1976 KZ400 stripped bowl screws

tap on the float bowl with a screwdriver handle to see if you can knock the crud out of needle/seat

nah no rebuild has been done. Cant seem to find any kits for the year of bike we have. I have cleaned them like probably 8 times now or at least checked all the jets and stuff to make sure they are clear of debris. i replaced the needles with metal ones since the stock ones had rubber tips and they were sticking. I tested them by blowing air into the main fuel line for the carb with the floats held up and no air blew through. that was my next idea.. Tap on the carbs with something to see if they quit leaking. maybe ill supply fuel to the carb and hold the bike upright to see if it stops leaking. I really think that kickstand is in the wrong spot causing it to lean over to far. The carbs might have to come off again too. When i started to mess with the bike, it has some really nasty gas in it from sitting for a few years.

wireman wrote: tap on the float bowl with a screwdriver handle to see if you can knock the crud out of needle/seat

Yea, good luck with that one! lol

Kitten Tooth wrote: ok now a new problem has presented itself.. I know i should know whats wrong but i dont know what the hells happening i figured out most of the wiring in the headlight bucket a few hours ago and figured i would fire it up to see what was what. So the good news is that i have a good working set of gauges all mounted and functional. so i ran it for maybe like 5 seconds and then i shut it off. went out and put some wood in the wheel barrel to stack in the garage and when i came back, there was a big puddle of gas on the floor. I run over and look and its coming out of the nipple right on the bottom of the float bowl. tried to shut the gas off since its either "on", "Reserve", or "off" on the petcock. the gas just kept on coming out. then i stuck a hose on the nipple and put a bolt in the end of it and gas started coming out of the little bowl breather nipple on the side of the carb so then i just stuck a rag under it and pulled the fuel line off the carb and stuck a bolt in the end of that. Is the needle not seating properly or are my float levels way off? the bike was on its side stand leaning towards cylinder 1 when this all happened. The gas was coming out of cylinder 1's carb. Last year the kickstand mount broke off and i think it was re-welded on too far up on the side of the frame so the bike kinda leans hard on its kickstand.. would that be an issue?

Don't block the drain pipe. If you do, the carb fills up and raw gas pours into the motor. If gas came out of the bowl vent (side pipe) then the carb has fully overflowed. You may have to do an oil change, and take out the plug on that cyclinder before trying to crank it over. Gas may shoot out of the plug hole so be careful.

Always have an emergency drain-pan handy for such occasions.

You will have to take that carb apart again and see why the float valve is not sealing. If the float needle has a ring around the tip, it and the seat probably need to be replaced.

Good luck KT! Always impressed by your efforts!

loudhvx wrote:

Kitten Tooth wrote: ok now a new problem has presented itself.. I know i should know whats wrong but i dont know what the hells happening i figured out most of the wiring in the headlight bucket a few hours ago and figured i would fire it up to see what was what. So the good news is that i have a good working set of gauges all mounted and functional. so i ran it for maybe like 5 seconds and then i shut it off. went out and put some wood in the wheel barrel to stack in the garage and when i came back, there was a big puddle of gas on the floor. I run over and look and its coming out of the nipple right on the bottom of the float bowl. tried to shut the gas off since its either "on", "Reserve", or "off" on the petcock. the gas just kept on coming out. then i stuck a hose on the nipple and put a bolt in the end of it and gas started coming out of the little bowl breather nipple on the side of the carb so then i just stuck a rag under it and pulled the fuel line off the carb and stuck a bolt in the end of that. Is the needle not seating properly or are my float levels way off? the bike was on its side stand leaning towards cylinder 1 when this all happened. The gas was coming out of cylinder 1's carb. Last year the kickstand mount broke off and i think it was re-welded on too far up on the side of the frame so the bike kinda leans hard on its kickstand.. would that be an issue?

Don't block the drain pipe. If you do, the carb fills up and raw gas pours into the motor. If gas came out of the bowl vent (side pipe) then the carb has fully overflowed. You may have to do an oil change, and take out the plug on that cyclinder before trying to crank it over. Gas may shoot out of the plug hole so be careful.

Always have an emergency drain-pan handy for such occasions.

You will have to take that carb apart again and see why the float valve is not sealing. If the float needle has a ring around the tip, it and the seat probably need to be replaced.

Good luck KT! Always impressed by your efforts!

True, good point! But it may be a combination of things between the float valve and the petcock. Even with a good float valve and seat, a bad petcock can overcome the float pressure on the valve and overfill the carb. I'd definitely look at both, but with an emphasis on the carb float valve AND float adjustment height itself. That's critical.

Breaker19 wrote:

loudhvx wrote:

Kitten Tooth wrote: ok now a new problem has presented itself.. I know i should know whats wrong but i dont know what the hells happening i figured out most of the wiring in the headlight bucket a few hours ago and figured i would fire it up to see what was what. So the good news is that i have a good working set of gauges all mounted and functional. so i ran it for maybe like 5 seconds and then i shut it off. went out and put some wood in the wheel barrel to stack in the garage and when i came back, there was a big puddle of gas on the floor. I run over and look and its coming out of the nipple right on the bottom of the float bowl. tried to shut the gas off since its either "on", "Reserve", or "off" on the petcock. the gas just kept on coming out. then i stuck a hose on the nipple and put a bolt in the end of it and gas started coming out of the little bowl breather nipple on the side of the carb so then i just stuck a rag under it and pulled the fuel line off the carb and stuck a bolt in the end of that. Is the needle not seating properly or are my float levels way off? the bike was on its side stand leaning towards cylinder 1 when this all happened. The gas was coming out of cylinder 1's carb. Last year the kickstand mount broke off and i think it was re-welded on too far up on the side of the frame so the bike kinda leans hard on its kickstand.. would that be an issue?

