I done broked my pilot adjusting pointy end!!!

otakar wrote:

You will have to redo the carbs anyways since they are such a mess so just get these kits and do all four. You will get all the new parts you will require.

Hi, that was the 'before' picture. I put in all new rubber and metal jets etc. over a month ago -- good golly the carb are spit shine perfect just now. But you're right -- they were a MESS. Whole bike was --
sitting for 10-12 years.

I see myself tomorrow installing the carb bank and messing around with this one carb for a time, and based on the feedback I've been getting, it sounds like the trouble may be
limited to rich idle-to-1/8 throttle on the one carb.

At this point I've had the bike for months, have had the carbs off twice for cleaning, have had to use a sheet metal patch on the #3 header due to a hole, had to figure out if the 30-year-old Gerex ignition still worked (it does), clean the tank, change the oil and filter, remove and clean the cam chain tensioner to make sure it still worked, and disassemble the front brake master cylinder only to find out the rebuild kits are unavailable short of spending major $$ and luckily finding a complete front brake system (model-year correct no less, sheesh) for $40.

And I have NOT RIDDEN THIS BIKE ONCE.
Spent all this time and money, summers now gone so I'm
going to try to get a ride out of her tomorrow.

Then I'll get a new pilot adjust screw and fix it.
I'm just now a desperate man apparently. Like dating
a hot young lady, 10 dates, major $$ spent, car washed every time, dressing sharp every time, and still no hoochie. Enough already time to put out there now...
I gotta get me a ride now.

newOld_kz1000 wrote:

... My question is, do you have a rough starting point for the number of turns out from the 'fully in' position for these Pilot Adjustment screws on stock carbs for this kz1000 '78? Is there somewhere in the kz1000 official shop manual, such as a table or description that I have not stumbled across yet?

One turn, per FSM (page 235).

May soon fuel-foul spark plug in affected cylinder.
Carb sync may be nigh impossible with broken tip.
Imo, riding a few miles with less than optimum performance shouldn't cause any significant harm.

Good Luck!

newOld_kz1000 wrote:

My question is, do you have a rough starting point for the number of turns out from the 'fully in' position for these Pilot Adjustment screws on stock carbs for this kz1000 '78? Is there somewhere in the kz1000 official shop manual, such as a table or description that I have not stumbled across yet?

I think the problem is that Kawasaki had these strange little plastic caps on the screws and they didn't want you to be making any adjustments...hence the secrecy. Another confounding factor is that there can be a fair amount of 'slop' in the initial system that might preclude a formulaic approach to the carbs...e.g. 'screw them in, back them out exactly 1 and 3/4 turns' approach. I have two KZ1000A1s...both with the stock and apparently original carbs. On one set of carbs, if you screw the air pilot screws in all the way, the tips of the screws protrude into the mouth of the throttle body. On the other carb set, the tips stay recessed in even when fully seated. The difference in fully seating (all the pilots) between these two carb sets is almost a complete turn. You should see the problem with applying a formula to the two seemingly identical carb sets, from the same model, same year. WG did not find this an odd condition. However, AS A STARTING POINT, the 1977 shop manual suggests 1 and 1/4 turns. There are differences between the 1977 and 1978 KZ1000 carbs (according to WG), despite both carb sets being VM26SS. The 1978 shop manual has removed any reference to the "1 and 1/4 turns'. Hope this has further confused you :laugh: :laugh:

Patton wrote:

newOld_kz1000 wrote:

... My question is, do you have a rough starting point for the number of turns out from the 'fully in' position for these Pilot Adjustment screws on stock carbs for this kz1000 '78? Is there somewhere in the kz1000 official shop manual, such as a table or description that I have not stumbled across yet?

One turn, per FSM (page 235).

May soon fuel foul spark plug in affected cylinder.
Carb sync may be nigh impossible with broken tip.
Imo, riding a few miles with less than optimum performance shouldn't cause any significant harm.

Good Luck!

Another interesting situation uncovered. The 'one turn' suggestion on pg 235 is correct...but only if you are reading the later edition of the 1977 shop manual (99931-540-03)...and that item appears in a supplement section to the main text. However, if you read the 1978 shop manual (99924-1006-0), no mention of the correct turns is made and, in fact, there is not even a pg 235 :laugh:

Mcdroid wrote:

... Another interesting situation uncovered. The 'one turn' suggestion on pg 235 is correct...but only if you are reading the later edition of the 1977 shop manual (99931-540-03)...and that item appears in a supplement section to the main text. However, if you read the 1978 shop manual (99924-1006-0), no mention of the correct turns is made and, in fact, there is not even a pg 235 :laugh:

Thanks, MM! I was wondering about that.

My reference is Part No. 99931-540-03 as shown at bottom of back cover.
I don't see the part number shown anywhere else inside the manual.

