VALVE ASSY,AIR SWITCH 1980 KZ1000 LTD

Purchased a 80 KZ LTD 1000. im going through it trying to get it to run smooth. Runs a little rough. changed one of the reeds. (the reed was bent backwards inop)foung the 3/4 inch hose from the airbox to the Air Valve to be hardened and cracked. I replaced it. and now the motorcycle baqckfires when slowing down, and downshifting. IM not 100% clear on how that air suction system works. Bought the Clymers have a little better idea, but still not sure.

My guess is, since that original 3/4 inch hose was cracked, any unburnt fuel escaped the system (this must be why my wife would complain that i smelled like the motorcycle after id come back from a ride, better than a hooker i guess.)Now that there is a new hose sealing that system the air is flowing like it should be and resulting in pointing out the possibility that the air valve was also faulty this whole time. Thats my guess, and i dont want to drop $110.00 on a guess to replace the Valve. Any ideas?

Run a hose from one reed valve cover to the other. Plug the vacuum ports on the carbs and the one on the air box that large hose you replaced goes to. Chuck everything else in a box and put it in a dark corner of your garage where archeologist will discover it in the distant future. Happy riding.

I wont have a problem doing that. But wont it affect the way it runs?

Kawasaki added this to the "J" engined bikes to reduce the smog output. It was designed to introduce additional air to the exhaust system to help reduce engine emmisions. Ape race parts and Tpo parts both make block off plates to cover the reed valves.

www.kzzone.com is ape's website.

elira2878 wrote:

I wont have a problem doing that. But wont it affect the way it runs?

Likely run better, as potential air leak sources are eliminated.

Good Fortune!

This is my project/headache.

Schweeeeet, me likie!

Nice LTD! I had the exact bike, paint and all. The smog valves are designed to inject clean air into the combusion chamber to clean up the emissions. If functioning properly, the air will only be allowed INTO the engine and not OUT of the engine. The air is supplied through another check valve type device and ultimately from your air box through the house that you mentioned was cracked. It will not run properly at all if any leaks are in that system. Plug the ports on the carbs and run a hose from valve to valve and be done with it. That will make it much easier to tune. Good luck!

ok, so now i removed it. and I will be running a hose from one reed cover to the other. how do i go about tuning the carbs? I am not a carb guy. so i need help.

I'd give it a try with everything sealed up tight and let us know how it runs. There are some carb gurus on here that can really help. By the way, are you still running your stock exhaust and airbox? If so, you shouldn't have to do much except for maybe cleaning out the carbs.

+1 for what 79MkII said. The only thing different I would say is run 3 - 4 tanks of gas through it with 4 - 5 ounces of Seafoam in each tank. Then decide if you really need to adjust carbs. That's what I did with my 1000 and it may not be ready for any land speed records but it idles great and pulls strong through all the gears. Plugs look decent when removed.

I bought this bike at a swap meet last year not knowing much about it. The exhuast appears to be stock, but im not 100% sure on that. Yes im still running with the stock AirBox. It has a slight hesitation at lower RPM's when accelorating. It will stutter a lttle and then take off. I was thinking maybe i needed to synchronize the carbs. but im not exactly sure where to start.