And you thought you were through with me

OK we now have the Screaming Flaming Kawasaki of the Appocolypse (my 1983 KZ 750 twin)running quite well with its synched carbs with no vaccume leak and good fuel flow into the unit.
However as I discoverd today starting this beast when it hasn't ran for a few hours is extemely hard to do. I know the first answer your going to think of (I thought of it too) "Go ride it every couple of hours". Of course the bosses at work and my family requirements make that a practical impossibility.
So what I have to do is get it to the point of where it starts easily.
Here are the symptoms of todays problems.

Key switch on.
Handlebar Kill Switch on.
Clutch engaged with engine in neutral.
Choke on.
Press starter button.
Run starter till battery is nearly exhausted.
Bike sometimes spits, pops and slowly comes to life like one of those hit-n-miss engines.

The plugs are staying dry and the fire is real good so I'm guessing .... its a carb issue (again):huh:
So where do I begin?
Thanks again in advance again.

#1 question - Have you done the "coil power mod" ?? The one made famous by WiredGeorge? It's mandatory as far as I'm concerned. It will help deliver full spark to the plugs, even when burdened by the electric start.

That, and a new coil...

:lol:

OK I'm gonna be a smartass here. Have you tried with no choke? Seriously I have a 900 here that absolutely hates the choke. Stone cold just crank it for 3 seconds and she is snorting sweetly. Touch that choke and she turns into Cruella DeVille. I figured she had to be running rich but plugs always look good. Maybe yours is spooked too!:blink:

The coil is new.
I have tried it with no choke. Maybe I should try it without touching the throttle.
I'm grasping at straws here.

could always prime it with starting fluid

Thats how I got it to start yesterday. I'm really not wanting to continue doing that.

del

Wildh2oskier wrote:

Maybe I should try it without touching the throttle.

Do "NOT" touch the throttle when using the choke (it's not really a choke, but most call it that). Turn on the petcock, turn on the choke to full, turn on the key, squeeze the clutch lever, hit the starter button, that's it, don't touch the throttle.

The choke on your carbs is an enrichener circuit that will NOT pull gas if you have the throttle opened. You probably need to clean the pilot and enrichener circuits internal to both carb bodies. It likely wouldn't do any harm to replace the pilot jets.

Wildh2oskier wrote:

The coil is new.
I have tried it with no choke. Maybe I should try it without touching the throttle.
I'm grasping at straws here.

The coil mod, that Toast suggested, has nothing to do w/a new or old coil. The wiring in these old bikes get funky. The mod uses a relay to get full power from the battery directly to the coil. If you ain't gettin' full power to the coil, she ain't gonna start well, cold, using the starter. If everything is working right, she should start w/a couple of kicks w/the kickstarter, even cold.

Mine has the "manual idle adjuster" on the side. When I go to restart, first I turn that up just a tad to where the bike would be hot idling at maybe 1500 rpm. That's about right for a cold start.

If the bike is DEAD COLD, pull the choke on almost all the way.

If it's been sitting maybe 1/2 - 1 hour, I don't need the choke.

2 or 3 hours, apply just a bit of choke.

NEVER crank on the throttle as you are trying to start it. Just set the thing to about the right idle point and that's it until it fires up.

FYI: the problem I have seen that will make a bike a cranky starter in the 1 - 2 hour range is the needle jets may not be seating tight, or the fuel levels may be too high. As the bike sits, gas seeps by the needle and fills the bowl and lets some seep into the bore (flooding it).

Do you always turn the petcock OFF each time you stop?

Is the petcock sealing well?

The petcock has a prime, on, and reserve settings. I tried it today and it took a minute or two of spinning the engine but it fired up.
Now where do I find out more on this coil modification?