Inside cover page includes:

K
Kawasaki KZ1000
Motorcycle Service Manual
Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Ltd. 1976, 1978, 1979
Printed in Japan
Revised 4: Mar. 12, 1979

Presumably means 4th revision.

This particular FSM covers A1, A2 and A3 standards
plus D1 and D2 cafe racers.

Good Luck!

Patton wrote:

newOld_kz1000 wrote:

... My question is, do you have a rough starting point for the number of turns out from the 'fully in' position for these Pilot Adjustment screws on stock carbs for this kz1000 '78? Is there somewhere in the kz1000 official shop manual, such as a table or description that I have not stumbled across yet?

One turn, per FSM (page 235).

May soon fuel-foul spark plug in affected cylinder.
Carb sync may be nigh impossible with broken tip.
Imo, riding a few miles with less than optimum performance shouldn't cause any significant harm.

Good Luck!

My FSM (Factory Service Manual) is Rev 2, publication date December 1977, and its cover is brown with a photo of a green-colored 1978 kz1000-A2 standard model. I know it's a '78 bike because they changed the front master cylinder from a round one ('77 A model) to a trapezoid-shaped one ('78 A2 model), and the green bike in the photo has the trapezoid mstr cyl.

SO......I don't have a page 235 in mine!!! What is your FSM publication date, which (on my copy) is at the botton of the 2nd physical page in the front of the book? My FSM goes only up to page 232, and that's the last page of the index.

Mcdroid wrote:

The 1978 shop manual has removed any reference to the "1 and 1/4 turns'. Hope this has further confused you :laugh: :laugh:

Ah-HAH said the hopeful cheapskate-wanna-be-kz1000 mechanic, Ah-H_A_H !!!

No wonder my '78 manual is not being clear on this.
Kawasaki must have said "Well, we can either spend a small fortune tightening up our manufacturing tolerances on these carbs, OR....we can put plastic adjusters on and delete any mention of a reference point."

Thanks Kawasaki, hope you didn't spend the small extra
profit there in one place.

I GOT THIS BIKE RUNNING AND I RODE IT TODAY.

The old lady put OUT. All I did was put the carbs on,
1 hour trickle charge on the battery, and presto
a revived kz1000 after a 12-year sleep. Drove it
around about 10 minutes.

So...surprisingly enough, it idles pretty darn well.

It has lots of torque off the bottom but I can't say
that it has 'explosive' power much above, say, 3000rpm.
I did not rev it past about 6000 rpm because -- it hasn't been on the road for 12 years, and only the front brake is working,
and....well I just want to take it easy with it in the beginning here.

I think my jetting choice may not be correct -- this
motor has an 1137cc kit in it with custom cams and
electronic ignition -- shouldn't this bike rip my
arms out the socket? It has a 'Kawasaki by Kerker' but
it is VERY QUIET, I mean close-to-stock quiet,
maybe a different 4-into-1 is needed that's louder
and less restrictive.

My jets are:
* main jets: #120
* pilot jets: #20
* needle clip: moved down one notch, to position #4,
thus raising the needle one notch
I went from stock #115 mains and #15 pilots and changed the needle because -- the prior owner left the carbs stock after putting on the Kerker, the 1137cc kit and the hotter cams. I figured he must have been running lean!! Plus he removed and threw away the rearmost plastic triangle+tube shaped box from the air filter,
the one that's normally under the seat above the battery -- all that's left is the stock air filter box with a big opening where that triangle+tube box used to be.


Another question -- there is oil dripping out the 2 nipples on the bottom of the black plastic air collector between the air filter and the carbs -- this plastic thing is where the rubber carb boots on the back of the carbs plug in to.

Does it mean I put too much oil in? I only put in
4 quarts and that was WITH a new oil filter, and
a complete draining process with the oil filter
removed.

Why would there be oil in the air collector?

newOld_kz1000 wrote:

I GOT THIS BIKE RUNNING AND I RODE IT TODAY.

The old lady put OUT. All I did was put the carbs on,
1 hour trickle charge on the battery, and presto
a revived kz1000 after a 12-year sleep. Drove it
around about 10 minutes.

So...surprisingly enough, it idles pretty darn well.

It has lots of torque off the bottom but I can't say
that it has 'explosive' power much above, say, 3000rpm.
I did not rev it past about 6000 rpm because -- it hasn't been on the road for 12 years, and only the front brake is working,
and....well I just want to take it easy with it in the beginning here.

I think my jetting choice may not be correct -- this
motor has an 1137cc kit in it with custom cams and
electronic ignition -- shouldn't this bike rip my
arms out the socket? It has a 'Kawasaki by Kerker' but
it is VERY QUIET, I mean close-to-stock quiet,
maybe a different 4-into-1 is needed that's louder
and less restrictive.

