to die. I do have the restrictors connected to smooth out the reading, I attached a picture to show but I’m wondering what my next step would be. Thank you in advance! 

What are the vacuum hoses connected to? I have no idea how there could be pressure.

Did you set the gauges needles to zero on each one before starting the job? The needles can be adjusted by removing the gauge covers and accessing the adjusting screw in the gauge face.

sf4t7 wrote:

Did you set the gauges needles to zero on each one before starting the job? The needles can be adjusted by removing the gauge covers and accessing the adjusting screw in the gauge face.

I was under the impression that with gauges like these, you need to zero them and check each individual gauge while running on the same motorcycle cylinder.  Adjust as necessary, until all gauges read the same when hooked up to the same cylinder.  After they are set up, then move the hoses to each cylinder, and sync the bike.  

Ed, I forgot the verify step.  I set the needles to zero, then verify they all read the same by using a couple of tees to make a single connection to a mityvac tool, avoids the dancing needle issue.  But I'm thinking of buying a carbtune this year and get better readings.