Any Tricks to get the carbs back on?

Hi, all.

I am having a hell of a time getting my carbs back on my 1981 KZ750-E2. I am using the stock airbox, but can't get the boots on. I can see now why people go to the pods!! I will be doing more adjustments on the carbs as I tinker, so I will need to do this installation a few times.

Any tricks out there on ways to make reinstalling the Keihin carbs a little easier??

Try rolling the air box boots over each other. It will free up enough room to get the carbs into the intake boots and then you can unroll the air box boots onto the carbs.

Ah...that is a good idea. It is the edge of the airbox boots that are catching. That may help the situation. Maybe this trick will help me hold back the stream of swear words I want to let out while trying to get these things on!

Thanks.

It really helps to have new boots when you do this. If they are older and hard I found it worked best to boil them for a few seconds and then immediately roll them over each other.

If the airbox ducts are old & hard, replace them. In addition to being difficult to install, hard ducts may not seal properly. They are listed as Active at Kawasaki.com. Z1Enterprises.com has them.

Just went through the same thing on mine. I ended up pushing the boots from the airbox side actually inside the airbox. There's just little lips that hold them in place on the plastic box so it's pretty easy. Then, once I had the carbs on the motor, I pushed the boots from the inside out, onto the carbs. Worked out really well that way.

david-b wrote: Just went through the same thing on mine. I ended up pushing the boots from the airbox side actually inside the airbox. There's just little lips that hold them in place on the plastic box so it's pretty easy. Then, once I had the carbs on the motor, I pushed the boots from the inside out, onto the carbs. Worked out really well that way.

This is the method I used. The two inner boots were easy to push back out of the airbox and get reseated as they were straight-ahead. But #1 and #4 were quite a bit more difficult due to having to reach deeper into the airbox and not having quite as good of an angle to work with.

I had this same issue on my 83 KZ550. My boots were extremely hard. I didn't have room to put the boots on from inside the airbox, so I put the airbox on without boots, then the carb. I then heated each boot with an heatgun, and slipped them on the carb intakes. So now they were on the carb but not fully backed into the airbox. I then pushed the airbox forward (I actually attached long wood clamps to the back of my airbox and the front of the bike engine to pull the airbox forward and hold it in place) and worked the back of the boots into the airbox. This worked quite well.

Then I got smart and ordered new ones from Z1 and now it is as simple as can be.

you can also use some 3 in 1 oil on the boots and carbs to make them slip in easier. thats what i do.

All great ideas!

I finally got them on, but I had a heck of a time. I have used the method of pushing through from inside the airbox in the past, but I found it very difficult to work the two outside boots.

Good idea with the heat and the oil. I will use those ideas when I do this again. The boots I have seem pretty soft, but I have a feeling the new boots (as suggested by many) would be much easier to work with.

I think I will buy a new set when I buy the jetting kit.

Thanks again for all the help.

Definitely a good idea to get new boots next time you remove the carbs. They really do make the job easier. Ed

Take the battery box bolts out, that gives you just a tiny bit more room but it helps. I also like those cheap harbor freight orange handle metal picks with the 90 degree ends on them. You can catch them under the lip of the boot and help roll them on. There are only easier ways, there is no easy way to do them