My jets are:
* main jets: #120
* pilot jets: #20
* needle clip: moved down one notch, to position #4,
thus raising the needle one notch
I went from stock #115 mains and #15 pilots and changed the needle because -- the prior owner left the carbs stock after putting on the Kerker, the 1137cc kit and the hotter cams. I figured he must have been running lean!! Plus he removed and threw away the rearmost plastic triangle+tube shaped box from the air filter,
the one that's normally under the seat above the battery -- all that's left is the stock air filter box with a big opening where that triangle+tube box used to be.


Another question -- there is oil dripping out the 2 nipples on the bottom of the black plastic air collector between the air filter and the carbs -- this plastic thing is where the rubber carb boots on the back of the carbs plug in to.

Does it mean I put too much oil in? I only put in
4 quarts and that was WITH a new oil filter, and
a complete draining process with the oil filter
removed.

Why would there be oil in the air collector?

SWEET, you got it going......120 s may be a little small, but have you done a valve adjustment? new plugs? coils getting full voltage?..ignition advancer lubed and working properly......lots of little stuff, but it sounds like you are on your way.....CONGRATS.......keith

keith1 wrote:

Another question -- there is oil dripping out the 2 nipples on the bottom of the black plastic air collector between the air filter and the carbs -- this plastic thing is where the rubber carb boots on the back of the carbs plug in to.

Does it mean I put too much oil in? I only put in
4 quarts and that was WITH a new oil filter, and
a complete draining process with the oil filter
removed.

Why would there be oil in the air collector?

SWEET, you got it going......120 s may be a little small, but have you done a valve adjustment? new plugs? coils getting full voltage?..ignition advancer lubed and working properly......lots of little stuff, but it sounds like you are on your way.....CONGRATS.......keith

Thanks, it's taken me from Saturday, August 8 of this year when I got it until today, Nov. 16 to finally be able to ride it for the first time -- over 3 months of messing with this, messing with that.

It has brand new spark plugs I put in, gapped them to spec. I plan on checking the valves directly.

I have a voltmeter -- how do I check the coils, does it have to be running, or just ignition on/kick it over and check voltage? Don't know how to check coil voltage.

Based on what you said about the mains, and after I pull the plugs out tomorrow to see how she was running, I may well go to bigger mains.


This bike has the following mods -- what mains do you recommend given the following:

- missing rearmost part of the airbox, the part that is a triangle-shape plastic box with a round tube that connects to the air filter box -- hence, more air's flowing into the carbs with that triangular plastic box missing

- Kerker 4-1 with street (quiet) baffle

- 1137cc kit

- hotter cams

- Gerex electronic ignition

I have #120 mains, and #20 pilots currently -- with the above mods what do you recommend for mains and pilots?

Thanks for the encouragement! I've had 3 months of doubts as to whether my work would ever pay off!

newOld_kz1000 wrote:

keith1 wrote:

Another question -- there is oil dripping out the 2 nipples on the bottom of the black plastic air collector between the air filter and the carbs -- this plastic thing is where the rubber carb boots on the back of the carbs plug in to.

Does it mean I put too much oil in? I only put in
4 quarts and that was WITH a new oil filter, and
a complete draining process with the oil filter
removed.

Why would there be oil in the air collector?

SWEET, you got it going......120 s may be a little small, but have you done a valve adjustment? new plugs? coils getting full voltage?..ignition advancer lubed and working properly......lots of little stuff, but it sounds like you are on your way.....CONGRATS.......keith

Thanks, it's taken me from Saturday, August 8 of this year when I got it until today, Nov. 16 to finally be able to ride it for the first time -- over 3 months of messing with this, messing with that.

It has brand new spark plugs I put in, gapped them to spec. I plan on checking the valves directly.

I have a voltmeter -- how do I check the coils, does it have to be running, or just ignition on/kick it over and check voltage? Don't know how to check coil voltage.

Based on what you said about the mains, and after I pull the plugs out tomorrow to see how she was running, I may well go to bigger mains.


This bike has the following mods -- what mains do you recommend given the following:

- missing rearmost part of the airbox, the part that is a triangle-shape plastic box with a round tube that connects to the air filter box -- hence, more air's flowing into the carbs with that triangular plastic box missing

- Kerker 4-1 with street (quiet) baffle

- 1137cc kit

- hotter cams

- Gerex electronic ignition

I have #120 mains, and #20 pilots currently -- with the above mods what do you recommend for mains and pilots?

Thanks for the encouragement! I've had 3 months of doubts as to whether my work would ever pay off!

sounds like your pilots are good..i dont have any experience with motors that big for the mains...hopefully someone will help you out on that...to check coils, positve from meter to side of coils with yellow wire and ground the black probe..do this with key on, but bike not running...i would check the valve clearances next though, that can make a big diff in how bike responds to tinkering....good luck....