'84 KZ550 carb help needed

Hey fellow KZ afficianados. I just picked up an '84 KZ550. It has been bobbed out and looks pretty good for the most part, buit I have some concerns. First off the airbox is long gone, the person before me had covered the intakes with cheesecloth!! Secondly the ehaust has been cut just past where the pipe bolts to the collector. Now I knoe this means it is in serious danger of burning a hole in a piston due to overheating. I looked and there is no stage 3 kit to be had for an 84 550. I plan on at least putting pods on it, but the stock airbox cannot be added back to it due to other modifications made. What can be done to straighten out the lean burn condition I am sure this bike is to be in given the mods? Has anybody out there already come across something like this, and if so, what jetting mods did you do to remedy the situation? Any and all help would greatly be appreciated.

I assume you have an 84 KZ550F2 Spectre?

That probably uses TK26 CV carbs. You can probably use a Dynojet kit for a 82/83 KZ550H1/H2 Gpz550.

I actually think it was badged as an LTD, not a Spectre. It is a shaft drive though.

How can I find out for certain what carbs they are? Where would I look for any identifying markings?

Yes, Kawasaki isn't consistent on the 84 550 model (I think there is only one KZ550 in 84 in the U.S.). On their parts diagrams they sometimes call it a Spectre, and sometimes an LTD. In 83 there was a M1 shaft LTD, and an F1 shaft Spectre. Then in 84 there was no M, and so the F2 became the LTD.

Either way LTD or Spectre, the bike came with TK26 carbs. It should say "TK" somewhere on them. The 82/83 Gpz550 (KZ550H1/H2) TK26 was slightly different, though I'm not sure what the differences were. The 84 ZX550A Gpz550 had TK27 carbs, which were also similar to the TK26. Chances are you have TK26's. The difference with the TK27 was that the 27 did not have a rubber plug over one of the intermediate jet galleys inside the bowl. The 26's did, which had to be sealed or they would not run right.

So if you open the bowls, and there is a back rubber plug over one of the intermediate jet gaeys, then it's a TK26.