1978 kz 1000 won't start

650ed wrote: Is it possible the previous owner hooked the spark plug wires to the wrong plugs or attached the wires from the points to the wrong coils? Check to make sure the wire coming from the pair of points marked 1/4 goes to the coil that attaches to the spark plugs for cylinders 1 & 4. Ed

Cynjut wrote: The carbs are fed by gravity alone.

It's not unusual for the plug wires to get switched - the 'right vs left' is by convention. For example, if the wires on your points got crossed up, they would be feeding the wrong cylinders, because they would now be pulsing the 'wrong' coils. I'd make sure the coils are wired right before I went much further. Follow the green wire from the right hand points to the coil. Follow the plug wires from that coil to the plugs and make sure that circuit is feeding cylinders 2 and 3. If that one is right, the other one is right (there's only right or wrong, not combinations of each).

If you are getting backfiring through the carbs, there are a couple other things that you should check.

- Grab your service manual and look at the valve chain timing specs. If you are off one tooth either way on either the intake or exhaust cam, you can end up with something that sounds like what you are experiencing.

- Buy a set of feeler gauges and check your valve clearance. If you have no clearance, you won't get any compression, which leads to no vacuum, which means your plugs will be dry (since you are getting little to no gas).

Tearing into the carbs is a place you are probably going to end up at anyway, but if the valve and ignition timing are wrong, the cleanest carbs in the world will still be ineffective.

Linc wrote: Ok. So I took the plugs out and they seem dry. I'm gonna clean the carbs today and see what happens.
I'm not using the tank as its completely full of rust. I'm using a bottle to feed the 2 fuel line going to the carbs. Do they need a vacuum to draw the fuel in? I'll try to post some pics of the set up later.