Gas Dripping Out of Airbox

Norseman wrote:

Okay, now I'm a little confused. I was referring to the vacuum ports being all capped. My understanding is one was capped at the factory, two had the smog system attached, and the fourth was for the vacuum controlled petcock. There are no other fittings on my carbs. Since I removed the smog system and went to a manual petcock, that leaves all four capped.

Obviously, especially after what just happened, I would like to install the overflow tube. My only problem is I can't find where an overflow tube should go. My OEM service manual doesn't talk about one, the parts diagrams from kawasaki.com doesn't show one, and I don't have a clue where it should be. BTW, the carbs are Mikuni BS34's.

Appreciate your help, folks!

Ahhhhh, well that's different! lol. I misread what you typed. I still suspect a couple of float valves were sticking although I'm confused as to why the fuel didnt find it's way out the overflow tubes.

Actually, I didn't write it all that well, Terry. Anyways, I was surprised as well that the gas didn't escape through the float bowl overflow tubes. I guess I need to dunk the bowls in Berrymans and blow compressed air through to make sure they're not clogged up. I do remember not dipping the bowls themself when I re-built the carbs (I read somewhere that that's not a good idea, but that was probably because of the outboard chromed bowls).

I also think I'm going to press-on some 1/4" ID hoses onto the drain posts on bottom of bowls - I would rather not have gas spilling down onto the case in the event of another flooded bowl.

Norseman wrote:

Okay, now I'm a little confused. I was referring to the vacuum ports being all capped. My understanding is one was capped at the factory, two had the smog system attached, and the fourth was for the vacuum controlled petcock. There are no other fittings on my carbs. Since I removed the smog system and went to a manual petcock, that leaves all four capped.

Obviously, especially after what just happened, I would like to install the overflow tube. My only problem is I can't find where an overflow tube should go. My OEM service manual doesn't talk about one, the parts diagrams from kawasaki.com doesn't show one, and I don't have a clue where it should be. BTW, the carbs are Mikuni BS34's.

Appreciate your help, folks!

as much as i am not a wired george fan, he does have a good write up on bs34 s on his site and shows all th e line hookups for bs34 s....whether they are kawasaki or suzuki origin....

Thanks for the "heads-up", Keith. Now I know why the overflowing gas went into the airbox with some ending up in the crankcase via the L-tube into the breather. The BS34 model on 1981/82 does not have overflow venting tubes, but rather the carburetor venting is via holes cast into the edge of the intake-side venturi and are encased by the airbox boots, pretty much ensuring that any overflow goes straight into the airbox and continues down into the engine! I'm a die-hard Kawi fan, so I won't say what's on my mind here, but...

Anyway, I removed all the float valves, cleaned them and inspected the tips, re-assembled everything, so I think I'm in good shape. Nevertheless, when I do fire the bike up tomorrow I will keep a close eye on the airbox to make sure gas is not finding its way in there.

Norseman wrote:

... The BS34 model on 1981/82 does not have overflow venting tubes, but rather the carburetor venting is via holes cast into the edge of the intake-side venturi and are encased by the airbox boots, pretty much ensuring that any overflow goes straight into the airbox and continues down into the engine! .......

Ahhhh
That makes sense . Strange design but understandable how overflow gets into the airbox.
Hope your carb clean does the job.