KZ1000 First start up.

I decided to restore the old Kawasaki I recently bought. It’s a 1981 KZ1000 J1 standard. I have it put back together and I tried to start it for the first time today. After much cranking it finally fired up and it seems to be revving ok, but it is a bit lumpy. The problem is it just won’t tick over, it will only run if I keep blipping the throttle.
I’m guessing I need to strip and clean the carbs.
Also, and I think this is more serious, there seems to be a bit much pressure coming into the air filter from what I assume are breather tubes from the top of the rocker cover, although this lessened after the engine warmed up.
Any advice from our more knowledgeable brethren would be most welcome.

An erratic idle can be caused by several things. Among the more common are clogged low speed circuits in the carbs, mixture screws and/or fuel levels badly out of adjustment any of which can be complicated by valve lash out of specification.
With a newly reassembled bike, I think it would be a good idea to open the factory service manual to the routine maintenance section and perform ALL of those tasks as described and in the order listed.

If there is air comming into the air box from those hoses, there is a serious problem in the reed boxes. The system is designed to take filtered air FROM the air box and carefully introduce it to the exhaust ports. The reed valves are supposed to prevent reverse flow into the intake system.

If you do not have a genuine Kawasaki factory service manual, and don't mind using an electronic (PDF) version, I can email a copy to you. I would not try to do what you are doing without one.

P. S. How do you know pressure is comming into the air box from the clean air system? If you have been trying to run the engine with the box open and the filter out, it will run very erratically. The carbs are set up from the factory to run with all that stuff in place and they do not like changes.

Thanks for the reply Texas.
The tube coming from the rocker cover had come out of the air filter box, that’s how I noticed smoke coming out from under the fuel tank. It wasn’t too bad but disconcerting all the same. I’m wondering if the valve stem oil seals will need replaced. I’ll have a look at the reed valves to see what’s happening there.
And I was running it with the air filter box open. Doh!!! :pinch:

I agree with TexasKZ, do all the maintenance. I don't even bother to run an old bike until the carbs are fully rebuilt and the valves are adjusted.

BTW, the bike won't run well at all if the airbox is modified.

McZed wrote: I decided to restore the old Kawasaki I recently bought. It’s a 1981 KZ1000 J1 standard.





Restore includes rebuilding all systems such as carburetor, electrical, brakes, suspension, etc. I will assume you did all that, right?

The person I bought it from assured me it was a good runner, and it was only in bits so he could fix the faulty starter motor. He had also tried to remove the flywheel, presumably to fix the starter clutch and used the big hammer method of flywheel removal which resulted in the magnets breaking into pieces. I replaced the flywheel and based on what he said I was hoping it would run without too much hassle. Some hope!!. Still, it's winter time here in Scotland so I have plenty off time to get it running.
Stripped the carbs today to give them a good clean, and see what I found. Some people shouldn't be allowed tools, And no it wasn't me!

More proof that previous owners lie.

TexasKZ wrote: More proof that previous owners lie.

Yes, and that the hammer should have been used on him, not the poor bike.... :huh:

Progress so far.
I’ve stripped and cleaned the carbs, and repaired the float valve pivot. I carefully cut a small mortise into what was left and jointed a piece of brass rod into it, drilled it to the correct size and re fitted the floats. It’s held in place with epoxy resin, I will try to get a replacement carb when I get a bit more cash.
I have checked out the air suction valves in on the top of the rocker cover, and TexasKZ was spot on, they’re bust. I also have a KZ1300 which I have spent the last couple of years rebuilding, and it had exactly the same system. A tried and tested mod was to replace the covers with an aluminium plate cut to shape, this then did away with the reed valve system altogether. This modification has no effect on the bikes performance. So can I do the same with the KZ1000?
I noticed is says in the manual that this system is on USA models only and mine is a US import.

Found the answer on the other KZ100 thread. doh! :blush:

Epoxy will not hold up to gasoline. And yes I never trust what a seller is telling me about a bike.