TOPIC:

I just cleaned and rebuilt my carbs for my 1982 KZ550C. It has a great deal of trouble starting, getting from choke to no choke and idle. It sputters when running under 1/8 throttle. It revs OK though. The bike has been messed with in the past as the mixture screw plugs are off. I currently have the airbox off and pods on while I am getting it fixed up. I still have the factory airbox. I just didn't want to put it on until I knew I could leave it on! What should I look at? Mixture screws? Plugs? Simply put the airbox back on?

Put the airbox back on. If you installed pods and have not put in bigger jets then it's not getting enough gas. Only getting enough gas when on choke.

With pods you always need to put bigger jets in the carbs

I have been told that I can't get jets for my carbs. I have also been told that the pods don't have an effect until higher in the rpm band. I guess I have been told alot! Have I been told wrong about these? Thanks!

I think JR's right here. Any tuning you do with pods will be way off when you put the airbox back on. The pods will have some effect all through the rpm range. More air means leaner mixture = more choke necessary to get it to run. I know it's a pain in the rear to take the carbs out to work on with the stock airbox, but otherwise you're just pushin' the caca uphill. Hang in there, it sounds like you're close.

Are your carbs TK?

If so then have you seen this post

kzrider.com/component/option,com_joomlab...w/id,119883/catid,3/

which talks about jetting for TK + pods

Well, I replaced and set the mixture idle screws. I wasn't going to mess with them. Turns out that two were set different than the other two. I also changed the plugs. It seems to start and run easy now. Thanks for the tips. I am still going to put the airbox back on since it seems to be running good now! Thanks evryone! I rode twenty miles today. My first ride after the rider course.

Thanks for letting us know how it turned out.