Don't block the drain pipe. If you do, the carb fills up and raw gas pours into the motor. If gas came out of the bowl vent (side pipe) then the carb has fully overflowed. You may have to do an oil change, and take out the plug on that cyclinder before trying to crank it over. Gas may shoot out of the plug hole so be careful.

Always have an emergency drain-pan handy for such occasions.

You will have to take that carb apart again and see why the float valve is not sealing. If the float needle has a ring around the tip, it and the seat probably need to be replaced.

Good luck KT! Always impressed by your efforts!

True, good point! But it may be a combination of things between the float valve and the petcock. Even with a good float valve and seat, a bad petcock can overcome the float pressure on the valve and overfill the carb. I'd definitely look at both, but with an emphasis on the carb float valve AND float adjustment height itself. That's critical.

That would defeat the purpose of the float valve. Bikes would be leaking all the time, running or not. The float valve is designed to shut off the flow of gas when the correct level is reached in the bowl regardless of whether the bike is running or not. It should easily be able to seal off pressure from fuel height much higher than the height of the tank when full. The only time I could imagine the pressure in the tank being able to overcome the float valve would be if the tank vent was sealed and the tank was heated to increase the internal vapor pressure way beyond atmospheric.

If the carb is leaking from the bowl vent, then the float valve or seal has failed (it may only be temporary of it's due to a foreign object preventing the valve from seating). We know this because the carb is overflowing beyond the level the gasoline should have ever reached.

If a carb is not overflowing, but just leaking, it can be from many places and from many different causes, but not necessarily a failed float valve. It can be the float valve or seal has failed, or possibly a seal on the drain pipe mechanism has failed or the the drain pipe itself can be cracked internally (not uncommon).

If the petcock is turned off or is an automatic petcock, and the gas keeps leaking after some time, then the petcock has failed in addition to whatever else failed on the carb.

i never thought of it before but gas can get into the crank case through the cylinder too cant it? the rings never perfectly seal the cylinder.. ahh well, i did check the oil cap and theres no smell of gas in there. i hooked up the fuel line to the carb again after bashing the hell out of it with a rubber mallet and it didnt leak thank god for small miracles!! anyways it runs awesome again and its almost finished. Now all i gotta do is grind off the nasty welds that the previous owner sprayed all over the frame for the rear sets, get some bolts for the stock foot pegs, and set up the stock brake linkage. I think were rollin now

too bad ill never ride it... not much of a crotch rocket person and this thing makes you lean WAY forward with the clubman bars and stuff. Im guessing you guys want some pics of the bike? it does look pretty cool.

s804.photobucket.com/albums/yy321/kitten...rrent%3DIMG_3743.jpg

s804.photobucket.com/albums/yy321/kittentooth/My%20vehicles/?action=view&current=IMG_3741.jpg#!oZZ15QQcurrentZZhttp%3A%2F%2Fs804.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fyy321%2Fkittentooth%2FMy%2520vehicles%2F%3Faction%3Dview%26current%3DIMG_3743.jpg

Those were taken a few years ago when we first got the bike.. and im sorry but i just had to post this too.. Its my first car that i ever got. paid 20 bucks for it

s804.photobucket.com/albums/yy321/kittentooth/My%20vehicles/?action=view&current=IMG_3741.jpg#!oZZ15QQcurrentZZhttp%3A%2F%2Fs804.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fyy321%2Fkittentooth%2FMy%2520vehicles%2F%3Faction%3Dview%26current%3DIMG_3743.jpg

Kitten Tooth wrote: too bad ill never ride it... not much of a crotch rocket person and this thing makes you lean WAY forward with the clubman bars and stuff. Im guessing you guys want some pics of the bike? it does look pretty cool.

s804.photobucket.com/albums/yy321/kitten...rrent%3DIMG_3743.jpg

s804.photobucket.com/albums/yy321/kittentooth/My%20vehicles/?action=view&current=IMG_3741.jpg#!oZZ15QQcurrentZZhttp%3A%2F%2Fs804.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fyy321%2Fkittentooth%2FMy%2520vehicles%2F%3Faction%3Dview%26current%3DIMG_3743.jpg

Those were taken a few years ago when we first got the bike.. and im sorry but i just had to post this too.. Its my first car that i ever got. paid 20 bucks for it

s804.photobucket.com/albums/yy321/kittentooth/My%20vehicles/?action=view&current=IMG_3741.jpg#!oZZ15QQcurrentZZhttp%3A%2F%2Fs804.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fyy321%2Fkittentooth%2FMy%2520vehicles%2F%3Faction%3Dview%26current%3DIMG_3743.jpg

Eh whatever i didnt work out right, lol ill take new pictures tomorrow