What carbs do I have? Need info & help '83 KZ550

Lovely. I also have carbs off an '82 550 parts bike I have here. They look different.

Gets a bit frustrating that I can fix darn near any vehicle on the road & I'm stumped by a fairly simply cycle!! haha

remelad wrote: Lovely. I also have carbs off an '82 550 parts bike I have here. They look different....

Those are likely manual slide carbs, better with pods than CV carbs, and imo simpler and more user friendly carbs, but still nothing to write home about if fitted with pods, unless maximum WOT performance is the paramount consideration.

Would fit the manual slide carbs, which might also require their carb holders (which may need replacing due to cracks and leakage from wear and old age).

And BTW, pods eliminate support at rear of carbs, whereby the carb weight and bouncing stresses and accelerates deterioration of the holders. There are some war stories about carbs actually tearing away from broken carb holders while traversing rough terrain. :pinch:

It's difficult to find much else good to say about pods . . . except they sure look cool! :lol:

Good Fortune!

Patton wrote: Am thinking these are likely the stock CV carbs ("constant velocity" or "constant vacuum").

Welcome to pod hell. :lol:

I have CV carbs on my '82 k750 e3. I run pods, and a 4-into-1 exhaust. I rejetted with a kit from 6Sigma racing and NEVER looked at the airbox again! Maybe I'm just lucky, but I really have had 0 carb issues....just don't tell me "I told you so", when I post about carb issues next week ;P

clutch wrote:

Patton wrote: Am thinking these are likely the stock CV carbs ("constant velocity" or "constant vacuum").

Welcome to pod hell. :lol:

I have CV carbs on my '82 k750 e3. I run pods, and a 4-into-1 exhaust. I rejetted with a kit from 6Sigma racing and NEVER looked at the airbox again! Maybe I'm just lucky, but I really have had 0 carb issues....just don't tell me "I told you so", when I post about carb issues next week ;P

I'm almost willing to bet your carbs aren't working properly at all rpm. Does your bike idle smoothly at 1000 rpm or do you have the "idle" set above idle speed (like at 1300 rpm).

You have the shaft drive version of the KZ550 LTD. The chain drive is the KZ550 C LTD.

The M version uses a later style motor with more angular covers. The C model uses the first generation KZ 550 motors (which are the same as the 80-82 A1-A3 motors).

The first generation motors (KZ550A standard, KZ550C ltd, and KZ550D gpz) used TK-22, manual-slide carbs.
The second generation motors (KZ550H gpz, KZ550M shaft ltd, KZ550F spectre) used variations of the TK-26 CV carbs.

Dynojet sells a kit to run the TK-26's with pods. They are meant for the 82/83 KZ550H gpz models, but should work on the M as well, but I haven't tried. There are plenty of TK-26's running pods, but it does require rejetting one way or another or it likely won't even run.

The intake spacing is the same for both style motors, but the ports are larger, and the screws are farther apart. If you want to run the TK-22 carbs on the later motor, you have to use the TK-22 carb holders, cut the mounting holes into slots, then use large washers on the mounting screws. You have to get everything just right in order to prevent vacuum leaks, but it's doable.

I run TK-22 carbs on a later motor from an 82/83 gpz. And it runs pods. The TK-22's are simpler, so are easier to tune with pods.

As Patton posted, there are links in my signature for various KZ550 items. Also, as he mentioned, I just run a hose to the ground from the breather. It keeps the gunk (water/oil vapor mix) from getting on the engine. But don't let that hose get kinked or pinched. THat will pressurize the crankcase and blow oil out of the seals.

Hey loudhvx, is this the kit you are referring to?

www.dynojet.com/pdf/2107.pdf

It lists it for the 82-83 550gpz so I wasnt sure if they would work for mine. Looks like PODs are K&N RC1824's

That looks like the one. I've never actually done it on those carbs, but on the gpz550 forum, there are several users using pods on the tk-26 carbs.

The 84 and up gpz550 (which are ZX550A), use TK-27 carbs which are very similar, and many of them use pods as well. I'm not sure if the TK-27's use the same kit asn the TK-26's, though.

Watch out for counterfeit Dynojet kits. If you do a search, there will be pages describing how to tell the real kits from the Chinese counterfeits.

Some have run them without drilling the slide holes, so you may want to try without drilling first, since that is hard to undo, especially since your motor is not breathing quite as much as the gpz motors.

I only use the Emgo paper pods. They are way cheaper, and are disposable, so there is no maintenance on those. Cleaning and oiling K&N's are a pain in the ass, and then your hand gets covered in goo everytime you try to fiddle with the carbs. Not to mention the money for cleaner and oil.

There is a thread about pods blocking the atmospheric vent opening on some CV carbs, so make sure to look into that. The thread is like "to all those running pods on CV's", or something like that.