long time problem solved. you should read this!

so i've had a lot of trouble getting my z650 to run properly in the last year or so. Some of you may remember my post about my fouling plug, overflow, electrical problems, and so on. Im not a beginner to bike repari, but this has really been a nightmare. Well i found the reason to all of this, it may surprise you.

A while back, after cleaning my carbs multiple times on my own, i still couldnt get my bike running well, so i took it to a local bike shop. We replaced all of the internal parts of the carburetor, cleaned everything perfect, set and balanced all parts. Bike ran better, but still not well.

After a few months, it started getting worse and was running really rough. I thought it was an electrical problem. Replaced the condenser, cleaned and adjusted the points, didn't help. So i decided to bring it to my friend's bike shop that specializes in old kawasaki's, some of you may remember the pics i posted a while back. He is very expensive, but very very good. I wanted to solve these problems once and for all.

The first thing he did was check all of the electrical components (at my request), and found nothing wrong. Next he cleaned my carb again. He did an amazing job, it looks practically new on the inside and out. Bike still ran like crap though. Next, he took a used set of CR racing carbs for a Z! from his shelf and forced it into the tiny rubber inlets of my bike to see if it was my carb that was causing these problems. He pushed the starter button, and my bike furiously fired to life with the sound of a purebred GP racer. Sounded amazing, and drove like a dream, fixed everything!!! He said that while cleaning my old carb, he noticed that the surface of the inside of my carb had become rough and inconsistent due to sitting for so lond. It kind of looks like the surface of the moon. Although everything is as clean as a whistle and set properly, it wont run right. Sometimes, carburetors are not fixable it would appear.

I went ahead and ordered a new CR carburetor for my bike. It didn't come cheap, but i know it will be worth it.

Glad you found out your problem.. Sometimes we gotta pay the price to have a fine running bike..

So the lesson is that everyone should buy CR carbs? Is Larry C going to run a group buy???

Yes, sometimes carbs cant jsut be cleaned. In my time of doing so through dirt and race to street casual etc. I have replace about three sets of carbs due to serious degredation, and yes on the multi-cylinder bikes it has a tremendous impact.

GL, feels pretty good eh!

I totally agree with the findings...

In the past I've attempted to resurrect carbs which had the 'white powder of death' in them - the white powdery corrosion. No luck at all...

The powder is the result of metal disappearing for the pot metal.

That powder can be very severe. On one set of carbs, I found all the fuel tees totally clogged. Imagine how well all the air passageways that you can't see would be...

That's a new one for me. Good lesson to keep in mind!