Engine started to sputter in gear

Drain the carbs into a easy to see container, like a glass or white plastic. With the fuel at the petcock off. Look and see if from the carb you epoxied the cracked tube, if the stuff got dissolved by the Alcohol fuel. Or if there are other debris. You might be pulling them again. That overflow tube can be replaced with a new piece from a hobby store for real cheap. you may have to up the size with a drill carefully. It will be a tight press fit, about .001" interference, tube bigger than the hole.

So you think it's the carbs all clogged up again...hmmm. I did drain the fuel from carbs and sure enough, there was some debris. It looked like rust from when I removed the fuel line with an inline filter with another fuel line with no filter to rule out the filter for the problems that I've been seeing. I thought I saw a piece of epoxy but I'm not sure. I only drained the little gas that was left in the overflow bowl after I had run in it idle last night without the tank on so I didn't get to see a lot of fuel.

I will pull out the carbs again and do the usual cleaning. Meanwhile, what's the best way to clean out the tank. I read a lot about seafoam here in the forums, will that work?

Also, why is it that the bike only seemed to stall in gear and not when I revved it up in idle if this is the carbs? But yes, the symptoms were definitely like the engine being starved of fuel.

Seafoam won't do anything for the rust. There are several threads on tank cleaning involving rust. Muriatic acid, Phosphoric acid, electrolysis, to nuts and bolts, piece of chain etc. Until the tank is clean, you will continue to have fuel issues. I'd make sure the fuel tank is real clean, and hopefully you won't have to do a liner inside it. Get the carbs cleaned again, and some fresh fuel in there and try again.

Thanks Motor Head. Will the inline fuel filter help with this at all? Also, can you comment on my question on why this seems to happen only when I shift into gear and not when I'm revvin'g the engine up in neutral?

How do I remove the old brass rod from inside the carb bowl? Is it just one piece from top to the part that comes out of the bowl?

I can try and buy just a single carb to get new bowl but I'm unable to find one on ebay. Can someone who's better at finding this stuff point me to one somewhere please?

The brass tube is pressed into the bowl, an interference fit. Places like a Hobby store carry small brass tube for modelers. Cost is a couple of bucks for several tubes. But it may be easier to just get another carb bowl if you don't feel comfortable replacing the tube. They can be found, one of the members here has probably got one. Do you know which carbs you have? A post of the year, model, and such would help.

Thanks again. I have a KZ550-C3 LTD (1982) with TK-22 carbs; the same one's that Lou's written extensively on his website.

So if you would like a pointer to another carb bowl, is it the left or right bowl, which cylinder?
Or maybe you are going to replace the cracked tube?

Bunty27 wrote: ...one of the brass overflow tubes had a crack. I used epoxy to seal it ....

Other sealing methods include:
JBWeld;
solder;
snug plastic overlay tube;
metal soldered overlay tube;
heat shrink tubing.

Good Fortune!

Sorry for not being clear. It is a left carb bowl (on cylinder 1 at this time) and I would like to buy a new carb bowl or the whole carb if needed. I don't think I can pull off the brass tube replacement on the same bowl.

Thanks Patton. You think soldering would work on a brass bowl? The snug plastic overlay tube sounds like a great idea but I wonder where I could find a tube so small? And what's a "heat shrink tubing"?

Bunty27 wrote: Sorry for not being clear. It is a left carb bowl (on cylinder 1 at this time) and I would like to buy a new carb bowl or the whole carb if needed. I don't think I can pull off the brass tube replacement on the same bowl.

Thanks Patton. You think soldering would work on a brass bowl? The snug plastic overlay tube sounds like a great idea but I wonder where I could find a tube so small? And what's a "heat shrink tubing"?

Shrink tubing is a plastic sleeve that you slide over an electrical connection (usually electrical that is), then you heat the sleeve and it shrinks very tightly around the connection. You can slide a piece over the brass carb tube and then heat it with a hair dryer until it shrinks tightly on the tube covering the crack. Be sure to use fuel resistant tubing. Here's one type I found online; I'm sure there are others. Click on the 4th item down in the 3rd column:

www.mcmaster.com/#heat-shrink-sleeving/=jrx7t4

You guys are so awesome. Thanks 650ed.

What size do you think I'll need? I need to use my calipers when I get home I guess.