Continuing my KZ1000 LTD - Manifold Leaks w/ Lots o' Pics

See my ongoing project thread for my '78 kz1000 here:

kzrider.com/index.php?option=com_kunena&...w&id=209901&catid=11

...and this is a continuation of my electrical problems thread:

kzrider.com/index.php?option=com_kunena&...ew&id=211697&catid=4

...So here is a picture of my plugs after my ride home from work today (4 miles.) She was rapidly losing power above 4k RPMs... After riding pretty well for a while last night, the engine started popping about 35 minutes into the ride.

(numbered with the cylinder numbers)


The interesting part is that the bike starts very easily now. I was suprised this evening when the bike started when I was gently trying to find TDC with the kickstart lever... This was after sitting for four hours in about 55 degree weather!

Here is a picture of my plugs from my evening ride, after adding a little back pressure to my battered muffler because I was suspecting a lean condition...

After this ride I idled the bike in the garage and sprayed carb cleaner at the intake boots. At one point I heard a giant sllluuuurp and the bike died!!! :blink:

I think I have a boot leak (or three)

This seems progressive, and I'm wondering if a valve check should come first... I might have a tight valve or two that are causing the high heat situation.

(actual cylinder numbers)


I might have actually made things worse by cleaning the piles of grease and dirt from around the manifold boots over the winter :huh:

I took intake boot #3 off of the head - jeez what a mess in there.



Note the homemade galvanized starter cover. I had 'set my chrome starter cover aside' on the top of my car one day.

Guess what happens when you put things on the tops of cars :dry:

Here is the bottom of the offending boot!

Arrow 1. points to where the little bit of (low temperature) glue I applied around the manifold/engine mating surface had melted into the boot, showing me leak city.

Arrow 2. Show you how badly these ports are matched! I need to get it running before I think about port matching! But I can't help myself, I end up thinking about port matching.

Here is my carb setup... #105 Jets... Is that too small for K&N pods and a 4:1 Jardine with almost no back pressure?



What's that arrow pointing to? It's hosed off of the swingarm right now like an overflow tube.

And I don't know what this screw does either.. I think I need a diagram...

As for a manual, I'm out of bike money. The two wrinkled one dollar bills left in my wallet for the week tells me that I might not even get my hands on a tube of high-temp black silicon :huh:



I guess I call myself the 'Beat Poet' for a reason... You know how well poets get paid...

Beatpoet, The small nipple on the side of the carbs are vent hoses. I use a short piece of hose running up under the tank but the factory setup ran back and down next to the battery. The screws on the bottom are the idle mix adj. They should have a plastic piece around them that limits the amount they can be adjusted and it's a very small limit. By the Haynes book you need good tach to adjust them and they say the tach on the bike is'nt sensitive enough.

Umm...

I high-temp silicon'd everything on the intake *and* exhaust...

I RE-set the points and timing...

The bike ran really well (just a hair of power loss on the top end) with BR8s, so...

Put B9s back in and now Cylinders 1 & 4 are not firing!!!

:woohoo: I'm going crazy now, this bike ran great last year.

I also found this - I'm sure it's been posted here a thousand times already though. At least now I know where it is!

www.nightrider.com/biketech/hd_cv_mods.htm