KZ650 #1 exhaust header glowing red hot

Realized today that I had a MAJOR vacuum leak (one of the plugs on the boot came off as well as cracked boots). Once I get paid on friday, Ill be buying new jets for the carbs, I believe they are all still the stock jets. I'll try seafoam as well. My accelerator pump is leaking so I'm going to rebuild that too. Ill do the sync correctly and hopefully after all that she'll be running mint. Anyone know of a good place to get new carb intake boots? I saw some on Z1 which are $100, and some others online for 40 but they don't seem to have the vacuum plugs which are necessary for proper carb sync correct? thanks for all the replys! I'm new at bikes and I've been learning so much from you all, Just wanted to make sure you all knew its very much appreciated and I take into consideration everything you say. I'll update when all I listed is done.

Those intake boots for the 650 are getting harder and harder to find and are pricey. You can use all left ones or all right ones just point the nipples up or down. Be wary of any ebay boots, I have seen numerous KZ900 boots listed for the KZ650 they are bigger and will not work.

baldy110 wrote: Martin, you are incorrect on the your statement. The VM24 carbs do have adjustable needles, 5 slots for the clip. I would put the clip in the middle slot to start with....

You are correct about most of the 650s. The 81 650-CSR doesn't have the grooves. Previous reply edited for clarity.
I originally listed the 81 CSR specifically, then changed it to KZ650, unsure of what bike he had... hence the goof.

Baldy, your right. Those boots seem non existent. I'll probably end up splurging and just get the Z1 boots. They're a little pricey but hey, you get what you pay for.

Martin, my bike is a 1981 kz650 CSR, I'll check out tomorrow weather or not the carb has notches to adjust the needle, honestly I'm not too sure myself.

Again, thanks for all the help! much appreciated

pg 3-3 of the factory manual has a table which outlines the stock jetting. Notice that the US model jet needle doesn't have the groove number suffix in the part number.

Martin, you we're right. There were no grooves on my carb needles. I put everything back together with out touching the needles and with a temporary fix of the vacuum leak and she's running like never before. Finally runs off choke and sounds really nice. I had #115 main jets, and #15 pilot jets, which I may upgrade to 17.5 pilots when I get the money. Just ordered a couple new boots, once that's fixed my troubles should be gone. Thanks again for all the help! couldn't have done it without all of you

I don't know much about tuning for your setup, but you probably should shim the needles to raise them. Doing so allows for more fuel uptake & therefore more power? Whatever you do, keep an eye on the spark plugs.

Will do, Ill search around online and see if anyone has some suggestions as to what size the shims should be. Thanks again

I think you just use the smallest washers you can find that fit the diameter of the jet needles. I would get ss washers.