KZ550 Project - Need opinions

Okay, a little bit of background info. I bought this bike back in November and, due to school, weather, and other obligations, it sat without running until February. When I finally got a chance to fire it up (on a warmish day, of course) and found that it was running rough, missing on one cylinder, and needed the choke on full to stay running. First order of business was to replace all the spark plugs. Well, that didn't help my issues, but they needed replacing anyway.

Next I pulled the carbs and gave them a cleaning. The float bowls were surprisingly clean, so I focused mainly on the pilot and main jets. Cleaned them up good, put the carbs back in, and she fired right up. The carb cleaning fixed the sluggish throttle response and reliance on the choke to keep running.

Here's a video I shot today after putting the carbs back in:



Now I've got another issue to work on. You can very clearly hear a clacking/rattling sound coming from the right side of the engine. The sound goes away after, maybe, 2000 RPM. I'm figuring its either a valve adjustment issue or, more likely, a cam chain adjustment issue.

Any comments?

Sounds like it running on 3 cylinders,check the head pipes to see if all 4 are hot.Also sounds like some cam chain noise.

definately sounds like a dead cylinder on the right pipe

Dito.
Mark

you still have a plugged pilot circuit not just a jet. the knocking sound will clear up after it fires and runs on all 4 and you do a carb sync.

I was afraid the carbs were still the culprit. How would you recommend cleaning the pilot circuit? I actually tried to completely take the carbs apart, but the screws securing the throttle body (correct term? I dunno...) wouldn't budge. Perhaps spraying some carb cleaner into the pilot air intake (again, not sure if that's the correct terminology)?

I'm going to check the spark plug cables before I remove the carbs again to make sure that's not the problem.

The coils and the sparkplug caps all age with heat and time. I'd replace the sparkplug caps first and see if that helps. I think you can get new ones from z1 enterprises.

If you're lucky the sparkplug leads will unscrew from the coils, if not they may be one piece and have to change the coils all though NGK does make a sparkplug lead splice kit.

A can of the fuel additive "Seafoam" will help clean out the carbs. www.seafoamsales.com is their website. You can buy it at Wal Mart in the automotive chemical section,boating supply stores,and auto parts stores.

Yea, I've actually got a can of Berrymans B12 that I had planned on using in a tank of gas once I got the bike running decently. My only concern is that, if fuel (or maybe air?) isn't getting through the pilot circuit, how will a fuel additive help?

dump a can of seafoam in the tank with some new gas and take it out and run it hard around town a little bit(let it rev and stay in lower gears as much as possible)to let the carb cleaner do its thing,sometimes thats all it takes.in extreme cases sometimes you can cheat by holding your hand over the inlet side of carbs and cracking the throttle to blow them out also.

Depending on how clogged it is a fuel cleaner like Berrymans or Seafoam will dissolve the varnish from old gasoline over time. You might have to drop the carbs and carefully dig out the blockage with some very fine stiff wire. I use a set of torch tip cleaners the welders use when the torches act up. I think you can buy them at a welding supply store.