'77 KZ 1000 jets

I am looking for some info for my fathers bike a '77 kz 1000 ltd. It runs but loads up/floods and fouls plugs. The plugs are wet when pulled out. It has K&N pods, 2-1 pipes with no baffles, dyna s ignition, vm26ss carbs with 17.5 pilots and 120 mains. He took it to a self proclaimed KZ Guru last summer who had it for 3 months, put bigger jets in it and who knows what else he did, but now it runs worse than it did before! The carbs are back off the bike now and I would like to make sure these jets are somewhat close before putting it back together. What size jets would you recommend? Would putting the stock airbox back on possibly help? Any help would be appreciated!

check your float heights the jetting sounds pretty close to what i use myself and mine works fine it sounds to me like you have some bad float valve assemblies. i also use pods and have a very free flowing exhaust. it definitly dosent sound like a jetting problem to me.

And be sure to check your coil voltage.


And Welcome. Stick around and you will be the KZ Guru. Roy

I'm running a '78 KZ1000 with K&N filters and a fairly open exhaust. (Stock headers and cheapo turnouts). I'm running the stock idle 1 1/4 turns out and have 115 mains. Runs great with good plug color. Hope this puts you close.
Norm

timebomb33 wrote:

check your float heights the jetting sounds pretty close to what i use myself and mine works fine it sounds to me like you have some bad float valve assemblies. i also use pods and have a very free flowing exhaust. it definitly dosent sound like a jetting problem to me.

what tim said......

Thanks for the help! I'll double check the float valves, maybe try the "clear tube test" that I've seen in other posts to see the exact height. Sounds like thats a good way to see for sure. I'll try to post some pics of it once its back together, It's a really nice bike!

If you have a vacuum operated fuel cut off valve check it to make sure it isn't leaking through the diaphragm into the vacuum hose. This will cause a rich condition. Offhand I would say you need to check everything carb related such as float height, pilot jet settings and condition of your air filters and go from there before you start changing jets although your main jets sound a little rich to me. It would only be a guess but I would say betwwen 112.5 and 117.5 would be about right. When a self styled whiz of a mechanic works on one you don't know what you will find.
Get a good manual, Kawasaki if you can find it, and go through a tune up, step by step, keeping in mind yu will be running bigger jets than stock because of your more free flowing set up.
Good luck.
Norm

moffy wrote:

Thanks for the help! I'll double check the float valves,

I maintain that standard every six month maintenance procedure is to take the float assemblies out. Not just to clean, but I put the needles in a hand drill and polish the tapered ends with #600 paper until they are dead smooth. I put the brass seats in and use a Q Tip and crome polishe to shine up the inside where the needle goes. Once you get them sealing tight you have no gas seepage problems.