OK Now I'm serious!

Way to go
Glad to hear you ger it running the way it should.
Enjoy the weekend. Your roads should be pretty clear by now.

Good to hear Chris.
Sorry I was no help, but when it comes to carbs, I'm no help. I don't even know what jets I have in there. I've been lucky to not have to tear into them. I may be pushing my luck as I've been running without an inline fuel filter for the last 2 years. Just haven't been able to find one the right size.

Have a blast.

Post edited by: rstnick, at: 2006/04/21 21:46

Thanks guys. Sometimes this stuff is a little scary because it is only my first or second time doing something. Thanks also to OnkelB for confirming how his bike was set up last night. I'm an ordinary joe schmoe and not a mechanic, so if I can do this stuff, anyone else here can! Tomorrow a carb synch, adjust the clutch cable play a little, then I'll go for a looooooong ride baby!

Bummer, the bogging issue is back a little. When the bike is warmed up it's good. However, after it sits a bit and I start off it hesitates/bogs a bit under 3000 rpm. It's no were near as bad as before. I guess everything had to settle in, or I needed enough rides for this to show up again. I did a carb synch. and the idle smoothed out, one carb was really high on the manometer (the cylinder that was gassy last fall, #3). The sweat sure poped out on my forhead for a second when I adjusted that spiked carb on the manometer and it headed for the top! yikes, I had visions of mecury shooting into the engine. So..... the bike is more ridable than before but I'm not satisfied. I'll take some plugs out tommorow and check their colour. I did a lot of low range buzzing around before I put it away. I should be able to see how the 15's are performing. Sucks to keep yanking the rack off, but it's becoming quicker all the time. I'm not sure whether to put the 17.5 pilots back in or move the needles again. Dunno, Hmmmmm.:S Or..... maybe I should do that Wiredgeorge coil mod first, maybe that's the weak link.

Post edited by: gas, at: 2006/04/23 22:22

OK, Had a look at my plugs and they were white! Yikes, super lean I guess. I just put the 17.5 pilots back in and so far it's running like a champ, so far,lol. The bike isn't bogging after it sat for a while like it did with the 15 pilots. Idles fine etc. I'll see what the plugs look like tonight and run it for a few days before I make a final opinion on this set up. Right now the bike is :

-sea level
-timing on the nose
-stock coils with points, wires cut back, NGK cable splicers installed, new bulk NAPA coil wire and new NGK plug caps
-carbs rebuilt last winter with kits and thoroughly cleaned
-needles clipped to the 4th slot counting from top down
-17.5 pilot jets
-102.5 main jets
-carbs synchronized
-floats adjusted by the wet method

Pulled the plugs and they are black and dry. Runs fine through the entire range, actually took a 300 km trip today and it just hummed along. The bike is likely one clip position from tan plugs but I'm tired of yanking these carbs off. Staying with this unless something happens and I have a reason to pull the carbs. The bike starts instantaneously when I hit the button. B.T.W. my 16 T front and 38 Tooth rear sprockets let me do 4,250 rpm at 100 kph and 4,500 rpm at 110 kph. You can get the 38 tooth rear for your 650 from the KZ 750 twin. The mounting holes are a teeny bit big, but more than one of us run them and they work just fine.

so whats the "wet" method of adjusting your floats? Can you explain it to me?

It's the use of either a special (and expensive, about $70 from Z1 Enterprises) tool from Kawasaki that threads into the bowl drain screw attached to clear tubing which is held along side the carb to see how high the fuel level sits in the bowl. It's wet because fuel is actually run into the bowl.

Some have used a nipple or certain sized clear tubing forced into the drain screw hole to mimic the special tool.

- Nate >>

kx_125_pilot wrote:

so whats the "wet" method of adjusting your floats? Can you explain it to me?

Buddy, I'll tell you how I did it. If someone with a better method chimes in, we will all benefit. I took one of those foldable locking top benches outside and I tightened the sliding top up until it supported the entire carb rack, as a unit. I just set the rack between the boards. I lifted the rack out and removed the dime sized brass screw on the bottom/side of a float bowl. I stuck a chunk of 6 mm (i think) hose into the float bowl hole, after wrapping some of that white teflon plumbers tape on the end, being inserted. I put the rack back between the boards. I put a small funnel into the hose that goes from my tank to the carb rack. I use 1/4 inch black bulk fuel line, that you can get anywere. I poured small amounts of gas into this hose and the inline fuel filter attached to it. As the gas filled all the carbs, the clear 6mm tubing stuck in the float bowl would also fill up. I held the carb rack in the bench, held the clear tube close to the side of the carb, and I could see the level were my floats were sitting from the gas lifting them up. For the 650 I had to have this gas level/line within 1/8 th inch of the float bowl top edge or lip. If I was over or below, I would pull the clear tube out and drain the gas into a plastic yogurt container, to be used again. If the float level was off I had to take the float bowl off that carb and remove the float. The float is held in with a skinny little stainless steel pin. You can remove the float easily by pushing the stainless pin over a bit, then pull it out sideways with your fingers. The part that gets adjusted is the brass metal tab on the float, it is between the two round black puck looking deals. Just bend that little brass lip, very mildly, don't go nuts. Remember that this little tab shuts the fuel off, so the more you bend it up, the lower your fuel level will be.

Post edited by: gas, at: 2006/04/26 18:33

ok, cool...thats a good idea......i knew how to adjust floats, but this sounds like the easiest method out of them all. So you want the fuel level to be about an 1/8 of an inch below the very top of the bowl? This method sounds alot easier than trial and error:P

Ya I think that it was 1/8th for the 650. I'd have to look it up again, too lazy right now. Don't you have a 440? This site should make you lose yer load!

www.kz400.com/

yea! that site is great......i came across it when i was searching for a wire diagram.....thats a handy site for sure!