1980 KZ 550A1 TK carb issues

I'm workin on a 1980 kz550 A1 with TK carbs. I have cleaned and rebuilt the bottom end. Put them on without the air box. Pane in the a$$!!!!!!! Now it will only start on full choke and will not idle. As soon as you try to take the choke off it will stall instantly. Would not having the air box installed affect it that much? Dont know much about carbs. I would appreciate any help. Thanks!!!

Yes you need the air box. Without it you are getting too much air.

If you adjust the airscrews to about 1 turn out, you might be able to get it to idle without choke, but you have to let it warm up quite a bit before removing the choke all the way.

However, without the airbox, you will have to do some rejetting to run right.

I was debating on running the pod filters. I know I need to reject the carbs for them. I haven't messed with carbs much only on the 4 Barrel on the old truck. Especially 4 carbs linked together. I have to say I'm a little intimidated! Lol!!! Im not a posed to running the factory air box just tired of fighting the carbs on and off. What do I need to do to run the pod filters? Thank you for the help!!! Do you recommend running pods?

Running pods will require you to become somewhat of an experimenter and carb guru and will most likely result in multiple rejetting attempts before achieving satisfactory (if not ideal) results. As far as fighting the airbox when removing and installing the carbs - how often do you expect to need to remove the carbs and why? I have removed mine twice in 36 years (once because I let gas sit in them for too long and once to replace the carb holders); the few minutes I spent because of the airbox doesn't begin to compare to the time I would have had to spent fiddling with the carbs if I had installed pods. New pliable airbox to carb ducts makes installing carbs very easy - it really is no big deal. Ed

Thanks for the reply Ed. Well my inlaws gave this bike to me last fall. It's been sitting fro about 6-8 years. When I got it the carbs were lying on the ground under it. I've cleaned them up put them back on and with a little mor iWork I got it started up. Actually ran better than expected but not good. After all tune up parts still not running good when I get rpms up it was running out of gas. So I decided to rebuild the carbs. Again I have no experience with these carbs. So I only rebuilt the bottom half. Didn't want to disassemble them all the way. Still the same problem. I finally found the overflow tubes inside two carbs were cracked and leaking fuel. Tried to solder them but started leaking again. So I found another set on eBay. Got them cleaned and put on. By this time I've removed them more times then I care to remember. Sorry for the Biography just wanted you to know where I'm at on this.

What you have experienced is very typical for a bike that has been sitting for a number of years. If you have never cleaned a bank of carbs before, you have to clean them and clean them again and sometimes you have to clean them again, but once you get them right it is unusual to have to take them off again provided the tank is clean and you run an inline fuel filter.

The original tank was pretty bad inside. Someone had creamed it and must not have done it right. It was all clumped up in the bottom and rusted through. Got a tank on eBay. Cleaned it out and flushed it. Also got a aftermarket petcock valve with on off and reserve instead of the vacuum controlled factory. And added an inline filter. But I think one of the two are restricting gas flow. I rebuilt the old vacuum petcock valve but still not shutting off. Anyway. Guess ill put the air box back on and try it again. I'll let ya know how it went. Thanks again for your help!!!

If someone cremed the tank, you will definitely be cleaning the carbs regularly.

I run airboxes on some 550's and pods on others. I really like the extra pull at highway speed with the pods. The tradeoff is that stop-and-go traffic with a passenger requires a tad more throttle and clutch, but nothing major, and it's not really noticeable unl;ess you do side by side comparisons.

Jetting for pods does take a lot time to get just right unless you've done it before. It's very difficult for a first-timer to know what his symptoms are and what the remedy is.

I'm jetting my buddy's 550A for Mac 4-into-1 and pods. We started out with 98 mains, 37 pilots, standard adjustable needle set at 3rd clip from top (2nd is stock position), and the airscrews are at 1-1/4 out. It's rich on part throttle so we will likely go to 2nd clip with a shim on the needle.

(By the way, even with stock airbox and exhaust, you may want to rejet since those TK22 bikes came lean from the factory. It's nice to be able to remove the choke in a reasonable amount of time.)

My TK22 website has a bunch of details on how to shim the needles and drill the pilots. It's in my signature.

Put the air box back on. It does run better now but still not good. I took it down the road about 1mile it accelerates good..and on the way back it started to act like it was gonna run out of gas but straitened up. I also put sea foam in the gas before I started it. Idle is somewhat erratic. You said it loudhvx I don't know what changes to make for these symptoms. But the longer I ran it the better it was running. Thanks!!!

Sometimes that's the best thing for a bike that has been sitting. Ride it a while and see what happens.

Yes I'll do that. I've been told that sea foam is the best thing to use for dirty carbs. So I'll update after I run it a while. Thanks guys!!!